Tyler, the Creator Talks Eminem’s ‘Relapse’
Tyler, the Creator has talked a lot about Eminem’s Relapse being one of his favorite albums of all time. He’s tweeted countless times about it and told Eminem to his face. He’s referred to the Detroit rapper as his favorite rapper, ever, too. Relapse was Em's 2009 comeback album; it was his fifth studio project after taking a four-year hiatus from music due to his drug addiction, and apparently writer's block. The album is filled with lyrics about rehab and Slim Shady’s return, but was not received well by fans or critics. On his follow-up a year later, Recovery, Em even admitted the album was lackluster saying, “That last Relapse CD was ‘ehh’” on “Not Afraid.” Tyler disagreed though—while he doesn't like “Bagpipes from Baghdad,” he'll tell you Em's flows on “Stay Wide Awake” are one-of-a-kind.
So when he met Eminem in 2011 at Tennet's ViTal music festival in Ireland, he was able to tell Em how much the album meant to him, face to face. Eminem was surprisingly shocked. But Tyler wasn't the only fan; Eminem told MTV later that year that Odd Future was “pushing boundaries and buttons.”
“I think that from the stuff that I've heard—I haven't heard a lot from them, I still have to go check out everything that they're doing—but I've heard enough to know that it feels like they're pushing boundaries and buttons, and that's definitely one of the things that I'm familiar with, especially when I first came out,” Eminem told Sway. “I love it, I love the fact that they're doing that. And the dudes can rhyme.”
With Eminem’s seventh album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, dropping earlier this week, we caught up with Tyler, the Creator to talk about his love for Relapse, and why he'd never really want to work with Eminem. Here’s what he had to say.
I was seven years old and there was a channel called The Box on cable and “My Name Is” came on, and I was like, “Oh my God, what is this? I want more.” I watched that channel every day, and on the third day from the first time I saw the video, it came back on. After that, “I Just Don’t Give a Fuck” came on and I was like, “What the fuck? This is the greatest shit, I need to figure this out.” A little time went past and Dr. Dre’s 2001 came out. Em was on “Forgot About Dre” and I remember watching the making of that video and I was like, “I need to go get this dude’s stuff.” I got The Slim Shady LP and Dr Dre’s 2001 and I’ve been a big fan ever since.
You probably have a favorite food that you adore but you don’t know why you like it, you just know you like it. I don’t know why I liked [Eminem], I just liked it. It just felt cool with me. I like syrup. I don’t know why the fuck I like syrup, it just tastes better than everything else in the world. I just don’t know why I like it—but it’s that one thing I gravitate towards.
It’s so fucking ridiculous to me. I’ve been a big Eminem fan since day one basically. “We Made You” came out, and I was like, “Eh, this is whatever.” I bought the album, and I listened to it the first way through and I was like, “This is whatever, except for a couple songs.” As time progressed, I just listened to it more and more and I realized that it’s probably the greatest work ever.
If we’re looking at some technical rap shit—his flows on ”Stay Wide Awake”—there is not a song with a flow better than that with any rapper, no one could ever fucking—I dare someone to try to give me another song with a flow that creative. I’ve never heard anything like that flow-wise, that shit is ridiculous. “Same Song & Dance”—the songwriting and detail is fucking ridiculous. You have to literally be mentally fucking weird to not like it. He was rhyming words that weren’t supposed to be rhymed. On “Deja Vu,” he got so detailed and personal on that song that it was almost scary. He had a drug addiction but he was so detailed with it and saying it in this nonchalant way like, “This is what the fuck goes on.” It’s so fucking amazing, and then you have songs like “Insane” where it’s why we fell in love with Eminem in the first place.
It’s fucking ridiculous—he’s talking about being fucked by his dad! When you’re 17 or 18 years old, that shit is funny to you. I’m thinking that’s funny. Then you have “Hello” and you could tell he was high out of his fucking mind when he wrote it. The album is just fucking amazing. All of the beats, like “Same Song & Dance” is such an amazing beat, it’s so simple. “Must Be The Ganja,” “Stay Wide Awake,” all of the beats are different.
I hate “Bagpipes from Baghdad,” I’m not gonna lie. I hate that song. The Relapse: Refill songs are ten out of ten. I wish I made “Hell Breaks Loose” just to perform it, just to watch people go crazy. “Drop The Bomb On ‘Em”—like this nigga rapped the word “boy” throughout the whole song. How do you have three verses that only rhyme with the word “boy?” I don’t even think there’s that many fucking words.
Relapse was the last real Eminem album. He didn’t give a fuck. He did what the fuck he wanted to do on that album, and we got that. I think people read other people’s opinions on that album and don’t even sit there and actually listen to see if they like it themselves. That’s my second favorite Eminem album. I’ve been a die-hard fan since day one. It’s Marshall Mathers LP and then Relapse. I fucking love Relapse so much.
I was listening to that the other day and I realized that everything I’ve made prior is so bad. I listened to “Stay Wide Awake” the other day and realized that I suck. I listened to the album because I like the songs and I’m like, “Wow this is amazing. I suck.”
Some of my other favorite Eminem tracks are “Kill You,” his verse on “Remember Me?,” “Superman,” “Rain Man,” “Amityville,” “If I Had.” I fucking love “I’m Shady.” “Nail in the Coffin.” His verse on “Love Me” off the 8 Mile soundtrack, that verse is probably top five verses ever.
When I met him, he didn’t know me so I guess he was kind of shy. It was weird seeing him in person because I’ve never met him and it was like, “Oh, shit, you’re a real person.” Then I just fanned out and told him that Relapse is probably the greatest shit of all time. He was like, “What the fuck? That’s weird, I never hear that.” Then I left. This was somewhere in Europe two years ago. Clancy got me this signed photo from Eminem. It was a photo that never came out, and he signed it for me. He told me to keep pissing people off. I was stoked to hear he’s an [OF] fan. I wouldn’t want to work with him. I just like to keep that distance and stay a fan.
I think Eminem is the greatest rapper ever, that’s just me personally. He’s my favorite rapper. I would say he’s the greatest rapper ever but that’s my personal opinion—it’s not a fact, there’s no possible way there’s facts with that, it’s such an opinionated subject.
[Eminem’s new music] is alright. I don’t know, I’m going to wait until the album comes out. I feel like when the album comes out, there’s probably going to have some crazy shit on there. I’m so stuck on Relapse that it’s so hard for me to listen to anything else, to be honest.