Eminem Recovery Digipak

Eminem Recovery
Analysis 1

In this blog post i am going to talk about Eminem's Digipak and exactly how it could be representing the rapper and his story.

Front

So what we can see here is the cover of Eminem's Recovery Album As you can see it has a dark and gloomy feel to it.

So we can see:

Lamposts/power lines

Yellow Line

Recovery Title

Parental Advisory logo

Grey/blue sky

Dull atmosphere

Stereotypical clothing for a rapper; Jeans, trainers, hoody, hat.

The rule of thirds is also in use in this picture as well.

So the feel we get from this cover is that it is a dull and lonely path that Eminem is walking. We can also tell straight away that the stuff he is talking about is personal and explicit due to the parental advisory logo. The way Eminem has his back to the audience looking at the cover is also not by accident. We cannot see his face yet we know who the rapper is. This is because of the way he has been represented through is film (8 Mile) with the clothing he is wearing and his very distinctive walk.

The power cables and the yellow line, run for as long as we can see, possibly showing that the road he is walking is long and on going, also possibly showing that he has not finished with his career yet. The way he is walking on the road, could possibly represent the fact that he is on the road of recovery after his relapse album was a flop, and he went into rehab for addiction to valum. With very little on the cover we get a lot from it.

Inside

So the inside of the Digipak also has a dark feel to it but in this image we get a sense of loneliness for the rapper, so he has boxed himself in away from the rest of the world.

So can we see:

Blue/grey sky

Trees

Building

Recovery Title

TV

Wires for TV

Speakers

Glass Box

Sofa

Books

Eminem

Centre of town - notice there is no people around though.

So again with this shot there is a very dull and down feel to the shot as Eminem is the only person in the shot. The trees, may show us that the rapper Eminem has found some new life in him to create this new album and the tree represents his growth over the past 5 hard years of his life. The buildings look very posh and almost very fake possibly showing that Eminem does not fit into this environment considering he grew up in the gritty streets of Detroit. The Recovery title fits into this situation as he is on his own and during his recovery time he probably felt lonely, depressed and boxed in, So the picture where he is lonely and on his own is his recovery process.

The TV could represent all of the stories surrounding this rapper, and he most likely doesn't have the TV on because he is not interested in all of the fake stories that people make up about him. The speakers are there so he can listen to his music and remember how well he was and his rise and fall with his flop album Relapse. Relapse was not a complete flop though, Eminem Beautiful was released with this album and that is a fantastic song.

The glass box locks Eminem down to this confined space which is probably how he felt whilst he was in rehab. This also means that he is not able to communicate with other people so it shows that he is on his own from here on out, and that he needs find a solution to his problems by himself. Eminem is reading books and possibly watching TV in this image so it shows that he is fulfilling his need for knowledge with the books, and keeping up with the latest news possibly to draft up some new ideas for his rap.

CD

There is not much on this CD cover but the cross is the sign for help/health. This shows us that the rapper again is on the road to recovery from the cover of the album and the way the CD spins when it is playing shows that the recovery process is going round in circles. Maybe not in a bad way. One possible meaning is that one way Eminem has recovered from his dark days is by doing something, if it worked or went well repeating this until he felt comfortable with it.

Back

So here we can see Eminem staring directly at the camera and just to the top of his head we can see "Eminem Welcomes You To Detroit". So the city in the background is obviously Eminem's territory as such, in this are Eminem is the most famous rapper, he put Detroit on the map. We can also see that he is on the sofa with books and a remote in his hand most likely watching TV and this shows that Eminem feels most at home whilst he is in Detroit.

We can also see the songs on the album and the barcode.