“Recovery” Album by Eminem turns 11.
11 years ago today (June 18), Eminem released his seventh studio album “Recovery” through Shady Records, Aftermath & Interscope. It was a follow-up to 2009’s “Relapse” and originally planned to be released as “Relapse 2” but was renamed when the Detroit Rapper found the album to be musically different from his sixth studio album. The project featured 17 tracks, which were recorded from 2009-2010.
Slim Shady’s struggle to recovery and sobriety is chronicled on the album. Recovery is also the year’s best-selling physical album, with over 4 million copies sold.
The album featured guest appearances from Pink, Lil Wayne, Slaughterhouse, and Rihanna. The production was handled by various producers including Dr. Dre, Mr. Porter, DJ Khalil, Boi-1da, Just Blaze. “Recovery” was a huge hit as it debuted at number 1 on Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 741,000 in the US. The hit singles “Not Afraid” and Rihanna assisted “Love The Way You Lie” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The Music Videos for both the singles also have over 1 Billion views on Youtube.
Em claimed to felt terrible for dissing Kanye West and Lil Wayne in tracks while prepping the album during an interview with DJ Big Boi in 2014, “Anything that was hot at that moment, or anybody who was really killing shit at that moment,” Em said in the interview. “I felt so bad about myself and the music that I was creating, that I felt like I started to turn into a hater and it wasn’t just singling Kanye and Wayne out at that time period.”
However, there are a few surprises. Eminem’s albums have traditionally been devoid of oestrogen, but on Recovery, he collaborates with Pink (“Won’t Back Down”) and Rihanna (“Love the Way You Lie”). And, while he remains neurotic — a man lost in his own mind — on the new album, he goes a step further, exposing not only childhood traumas but also professional jealousies: In “Talkin’ 2 Myself,” he confesses, “I almost made a song dissin’ Lil Wayne/like It’s I was jealous of him ’cause of the attention he was gettin’/I felt horrible about myself.”
The album won the Grammy for Best Rap Album in 2011 and it was the best-selling album worldwide in 2010. The project also won accolades at Billboard Music Awards and American Music Awards. Since its release in 2010, the album has sold over 7 million copies worldwide.
