Thematically, Recovery spent most of its time chronicling Eminem’s hardships in the past several years. For some, this subject matter over the course of an entire album was too much, and they would have preferred Eminem to show his confidence more, rather than talk about how he got it back. The bonus tracks that come with the iTunes version take a different direction, and almost act as fighting songs.
“Ridaz,” produced by Dr. Dre, sees Eminem spitting ferociously about how tough he can be when pushed. The song serves as a good transition from the album’s original material, as Eminem takes action rather than just talking about it. Unfortunately, Dre pushes out yet another good but not so great beat, that keeps the song going but nothing more. The chorus is also kind of flimsy: “So what’s the deal, ridaz/ Will you excuse me before I feel my nuts, my balls are feeling mighty big now.” It’s the musical equivalent of one puffing up their chest and feeling big before they throw down. The real winner out of these two is “Session One,” which features Just Blaze and Slaughterhouse. The song is divided between the different MC’s, each spitting about how great they are. But after an album where Em self-assesses constantly, the boasting is welcome. If anything, this song really shows Eminem with his confidence back. Eminem also works well with the other artist, all of them working in sync rather then over shadowing the other. It would be great to see him work with more MC’s on the next record. If I had any complaints, it’s that Joe Budden’s verse was cut from the final version. Supposedly, the label blocked it from happening, so it was nothing that the artists could control.
Another complaint about Recovery is the lack of traditional hip hop production. Some will be pleased to hear that both these songs are more stripped down. No over bearing samples, just beats and rapping. “Session One” has a very organic sound, with drums and guitar riff underlying the song. It does a good job evoking a theme, alluding to a concert where Eminem is on stage in front of a big crowd, announcing he has some friends he brought along. Both tracks lack the big choruses that most of Recovery had. But it actually comes as a relief to get some more raw and straight forward tracks. Both of these songs are worthy editions to the album and serve as a contrast to the rest of the record. Eminem rapped about being caught in the storm; this is him coming out of it.
