Em's been sober for 5 years now!

[Just Silver]

i don't think his "decline" has anything to do with his drug use or him being sober.

a lot of things change over time. his voice. his thoughts/beliefs. the industry's standards. and most of all, innovation. 90% of artists never top their early material, because it was innovative at the time. sure em will continue to innovate but not nearly as much as from 98 to 02. nothing to do with him being clean - its just how the music industry is.

Then again drugs open up subconscious creativity either way the innovation point was a good one

[Just Silver]

When's that been argued here lol

[SliK]

To me the SSLP seems inspired by hallucinogens. It's no secret he had experimented with shrooms and the style of writing (sporadic - constantly jumping from theme to theme) suggest songs and concepts pieced together from random thought patterns. Even if it wasn't entirely written on drugs, I think he draws a great deal of influence from them.

Also lets not forget he OD'd after writing Rock Bottom which suggest (at the very least) intermittent drug use throughout the writing process.

[SliK]

Drugs aren't the only way to commit suicide ya know. He obviously had drugs to OD on.. His familiarity with drugs and their effects led him to use drugs rather than a knife on his wrists or something.

Plus I'm pretty sure it wasn't a suicide attempt.

[AbramIsaac]

i don't think his "decline" has anything to do with his drug use or him being sober.

a lot of things change over time. his voice. his thoughts/beliefs. the industry's standards. and most of all, innovation. 90% of artists never top their early material, because it was innovative at the time. sure em will continue to innovate but not nearly as much as from 98 to 02. nothing to do with him being clean - its just how the music industry is.

No...it's undeniable that all of the sedatives he was taking between 8 Mile and when he got sober had an effect on him, and his decline. I don't think not doing drugs holds him back, nor did they propel him to the heights of his earlier work, but they definitely affected his mind during his slump.

Then again drugs open up subconscious creativity either way the innovation point was a good one

There's an argument to be made for some influence on individual songs, but he still would have created great work without the drugs. His mindset early on in his career led to his work, and it also probably influenced his experimentation with drugs, but I don't think his drug use affected his mindset in a major way across entire albums.

It's debatable though, I suppose.

The SSLP is arguably his most creative work. Written sober.

Mostly sober. "Rock Bottom" was written on Percocet (or codeine, depending on your source) *, and his zany style might have been influenced in a tiny way by his experimentation with mushrooms and marijuana, but he wasn't what you would call a "drug person" by any stretch, I don't think.

I agree with your general point though, that drugs didn't "shape" the SSLP.

Thought Em said he didn't really start doing drugs til he started touring?

He didn't do many drugs prior to touring, and he wasn't a regular user either. Still, you'll find evidence of his recreational drug use here and there prior to blowing up.

..........................................................................................................
* [i]Angry Blonde, Page 18: "The night I had recorded the song, I had taken a bunch of pills, thrown up, and was real fucking depressed."

I suppose there's room for debate on that one.

[SliK]

Drugs is a heavy theme of the SSLP and I disagree with the statement that drugs did not shape it. Name one song where drugs aren't referenced. It really is the one consistent theme on a very random album.

Again, I'm not saying he was on them. I think at the very least he was fascinated by them. Lets not forget he was a victim of munchausen by proxy so had already come in to contact with many different drugs like Valium and Vicodin.

[AbramIsaac]

I get what you're saying. I went back to edit it the first time to say it was debatable, because I think it is. I'm just not sure how much of it was actually influenced by his experiences on drugs.

I definitely agree with you about it seeming very psychedelic...cartoonish. And I'll agree, he does seem very interested by them, so I suppose if nothing else, the concept of drugs and that experience may have influenced the writing of the album more than people realize. Without them, he would have been fine, but there are details in the album that were probably drawn from those experiences.

I've gone back and forth on the subject, myself. There are times I think that there was more influence, and times I felt there wasn't.

[Just Silver]

I guarantee if u took drugs out of his career it would've been a drastic tracklist change for every album and some wouldn't exist

[HeySamantha]

Page 66 of The Way I Am book.

He talks about how he never really did "drugs" until he started rapping about them. When he was in Amsterdam promoting The Slim Shady LP that was when people started throwing ecstasy/shrooms/ect at him because they thought he was an addict already. He actually had friends that did that stuff all his life but he never tried it until then.

It's pretty clear that he smoked weed and drank for a lot of his life, most guys in their 20s do. Girls as well, of course.

[Chet Starr]

I will now thank drugs (& Marshall) for making MMLP. It wouldn't of been the same without you.

Fuck you sleeping pills, I know what the fuck you did....

[HeySamantha]

I will now thank drugs (& Marshall) for making MMLP. It wouldn't of been the same without you.

Fuck you sleeping pills, I know what the fuck you did....

I think the biggest issue he has that's drug related is his addictive personality, more than anything. He gets in the habit of something and he has to keep doing it. He mentioned in an interview about how he gets deep into habits. I think he example I'm thinking of was from the RebBull EmSee battle interview, he talked about how if he fell into the habit of waking up every morning and having a red bull as soon as he woke up, he could do that easily for the next 10 years. Drugs and pills do not go well with that type of personality!

[Just Silver]

If he didn't have an addictive personality he'd still make great music well the sporadic thought process

[HeySamantha]

If he didn't have an addictive personality he'd still make great music well the sporadic thought process

I guess but it's a little pre-mature to say that, seeing as how we haven't heard his sober music yet. Relapse and Recovery were all in the very early stages of sobriety, it's almost like he wasn't really~ sober at that point. He was still adjusting, unlike now being 5 years into it. At this point, being sober is more normal to him than it was 3 years ago.

[Just Silver]

didnt think of it like that so it could be completely different than Recovery lets hope

[HeySamantha]

didnt think of it like that so it could be completely different than Recovery lets hope

I think Recovery was a one time only type album. I really don't think this upcoming album will sound like it. But that's just my opinion with absolutely no evidence to back it up hahaha. But like I said above, we have no idea what his 100% sober music will sound like, to me it's exciting tbh!