Eminem – Relapse

“I was born with a dick in my brain / Fucked in the head / My stepfather said that I sucked in the bed / ‘Til one night he snuck in and said / We’re going out back, I want my dick sucked in the shed,” Eminem rhymes on “Insane.” The dark, disturbing track about child raping off his new release, Relapse, attests that the lyrical monster is back after five years on hiatus.

What had he been doing during those time? After his disappointed Encore, Em spent four years between overdosing and going in and out of rehab. Drug is in his blood and he blames his mom for it: “Valium was in everything food that I ate / The water that I drank fucking peas on my plate / She sprinkled just enough of it the seas in my steak / So everyday I have at least three stomach aches.” Only last year that he returned to rap instead of drug to get high.

Although Em has been away for quite a bit, he proves to be at the top of his game. He never delivers the same way twice and Dr. Dre’s minimal grooves allow him to push his flows and concentrate on his lyrical wit. Still, he wastes way too much rhymes going after celebrities: Mariah Carey on “Bagpipes From Baghdad,” Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears on “Same Song & Dance” and a whole bunch of others on “We Made You.” But then again, a wicked cut like “Underground” testifies that Mr. Mathers still matters. Em is at his best when he spits his anguish and personal experience.