Recovery: Eminem's Apotheosis

[kkaniff]

Recovery: Eminem's Apotheosis
Or
An Actual Recovery Appreciation Thread
I've heard it said, mostly by idiots, that if Eminem had stopped making music after The Eminem Show/8 mile, he would be regarded as unarguably the greatest rapper to ever live.
The idea has its merit; Eminem had released 3 critically acclaimed, multi-platinum albums in a row, was untouchable on the mic, had 8 Mile, and some of the greatest feature verses ever spit, and a streak of W's unparalled in Hip-Hop history.
The idea is also stupid, since he did stop making music after Encore and, while he was generally regarded as a legend, he was in nobody's top 5. Nobody that I knew anyway.
I've seen Recovery get a lot of flack, both on here and on some internet forums, but mostly on here because, apparently, people seem to feel the need to distance themselves from Recovery and all it brought; the influx of teenaged (female?) fans, the re-introduction of Eminem as the centre-piece of pop culture, and the attendant proliferation of casual fans.
The term "Recovery-stan" is even used derogatorily to refer to people who know less about Eminem than you, which is idiotic.
Personally, I think most of the disdain for Recovery comes from the influx of new fans it brought Em, and a sort of rose-tinted, nostalgic view of Em's past work which, apparently, nothing on Earth will ever come close to.
But I digress.
Recovery, as a work of art, is pretty divisive, I've seen people who claim it's the greatest album ever made and I've seen people who claim it's one of the worst. That point of this thread isn't to convince anybody of the artistic brilliance of Recovery- most of the people who think Recovery's terrible are idiots anyway and not worth the energy, word to them niccas in the otherRecovery appreciation thread, and motherfuck the internet for convincing y'all that your opinion matters- but to look, objectively, at what is surely the second most important album Eminem has ever made and the record that'll catapault him into the ranks of the Micheal Jackons, The Beatles and the Elvis Presleys.
Forget what you feel, forget your irrelevant opinions, forget that the window-pane line shattered your immersion in LTWYL and left you emotionally scarred, forget that the bad screaming hurt your tender ears, and appreciate the record that put Em back on top, and one of the landmark albums of this decade

[Notalius]

I do think it was rushed, but we wouldn't have got anything better tbh .. Em knew exactly what he was doing with this album. Look at it like this, Em knew he would have to completely sell out to get to the top again, it wasn't like back in the day when he had a catchy single and it would immediately be played everywhere. Times changed, and so did the fans. That's why people didn't like Relapse. If Em dropped Relapse in 2002 everybody would be on his nuts. It's just, times changed, people wanted to hear something different. Em knew he would have to make this album. It was an album to stay at the top, and not become someone like Nas. A respected rapper that can't get a hit anymore though.

[Devil'sAdvocate]

just shut up lol

Some people just don't like Recovery, let them be, that's called maturation.

[kkaniff]

there's no elaborate stan conspiracy against recovery. a lot of people justthink it's a mediocre or shitty record.that's all there is to it. not everybody'sgoing to love the same thing as you.doesn't mean you can't like it, nordoes it mean other people are "idiots" for hating it.

A lot of people dont think it's a mediocre/shitty record, as evidenced by the record and single sales.
It's just a few overly vocal people on internet forums who think their opinions mean something.

really doesn't feel like an
Em album imo it felt very rushed,
some of the topics are gay af..... I
could care less who he collabs with if
its a good song then be it but a lot of
the songs feels like he's pouring his
heart out to an extent where it really
feels forced

I've said it before and I'll say it again, that's a huge part of the appeal; the way it felt raw and vulnerable and overly aggressive, as if he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince us that he was over his addiction/truly back.
You aren't giving Eminem enough credit if you think he didn't notice how the album sounded and that it wasn't what he was trying to convey.

[Jaba]

Great album. N to these fucks, ITS AN APPRECIATION THREAD, go bitch somewhere else.

I agree with kkaniff i dont feel that its rushed and n many ways it reminds me of tes.

[The Asshole]

I have mixed feelings on Recovery. On one hand I agree with most people it was rushed, production is pretty average to bad, over played pop songs in LTWYL and Space Bound, and the yelling. But on the other some songs are as good as the best in his career in my opinion. I love Cold Wind Blows, Talkin 2 Myself was good, On Fires verses were great, WTP was ok, Going Theough Changes is great, So Bad is very smooth, Cinderella mans verses again good but weighed down by a bad hook, and I enjoy Almost Famous. I think it someways it is overly hated on for a couple reasons, but it is still a flawed album even if I do enjoy it.

[kkaniff]

Menzo
I don't think I was bitching about anybody disliking Recovery, maybe a little bit of my contempt showed but...meh, I can't help it.
The point is; a majority of people do like Recovery, the overly vocal few acting like it's some universally hated album needs to be adressed. If people keep saying Recovery is terrible, it'll eventually be accepted as fact.
Which is stupid af, seeing as there's legitimate proof that most people don't think Recovery is terrible.
@Brainless I got you, fam. Ignore Horse, nobody takes him seriously anyway.

[kkaniff]

Horse
I can see through your clever plan to trick me into insulting you by being obstinately asinine and then get this topic locked by Menzo.
As a counter, I shall be cultured and polite.
Sir, I do not contest the right of the overly vocal few to express their opinion, all I'm saying is; the amount of people who enjoy Recovery as a work of art, as evidenced by the record sales, YouTube views and quotes and the amount of people it has inspired, clearly outnumber the number who think it sucks.
Thereby making the I Hate Recovery Bandwagon a tiny minority, which would mean Recovery is actually universally loved.

[kkaniff]

The number of people listening to it today? I'd say more than the MMLP, or Illmatic, or Reasonable Doubt or any other album released before it. Your point?
As for it being universally loved, it's still getting views-Not Afraid just crossed the half a billion mark-people are still buying the album, it's still the second best selling album of this decade.

[Snakebeast]

Recovery has certainly grown on me these past few months....especially Cinderella Man. But the fact is, most of the songs are fucking stupid and just plain BORING, which is actually weird for an Eminem album. Is it worse than Encore? Hell no. But it's okay at best.

[2PointOBoy]

the re-introduction of Eminem as the centre-piece of pop culture

I feel that that statement could not have been more true.

[Jaba]

Anyways, for those that DO like Recovery. What's your favorite tracks from it? I personally like Going Through Changes (CLASSIC!), Your Never Over (love it, great song to proof, like it better than Difficult cus he's not moaning around complaining, he is celebrating Proof's life, another classic imo), and T2M, CWB, and So Bad I love too.

[kkaniff]

*the* centerpiece of pop culture?
really? sales aren't everything. a wholelot of people consider eminem to be awashed up loser. i disagree, but itdoesn't matter because that's how asignificant amount of people see him.it's not "cool" to like eminem, so there's not a chance he's the singlemost popular celebrity out there,especially not in 2010. he's more well-liked now than he was then.

the stuff in italics are mind-numbingly stupid and do not deserve a reply, the others:
1. http://www.vibe.com/article/year-review ... ruled-2010
Year In Review: How Eminem Ruled
2010
2. forum.trshady.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=104903
Eminem Ruled 2010 -- And Here's
How
3. forum.trshady.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=104597
The Top 25 Music Moments of 2010
by Billboard
4. forum.trshady.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=104257
Eminem Is MTV News' #2 Man Of
The Year
5. Eminem is The Artist Of The Year By
iTunes!!!
forum.trshady.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=103866
All facts, meanwhile you seem to be making stuff up out of thin air.
There's more articles if you want.

[slims]

Is this even necessary? And people wonder why new people never stay...

[kkaniff]

^ I'm confused, why do you feel it isn't necessary?