The Reaction to “Relapse” Changed Eminem

When his comeback LP was received not as the work of a conquering hero returning to his kingdom, but as a disappointing grasp at previous relevance and shock value, it led to Eminem completely changing his approach

This originally appeared on The Passion of Christopher Pierznik

A few weeks ago, Marshall Mathers III, known to the world as Eminem, released an eight-minute track titled “Campaign Speech,” in which he takes aim at all sorts of individuals, most especially Donald Trump.

While much of the reaction to the rhyme was based on its lyrical content, I was struck by something else entirely: there’s no beat. It isn’t completely a capella — there is supporting orchestration present throughout — but there’s nothing to bob your head to, no bassline.

While this is rare throughout much of hip-hop, this is not new territory for Eminem. Over the past year and change, he has spit rhymes sans a beat every chance he’s gotten, from his six minute polemic on “Sway in the Morning,” to the intro on last year’s D12 mixtape, Devil’s Night, to even the Shady CXVPHER, where he managed to convince (force?) Slaughterhouse to also eschew any musical backdrop.

This is how Em raps now. Since the beat is a nuisance, something that gets in the way of his unending tirades, he forgoes one every chance he gets. He knows that he can’t get away with that on albums, so he now chooses instrumentals that allow him to race all over the track without having to worry about staying on beat, a fact that was broached in Pitchfork’s review of the awful Shady XV compilation:

“Even at his peak, his rapping was never melodious, but at his nadir, he has all the musicality of a leaf-blower. The production functions simply, like a stopwatch: It’s there to tell him when to start and when to stop, and occasionally a juiced-up power-rock chorus interrupts him. Submitting production to an Eminem album must feel, for a producer, something like a novelist feeding their manuscript into a wood chipper. On the one hand, you are guaranteed unprecedented exposure, and on the other, you are all but ensuring that no one will notice a note of your work.”

In the early days, Eminem was the ultimate MC, someone that could ride any beat at any time. While I’m convinced he can still do so, he consciously chooses not to.

So what happened?

Relapse.