The album was released on May 15, 2009, under , , and. It was his first album of original material since 2004 , following a four-year hiatus from recording due to his and an addiction to prescription sleeping medication. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2007 to 2009 at several recording studios, and , , and Eminem handled production. Conceptually, Relapse concerns the ending of his , rapping after a non-fictional , and the return of his Slim Shady alter-ego. The album has also been certified double platinum by the. The album has sold over 2. Relapse received mostly mixed reviews upon release—critics praised the production, but were divided in their responses towards Eminem's lyrics and performance. Over time, however, critical and fan reception towards the album has changed, with many praising the horror-core aspect and emotional depth of some songs, and the album has found a cult following. Since 2005, Eminem intended to take a break from recording his own music to become a for other rap acts, especially for the artists signed on his own label Shady Records. However, Eminem entered his hiatus after cancelling the European leg of the in the summer of 2005 because of exhaustion and an addiction to prescription sleeping drugs. In the following year, the rapper's remarriage to his former wife Kimberly Scott lasted only eleven weeks before a second divorce, while his best friend and fellow rapper was later shot and killed during an altercation outside a nightclub. Devastated, Eminem relapsed into and became increasingly reclusive. But, for some reason, in hindsight, the way I felt was almost like it happened to just me... Maybe at the time I was a little bit selfish with it. I think it kind of hit me so hard. It just blindsided me. I just went into such a dark place that, with everything, the drugs, my thoughts, everything. And the more drugs I consumed, and it was all depressants I was taking, the more depressed I became, the more self-loathing I became... Also, rapper — a member of the hip hop group — stated that the release of the group's third studio album was on hold because wanted to release Eminem's album first. By the end of the year, additional musicians associated with Shady Records — including , , and — had confirmed on different occasions that the rapper was effectively working on a new album. On September 12, 2007, during a call at the radio station Hot 97, Eminem stated that he was in limbo and was not sure whether he would release any new material in the near future. He then elaborated that at that point he was constantly working in the recording studio and had come to terms with his personal issues. However, in December 2007, he was hospitalized because of an of. In early 2008, he began a to recover from his addiction; in a later interview, he said he has been sober since April 20, 2008. Eminem had continued recording throughout 2005, and released most of this work on his Shady Records compilation album. Eminem began the major recording stages of Relapse in mid-2008, after completing a to control his drug addiction. Eminem would then or record vocals one line at a time before interrupting and then recording another line. At the same time, according to Eminem's song rights supervisor Joel Martin, the rapper began to collect additional songs without noticing it. He would often record or produce material initially intended for the musical projects of other artists, but end up with tracks he really liked. Eminem purchased the Effigy Studio in , in 2007, and ended his working relationship with much of his former production team of the 54 Sound , including the Bass Brothers. In September 2007, Dr. Dre stated his intention to dedicate two months to the production of Relapse. Dre allowed Eminem to concentrate on the processes of songwriting rather than the production, which was largely taken care of by Dre. The rapper justified his choice of using Dr. This allowed the rapper to pick the from Dr. Dre's catalog that challenged him -wise to experiment with different. The making of the album progressed at the Effigy Studio up to a year after, as recording sessions were then moved to in September 2008. By then, Eminem had begun to start writing verses again at such a pace that he often took more time to record the lyrics than write them. Dre would start the song-writing process by giving a number of his beats on a CD to Eminem, who in a separate room in the studio would listen and select the ones he preferred and inspired him the most. Eminem would then write lyrics to the instrumentals, while Dr. Dre and his production staff continued to create new music. Once he felt he had written lyrics for enough songs, Eminem would dedicate an entire day to record his songs to the point that he would lose his voice for the following days. At that point, the rapper would then begin to write lyrics for new songs. The process continued for the next six months and allowed Eminem to have enough material for a second album, initially called Relapse 2, which became. The song was finished in January 2009 and featured vocals from Dr. Dre and 50 Cent. Despite the leak, the album was being completed in a state of near-total secrecy, according to the British newspaper. Even , the multinational owner of Interscope, had no information on the album at the time. On April 23, Eminem suggested he and possibly Dr. Dre were the only ones in possession of the final copy of Relapse; his manager added that even Eminem's record labels were not in possession of the music less than a month before its release to prevent possible. The song was produced by Dr. Dre and features Eminem lyrically depicting himself as a murderer of several people. Problems playing this file? In an interview for , Eminem described the concept behind Relapse to be the ending of his and thus rap as if he was on drugs again, as well as the return of his fictional Slim Shady. What does a serial killer look like? He looks like you. You could be living next door to one. If I lived next door to you, you could be. Ben Kaplan of the also categorized it as a horrorcore album. On the song, Eminem also
