Eminem - Recovery

The city of Detroit and Eminem are inextricably linked. As one goes, so goes the other. They share the same highs and lows, and when Rolling Stone said that Relapse-era Eminem sounded like "a paranoid monarch presiding over his dilapidated kingdom of Detroit" they were pretty close to the truth. Let's take a look:

1999: Eminem bursts on to the scene with one of the best debut rap albums of all time. The Ford Taurus is the best selling car in America. All of Detroit is riding high on the minivan and other popular innovations.

2000: Slim Shady arguably tops himself with The Marshall Mathers LP. SUV sales begin to take off, making many people in D-town filthy rich.

2002: Em's popularity peaks with The Eminem show. Little do we know that this is as good as it will get. In similar fashion, the Hummer H2 debuts, marking the beginning of the end for the US Auto Industry.

2004: Encore just isn't as good as the three albums that preceded it, but still sells a ton. SUVs keep selling, but they will have no value in just a few short years. People all over Detroit buy houses they can't afford.

2009: Shit hits the fan. Relapse sucks and everyone knows it; GM and Chrysler declare bankruptcy; the era of American domination of the auto industry comes to a close; Detroit is in absolute tatters with an empty downtown, thousands of foreclosures, and a shrinking city that has become the symbol of the failure of American industry.

So does the release of Recovery presage the resurrection of Detroit? Not quite. It's good, much better than Relapse. Here's what I wrote about Relapse when it came out:

"The beats are great, the flow is still tremendous, but I just can't get past his delivery on this album. WTF is he doing with his voice on so many of these tracks? That weird Jamaican wannabe voice sucks. Eminem's regular delivery is second to none, he has no need to do this weird shit."

I guess Slim Shady agreed with me; he says as much on the track Not Afraid. Sticking to his amazing delivery was the right move, but it doesn't fix all the problems. Some of the verses are pretty weak and I find myself playing "find the Dre beat" because a lot of the beats on this album are forgettable.

Not Afraid

With that said, there are some incredible moments. I never, ever expected Eminem to sound contrite and life-affirming, but he manages to do just that on Recovery. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes he apologizes too much. And yet he still finds time to be the scumbag that he is, owning tracks like Won't Back Down and So Bad.

Won't Back Down

So what does all this mean for Detroit? I think Eminem's new album is a perfect symbol for the new normal in Detroit and America in general: things will be good again, but they'll never be like they were just a few short years ago. Detroit and Eminem will survive, but their time on top of the game has passed.



Stew