S. Samuel
Grammy-winning rapper Eminem recently opened up about his decision to not release a Relapse 2 album and instead put out his new project, Recovery.
Em said D12 member Mr. Porter made him realize a key fact about his music catalogue.
“On a record like the new record, when I mention the third verse of ‘Talking to Myself,’ I try to sum up the last two records in a nutshell. Mr. Porter, who produced ‘On Fire,’ had this analogy of Encore and Relapse that stuck with me: ‘Encore I was on drugs, Relapse I was flushing them out.’ His view on Relapse was that I was flushing the drugs out my system and looking back at it, I probably was. My mind was coming back, my writing skills were coming back, so I was able to write again because I had writer’s block from the pills. I was backed up. I was writing so much and so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to stop and say, Are these good songs? Are they great songs? I was just going. I was like, ‘I got so much material for three albums, but let’s narrow it down to two. Let’s put out Relapse 2 months later. That was the original plan. There are so many drug references on the last album; that’s just where my head was at. I came to life again and everything was like new. When they say ‘in recovery’ or ‘in rehab’, it’s like being born again when you get clean and sober. You start appreciating shit that you never thought you would appreciate, like, ‘Wow, look at those trees. Look at nature.’ Before, it didn’t matter. I just started appreciating things more. I got happy when I got sober, broke free from the chains–not to sound corny. I broke free from the chains of addiction and it was just like ‘Ahh, I’m happy again. I’m not a prisoner.’ I was just happy to be back.” (VIBE)
Mr. Porter previously revealed his involvement on Em’s Relapse follow-up.
“This will be the first time I’m producing songs for Em under me without D12,” he explained in an interview. “That’s big for me. I can’t let the cat out the bag yet, but one of the songs is told as if we were back in the day…The reason he’s good is not because being white worked to his advantage. It did a little at first, but all day everyday the kid is writing. I don’t know if Jay-Z is writing all day. He owns multi-million dollar businesses. Em writes all day. Jay probably comes up with lines [and] that make him one of the greatest. I’m fighting, because Just Blaze came in and kicked a**.” (All Hip Hop)
Earlier this year, D12’s Bizarre said Eminem recruited his hometown rap crew for the original Relapse 2 album.
“We’re still recording the third album, and we just finished a songon Relapse 2 for Marshall’s album,” Bizarre said via phone. Tentatively titled “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” Bizarre says the collaboration shows that despite major losses such as the death of co-founding member Proof, nothing can keep the group down. “We’re still family, but everybody’s got their own situations going on,” he added. “No matter what y’all do, you can’t hold D12 down. We’ve been through a lot of shit, but we’re still gonna come back and recover.” (Hip Hop DX)
Em’s new record has received public praise from artists like Fat Joe.
“That sh*t’s crazy,” Joe said in an interview. “That sh*t with him and [Lil] Wayne, [track] number two [‘Talkin’ 2 Myself’]. All that sh*t, man. That n*gga spittin’. Hard…I thought I wasn’t gonna like it, cause n*ggas was sayin’, Yo, it’s rock, and this and that,’ but that sh*t was hard. I was expecting just more regular hip-hop type sh*t. You know what I’m sayin’? It was more like Just Blaze-[produced] rock sh*t…I like that sh*t. A lot. I can’t lie to you…I think he’s back to where he once was…For real. I think lyrically, he’s back to where he was. That’s what I got from the album.” (XXL Mag)
Check out Eminem speaking on Relapse 2 down below:
