Tyler, The Creator Explains Why He Feels Eminem’s “Relapse” > “Recovery”

    Tyler, The Creator continued the is he/isn’t he argument on a recent episode of Funkmaster Flex’s Hot 97 show when he freestyled about “hot butt sex” with men. But the Odd Future founder also touched on some serious topics, including A$AP Rocky’s precarious situation in Sweden and his thoughts on Eminem.

    In 2017, Tyler posted a tweet calling Em’s “Walk On Water” single “horrible.” As a result, Slim Shady included Tyler in his round of disses on last August’s Kamikaze, calling him a homophobic slur.

    During the Flex interview, Tyler made it clear he’s always admired Eminem but also revealed why he was disappointed Em seemed to bow down to public pressure when making Recovery. He also explained why it’s selfish of fans to expect an artist to remake the same album over and over again — it’s simply not realistic.

    “[Relapse] was like, ‘This is the aesthetic and what I wanna go with,'” he explained. “And he went 100 percent with what he liked on there. People trashed it, and he came with the Recovery shit with the pop hooks. The shit worked, and everyone gave high fives. The fans that didn’t really like it [said,] ‘I want the old Em.

    “I want the Marshall Mathers LP Em.’ It feels like he read that, and was like, ‘Damn, you know what? Fuck, let me go back and try to rehash a moment.’ And when people go back, that is the grossest fucking thing. Move forward, get what you’re into for real.”

    Tyler cited JAY-Z’s 4:44 as an example of an artist’s evolution.

    “[It’s] an album very specific to what’s really going on in his life,” he said. “And it’s a perspective that no one else could have. I don’t want you to be like, ‘Fuck, I’mma go back to the old shit ’cause that’s what they want. Fuck what they want, give them what you want. This is just from a fan’s perspective.”

    Although Em admitted anger fueled his Tyler vitriol on Kamikaze, he later said he regretted using the slur.

    “I realized [it was wrong] when I said it, but I was angry when I said the shit about Tyler,” Em told Sway Calloway last September. “In my quest to hurt him, I realized that I was hurting a lot of people by saying it.”

    56 thoughts on “Tyler, The Creator Explains Why He Feels Eminem’s “Relapse” > “Recovery”

    1. If you don’t think Relapse is better than Recovery you are a f–ng moron. This deserved no time at all. Now if you were to put Relapse in the top 3 Em albums then you got yourself an argument…

      1. As a long time Eminem fan, i dont think any of his work is terrible. Like most, watched him grow as a person, rapper, and artist. You can’t be perfect at everything forever. What he did have was heart and wordplay since his beginning and thats what made me analyze all his music and actually appreciate it even if the song wasnt good. It was the effort of that moment that struck me as him being the rap god back in 2001. Hes always dope.

        1. Recovery kicks relapse azz Everytime,an actually recovery is Em last classic album Factz from a unbiased hip hop head who doesn’t care for Em in first place head to head Canibus shreads em lyrically

      2. Relapse is in my top 3, no cap. (#3 to be exact.) I consider it the SSLP on steroids. And it’s one of the best wordplay albums ever.

      3. Relapse is his #1 imo. Best Em album of all time.
        #2 is MMLP and TES (can’t pick)
        #3 is D12 World
        #4 is Encore and Devil’s Night
        #5 is SSLP

        Before you ask why SSLP is so low, I couldn’t tell you. I was born in 92. For some reason, I can’t enjoy rap made before the late 90s. The production sounds wack to me. To this day I can’t enjoy Illmatic because of this. I wish someone would remaster them.

    2. Relapse WAS better than Recovery and MMLP2. Tyler’s right and its facts. Em post-Relapse era seem to be doing what other people want him to do i.e. Paul, his fans stuck in 2001 and etc. The shit he does where he doesn’t give a fuck at all IS his best shit… Relapse, the appearances on that Shady XV album (Vegas, Psychopath Killer), Kamikaze & features like Calm Down, Speedom & Bang is the closest shit he will ever get to his earlier work like MMLP and Eminem Show. Hell even if Eminem said himself he tried not over think droppin’ Kamikaze.

    3. I hated Relapse when it came out, but looking back now it was just that i didn’t expect him to come with that horrorcore style with the accents. I mean, there were still a bunch of wack songs on it, but it felt more sincere than all the pop shit Em has made since then. I can’t imagine Em is such a hip hop head but does those pop collabos by his own free will. I agree with Tyler’s assessment here.

      1. Not a diss at all, but almost everyone has reversed their opinions on the 2 albums.
        Relapse was always the better album.

      2. Em NEVER did a collab with ANYONE outside of his label until 2010. Back when he was real.

        Recovery was the beginning of his shift. Weezy was kinda ok I guess if he wasn’t biting his style. Pink, Rihanna, some random dudes on the hooks. Wtf?

    4. I understand what Tyler is saying but I’m sorry a ‘fan’s’ perspective and an ‘artist’ perspective can really be the same since what he said could come from either. Just because Tyler likes to put weird tracks out there trying to show that he is being real, doesn’t mean that artist that don’t do that with every album aren’t. I’ve always wondered if some of Tyler’s stuff isn’t what he feels his fans want because it’s not the norm. You really don’t know, but how he can assume what Em was thinking or doing at the time of these albums is beyond me. He simply doesn’t know that Em bent to society or fans. There is song after song on Recovery that are clearly from Em’s heart and what he was going thru prior to and when he put out Recovery. Tyler might want to take off those ‘bias’ glasses of his and keep his opinion to himself cause people can say the same thing about him. Plus his opinion doesn’t really mean much to the masses when it comes to Em. Sorry.

      1. And that’s exactly why you gotta be an artist to understand what he said.

        Em lost his flow in Recovery. Some tracks are still good, the tracks that were supposed to be on Relapse 2/Refill, but all that not afraid and crying about his life shit was trash. I get that he needed to put it out, whatever. But he never really bounced back from that. His flow just got worse and worse. And he embraced the whole “taking metaphors literally” thing that Weezy ran to the ground around that time.

        Relapse was, technically and artistically, fucking beautiful. The accent that everyone hates on was used to make the tracks more melodic, to make them flow better. That’s why Relapse sounds so damn fluid and “well put together” artistically even though it was Dre who produced it, not Em. Basically Em turned his voice into an instrument like Kanye does and made something beautiful out of it. Most people can’t understand that, but artists do.

        He was also performing some songs in different time signatures, which again no one understands or cares about but is really hard and impressive. That’s the real Em to me. He challenges himself for the fuck of it even if no one gets it.

        Now? Corny ass bars with dad jokes and no flow. Recovery made me cringe a lot, but it still had some treat redeeming moments (mostly created years before and shelved). Everything since 2010? Pure cringe.

        Eminem himself acknowledges that people only started liking/caring about his music when he stopped giving a fuck with SSLP. So why the fuck did he start giving a fuck in 2010?

        He dropped that one shitty album asking fans not to turn their backs on him with Believe. “if you walk on me now I’ll never let you live this down” or some shit. Well, everyone slept on it because it was trash. Where is his wrath? Kamikaze? Fucking joke. I legit got excited when MGK first dissed him. I thought it might kick Em back to life. Nope. The whole beef was a publicity stunt to make old people and kids of this generation go back and listen to Em’s old shit to realize how good he is. I mean was.

        His legacy will never be forgotten. No matter how much he keeps shitting on it.

        1. No, i’m sorry, but you don’t need to be an artist to understand what he said. When people say they don’t like Recovery, Revival or even Kamikaze then I personally think they themselves haven’t grown as a person musically. I think technically we can all agree Relapse was a masterpiece but the accents either worked for people or they did not. I wanted to throw the dam CD right out the window, but to this day I still listen to it. How anyone can not appreciate the other 3 albums I mentioned is beyond me. I feel more connected to an artists music when it touches me, or is a personal reflection of them that they chose to share with us. And that’s exactly what he did on all 3. He was going thru real shit on all 3 albums and if you don’t get that, you really don’t care about what he was going thru. Which is fine. Music to me is also a mood, and no matter what mood i’m in or kind of day i’ve had, I can pop in anything of his and everything is right in the world and i get a big smile on my face or literally burst out laughing at his humor. That’s a great entertainer!

    5. Recovery had some fire songs. Recovery(song) was probably my favorite song that summer I personally think Em showed some growth. But a lot of songs were trash. My older brother played Relapse a lot. Personally I’m not into that silly rap shit. So I guess preference is everything when judging both albums.

    6. Recovery is Eminem’s worst album. Nothing but yelling. His song with Rihanna is horrible.

      Gay Accent >>> Yelling on every song.

      Encore >>> Recovery

      Recovery is one of the WORST hiphop albums of ALL TIME. It is Eminem’s WORST album of his CAREER. Revival is trash too.

    7. Relapse is Eminem’s best album of the 2nd phase of his career… Look at SSLP, MMLP, TES and Encore…. Then Relapse as a moment where he came back, run with what he wanted to do, got slated and then went all Hip-Pop with Recovery, MMLP2, Revival then tried to be himself again with Kamikaze… Dude went from not giving a fuck (on first 4) then taking the criticism to heart (Relapse) and trying to conform, becoming a full blown pop artist (Recovery to Revival) then eventually trying to get back to not giving a fuck but 10 years too late (Kamikaze)….. I just wanna see Em not care and do what he wants, dude must be able to fuck what the label thinks and put out his own shit by now, unless he likes the pop shit!!! Problem is he ain’t got a clue what to rap about no more… He just seems to say the same shit in different ways faster and faster these days!!!

      1. Hopefully Kamikaze is the 3rd phase and we gonna see Em be more hip hop again and quit collaborating with Pink etc… Just rap man, but slow it down a bit… Yeah cool, you can rap fast.. So can I but just try and say something and reconnect with the true fan base instead of pleasing the Ed Sheeran loving side of your fan base… Real rap fans respect you Em for your standout moments but the legacy is getting ruined with moments like Walk on Water and The Monster!!! I know it’s 10 years old but last song with real substance was Deja Vu off Relapse….

      1. Ur dumb they’re all good in they own way of course slim shady ep and marshall lp is his best i would put his lp2 and kamikaze in that category plus infinity but all of his albums have what r greats

        1. ‘dumb’ because I have a different opinion on some music to you. Look in the mirror dipshit.

    8. Relapse and Recovery are both dope albums. I go back and forth on which one is better. They are so different from one another.

      1. They’re both boring albums IMO and I say that as someone who owns every Em album. When someone fails to reach their potential so many times in an album it is disappointing.

    9. I’ve been listening to Em since SSLP came out. When Relapse came out, I didn’t really like it. But years after, I noticed I was getting really into it. Surely it has some bullshit songs on it too, but most of the album is really good stuff. Recovery is crap, MMLP 2 only has some good songs on it and… Well, that one album I don’t want to name out loud, that still does not exist in my head. Kamikaze had the vibe of the old Em I really love, but he was still kind of holding back… But it was a step in the right direction that I personally seem to favor. Still listen to Kamikaze album every now and then.

      1. Bizarre is the only good track he made since those 3 good ones (one was a promotional freestyle) on Recovery

    10. Relapse is one of the few albums that is like 90% produced by dr .dre, my favorite eminem album

      1. The production isn’t the reason it’s so good lol. The beats are nothing fancy. It’s Em’s pure artistic genius that makes it so good, even if no one understands it.

    11. That bullshit accent ruins Relapse.

      His first 3 albums were dope and everything since has been utter trash.

    12. Listen, we can all go back & forward about this and we still know it’s a personal preference. I really don’t understand the need to call people an f’n moron or any other names. Em’s fanbase is as huge as it is because as we all know he reaches the masses all over the world, all ages STILL, and all races (yes black ppl do bump his shit). IMO it’s because everyone gets something different from his music, which is exactly what an artist should do & he is the GOAT at. Honestly, Eminem has never put out a bad album, i don’t believe he even can. Every single one of them is of different quality of different times periods and points in his life and reaches us all because of that. As long as he’s making music, even as a feature, I’m perfectly okay with that. It’s when he stops that will be one of the worst days in my life.

    13. Too many beats sound the same across Eminem’s albums, I want to hear beats that are not similar to what he usually raps on. If he ever does another album I want all different producers, zero self-produced or Dr. Dre track either that also goes to Rick Rubin. They should never work again on a track/album, MMLP2 was trash I gave it one and a half listen and couldn’t go back.

    14. I like how you know-it-all fans think you know which version of him is the best. Fuck that… Can we quite arguing about what we want from him and just hope he continues to put out music. Even if there are a few wacky songs you dont like. We are losing so many greats more and more frequently. Let’s hope he continues to rap and do what he’s good at for all of us to enjoy. I think we can all agree when he tries to be something different/ we get alittle nervous about it.

      BUT why can’t we all just hope he puts out good music and be fucking grateful he’s alive and blessing us with music. Fuck all you whining snob spoiled social degenerate pigeon toed nerds who think their opinion rules all and feel they need to go smearing his name in hope they get a certain sound. It’ll never happen. Shut the fuck up. You people are getting really obnoxious with your selfish shit

    15. Ems one of the best but imo not the goat…you go by an artists albums, songs…like how many do they have and how great was their best work.

      Most Inspiring-Tupac
      Best Hustler and Flows-Jay Z
      Best Lyricist- Nas, Em, Biggie, Raekwon, Ice Cube, Big L
      Most Classic Albums-Tupac, Jay Z
      Best Music Work Ethic- Lil Wayne(04-09) Jay Z (96-2003)
      Best Live Performers- DMX, Lil Wayne, Jay Z, Kanye West
      Most Consistent Catalogue-Tupac, Jay Z, Biggie

    16. No one cares what you think Tyler because you’re trash!! Just watch the full interview and peep your “freestyle”. You suck lol

      1. “No one cares what you think” says the guy that just watched an hour interview and freestyle.

    17. Relapse is an excellent album and as far as rhyme patterns and schemes from a technical stand point is arguably em at his best

    18. So in other words.. build a fan base off of rap.. and then sell out and go pop like everyone else including Tyler’s gay ass?? Ok gotcha.

    19. Man this dude wasn’t as famous and successful as he is right now when Eminem extended a hand and allowed him and his crew to tour with him on back to back sold out shows which definitely played a role in jump starting his musical career and then he goes out and trashes him publicly! if he had a bit of respect, he wouldn’t do it even if it was true.. that’s why Eminem dissed him… regarding Em, I think Kamikaze is really him and what he wanted to do for a long time but with label pressure and many yes men around him, he released bad albums such as Revival (I’d still rather bump it than any of Tyler’s trash albums).

    20. That’s it. Every failed artist and F list celebrity who is 100 jealous of Eminem is sharing their stupid little opinion of a man that has outshined them a trillion times over. lol. It’s the talentless bitter parade. And yeah, I siad talentless, cause Tyler hasn’t made one track I ever gave 2 shits about. He’s trash and this is sad.

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