"Encore, I was on drugs/Relapse, I was flushing them out," he confesses to hard-core hip-hop fans, who haven't been enamored with him lately, on Talking 2 Myself. A few months ago, he had an apparent epiphany about the direction he was headed and announced that he'd scrap a planned sequel to last year's Relapse in favor of a more optimistic Recovery, which arrives today.
The differences in tone and attitude are evident. He aims for substance over shock value, vividly spilling out details of his various tribulations. Gone are the wacky skits and goofy foreign accents. He pulls no punches as he jabs back at critics and whiffs no punch lines as he pummels rival rappers. At the same time, he resolutely confronts his insecurities (Going Through Changes, which samples Black Sabbath's Changes) and his inner demons (Not Afraid). He also deals pointedly with his discomfiture with celebrity (Almost Famous) and the hip-hop industry (25 to Life).
Eminem has always drawn fire for his verbal assaults on women, and he's sure to do so again. Though he keeps the psychopathic contemplations to a comparative minimum (though there is that bondage/arson reference in Love the Way You Lie, which features Rihanna), he still liberally sprinkles in misogyny and takes the obligatory scattered potshots at pop divas.
