Eminem: 'I wasn't sharp enough on 'Relapse''

Eminem has revealed that he doesn't think his mind was sharp enough on his last album, 'Relapse'.

Speaking about the album, which was his first since 2004's 'Encore', the rapper reasoned that he was still trying to give up drug addiction during the recording process.

"Making 'Relapse', I was still working the drugs out of my system, so there was a lot of... just jokey shit. It was a lot of punchline-y, funny, shock value – kind of going back to 'The Slim Shady LP'," Eminem told Complex.

"It wasn't until I got into songs like 'Stay Wide Awake' that it felt like my mind got sharper. I became more on-point towards the end of recording the album."

With work on the album's follow-up, 'Relapse 2', now approaching completion, Eminem added that he's now more content with his level of songwriting.

"The new material is definitely different," he revealed. "Now I'm going for songs instead of one-liners. I don't want to make shit that you hear once and then the joke's over; I want to make records that you could play a hundred times, a thousand times."

Eminem is due to release an expanded version of 'Relapse', called 'Relapse: Refill', on December 21.