Relapse

In the past four years, Eminem has endured personal suffering and relapsed into addiction. He cancelled a sold-out European tour in the summer of 2005 and entered himself into rehab. He stopped recording his own music that same year. The following year, Eminem remarried his ex-wife for the third time but divorced about three months later. Shortly after, his close friend, Proof, a fellow rapper from D12, was fatally shot. He then relapsed into prescription drugs and secluded himself from the outside world.

Breaking his four-year hiatus, Eminem released his sixth studio album, Relapse, on May 19, 2009 through Shady/Aftermath/Interscope Records. Dr. Dre produced the album except for one track Eminem produced.

As the first album Eminem recorded sober, he still displays his multi-faceted persona:

He reveals Marshall Mathers on "3 a.m." as he raps over a dark beat sprinkled with soft piano keys with angst.

Slim Shady emerges on "Same Song & Dance." The song initially appears to be shallow bantering to women, but he then gets into a sinister, dark-humored story. He raps, "I would hate for you to be stranded at the Laundromat/ I got your back, why don't you put your laundry baskets in the back," and later, "You just got jacked and body snatched/And it's a rap, in broad day/And no mask for this attack."

While he does have alter egos, it is difficult for one to place Eminem in just one category. He is exuberant and displays clever wordplay on "Medicine Ball." He raps, "Welcome to the Slim Shady mecca, Rebecca/It's the village in New York, right next to the TriBeCa."

Eminem explains how his genetics and mother's prescription drug addiction corrupted him on "My Mom." Over a bouncy beat with dramatic thumps he raps, "My mom love Valium and lots of drugs/That's why I'm on what I'm on/'Cause I'm my mom."

He fully confesses his downward spiral during the hiatus on "Deja Vu." From his daughter's perspective, Eminem says to himself, "Look at my daughter's face/