Artists do have a convenient outlet for their emotions – their experiences certainly help them with their craft. For Eminem, his battle with substance abuse made for an “addictive” hip-hop album, based on a review by USA Today.
In the track Talking 2 Myself, the rapper shares: “Encore, I was on drugs / Relapse, I was flushing them out.” He used details from his experiences in the album, with the review indicating that he went more for “substance versus shock value.” He also tackles his insecurities in the track Going Through Changes and his “inner demons” in the track Not Afraid. He also dealt with his uneasiness with celebrity in Almost Famous as well as with the hip-hop industry in 25 to Life.
The album is deemed as a great comeback album for the rapper, whose career took a bit of a slack as he struggled with substance abuse, depression and grief.
A post on Testing It Up from last March shared how Eminem turned to – and received help from – another celebrity who also had a personal experience with substance abuse: Elton John. The rapper had admitted to abusing a variety of prescription drugs such as Ambien, Vicodin and Valium.
Recovery was released on June 22 and marked his return to the limelight. TubePotato.net shared the following quote from Village Voice contributor Chris Weingarten: “He’s rapping again, he’s a beast again. It may not be the hottest album. The choruses are still a little corny, but he’s rapping like he was in the ’90s, when he was doing ridiculous punch-line rap on Rawkus [Records] stuff. He’s back to being a crazy wordsmith. He’s being very clear and focused, and it shows.”
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