EMINEM ‘RELAPSES’ WITH DR. DRE December 16, 2008

 

Eminem is back in the studio with his original producer Dr. Dre for “Relapse,” his long-awaited album due next spring from Shady/Interscope.

 

      “Me and Dre are back in the lab like the old days, man,” Eminem told Billboard in an interview conducted via email. “Just him banging away on tracks and me getting that little spark that makes me write to it. I don’t have chemistry like that with anyone else as far as producers go — not even close. Dre will end up producing the majority of the tracks on Relapse.’ We are up to our old mischievous ways … let’s just leave it at that.”

 

       Several songs from the “Relapse” project have already leaked online, most recently “Crack a Bottle,” leaving Eminem “really heated. It wasn’t close to finished, and it even has me doing guide vocals for Dre as a suggestion of how he could lay his verses down. It’s like someone catches you peeping in your window before you got the Spider Man costume all zipped up! Nobody is supposed to see that. We are gonna finish it up though and get it out there how it’s supposed to be.”      

       Eminem also responded to producer Swizz Beats’ recent comment that he’d submitted a track for the project described as a sequel to the hit single “Stan,” telling Billboard, “I haven’t worked with Swizz on this album.      

       “There isn’t a ‘Stan 2,’ and there won’t be,” he says. “Stan drove his car off a bridge and I’m not writing a song as Stan’s ghost. That would just be really corny.”      

       While working on “Relapse,” Eminem was also writing his autobiography, “The Way I Am,” with Sacha Jenkins. The book has received favorable reviews and has spent time in the top 20 of the New York Times hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list.      

       “For me, writing an album is an entirely different process from making this book,” he says. “The album requires a certain focus of mine that I can’t really explain — let’s just say it’s all I can really do while I’m doing it. With the book, the process was much more spread out, like, ‘Let’s get you together with Sacha for a few hours next week. Let’s go thru these photos and artwork, etc.’ The book was a lot more of a focus here-and-there thing as opposed to music, which totally consumes me every second.”      

       Eminem goes into great detail in “The Way I Am” about how much he was impacted by the 2006 shooting death of fellow Detroit rapper Proof, who was one of his best friends.      

       “Opening the book with Proof’s chapter was real important for me,” Eminem says. “Everything from my past moving into my future is marked by his passing. It’s sort of like life when Proof was with us, and life after — a real dividing factor. He means more to me than a book chapter could describe, but I’m glad I was able to put him first, like he did for me so many times.”

Stat Quo Leaves Shady Records November 21, 2008

 

If you’re not Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, or Eminem they’re not really trying to put your album out”

When asked how many release dates he had during his time at the label, the rapper quipped, ‘That’s like sayin’ how many kids Shawn Kemp got?’

Seemingly forever Stat Quo has been plugging his unreleased albumStatlanta, even going so far as to visit publications to play the goods. But as of this week, the Atlanta rapper is not only album-less, but he’s also without a label. 

“I’m no longer down with Shady/Aftermath,” Stat Quo, who signed to the label in 2003, told Sixshot. “I wasn’t really seeing my career move at the rate that I wanted it to. I didn’t see an end in sight in terms of a release date for my album.” 

The rapper says that besides being on label projects like the Re-Up, he got no love. 

“If you’re not Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, or Eminem they’re not really trying to put your album out and I can understand that with the music business being the way it is. It was just my time to go.” 

Stat says his album was supposed to have dropped “three and a half years ago.” When asked how many release dates he had during his time at the label, the rapper quipped, “That’s like sayin’ how many kids Shawn Kemp got?” 

Stat, who is currently just releasing mixtape music now, says that he’s not bitter about the split.

“I’m not mad, I’m good. I thank [Eminem and Dr. Dre] for everything they did for me. I think that’s some ho ass shit when somebody leaves a team and then talks shit about them. That’s not my style.”

AMAZON LISTS RELEASE DATE FOR EMINEM CD October 29, 2008

 

Amazon.com is listing Dec. 23 as the release date for Eminem’s new album “Relapse,” however, his label Interscope insists a street date has yet to be scheduled, reports Billboard.com.

 

       The rapper recently spoke about the album in an interview on his Sirius satellite radio station, Shade 45. He also played a song from the set, titled “I’m Having a Relapse.”      

       “For the last five months I’ve been working pretty much straight with (Dr.) Dre. There’s going to be a lot of material, more so than I’ve had on an album with him producing before,” Eminem told BBC Radio last week.      

       Eminem’s last studio album was 2004’s “Encore,” which has sold 5.1 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

EMINEM ENDORSES BARACK OBAMA October 23, 2008

While promoting his new book “The Way I Am” on BBC Radio, Eminem was asked which presidential candidate he would be supporting on Election Day.      

       “I will vote for Barack Obama,” the rapper told host Zane Lowe. “I can’t get too political honestly because I don’t know enough about everything to know what’s going on.      

       “I know we’re going into a recession and, pardon the cliché, but we need something to change. I think Barack would be a breath of fresh air to get what’s left of the Bush administration out of the door.”      

       As for his upcoming album, “Relapse,” Eminem said he’s had a lot of input from his mentor, Dr. Dre.      

       “For the last five months I’ve been working pretty much straight with Dre,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of material, more so than I’ve had on an album with him producing before.”      

       He added: “Obviously his beats are insane but aside from that I can rap, I can write and not worry about what the beat has to sound like and how loud a snare drum is. All those things are taken care of for me. I feel like a spoiled rapper. I get to pick and choose everything.”      

       The rapper said he has no plans to tour at present and, referring to his previous success, has “no desire to be that big again.”

EMINEM TITLES NEW ALBUM ‘RELAPSE’ October 18, 2008

At a release party in New York Wednesday night for his new book “The Way I Am,” Eminem announced that the official title of his upcoming album is “Relapse” and will be led by first single “I’m Having a Relapse.”

 

       The disc is due sometime before the end of the year,” reports Allhiphop.com. Previous rumored album titles were “Empack” and “King Mathers.”      

      In related news, the Detroit native and Nike’s Jordan brand are teaming once again to create Eminem custom Jordan sneakers.

 

       The Jordan 2, which is the rapper’s favorite in the Air Jordan collection, will be produced by Eminem in different colorways than then original AJ2. The limited edition kicks also come with handwritten lyrics from various Eminem songs.       

       In honor of Detroit and its 313 area code, only 313 pairs of the sneakers were created, with all proceeds going to Eminem’s non-profit, The Marshall Mathers Foundation, which helps disadvantaged youth in the state of Michigan.

EMINEM, DR. DRE HELP 50 CENT ‘SELF DESTRUCT’ October 16, 2008

Rapper 50 Cent has production and guest turns from his mentors Eminem and Dr. Dre on his upcoming album “Before I Self Destruct,” due Dec. 9 via Shady/Aftermath/Interscope. Producer Scott Storch helmed first single “Get Up.”

 

       According to Billboard.com, the package comes with a 90-minute, feature-length movie about an inner city boy named Clarence who seeks to avenge the death of his mother. 50 Cent wrote, directed and stars in the movie. (View trailer below.)       

        “My film captures the harsh realities that reflect so many communities today,” 50 Cent said in a statement. “There will be some who will greatly identify with the characters and the situations presented and then there will be others who may be shocked at the struggles that go on in the inner city. I made the film for both groups.”      

      

“Before I Self Destruct” Trailer

EMINEM TO HOST PARTY FOR HIS BOOK RELEASE October 15, 2008

Rapper Eminem is scheduled to throw a release party for his upcoming book “The Way I Am” on Oct. 21 at an undisclosed location in New York, reports Allhiphop.com.

 

      The 208-page book from Dutton Adult, a division of The Penguin Group, is described as a collection of the Detroit rapper’s personal stories, photographs, artwork, never-before-seen lyrics and reflections.

 

       Due in stores the same day as the release party, the book comes with a DVD featuring unreleased interviews and personal footage of Eminem.      

       Fans will be able to listen in to the event via Eminem’s Shade 45 Sirius satellite radio station, which will broadcast from the venue with hosts Angela Yee, Drama King DJ Kay Slay, while producer The Alchemist will man the turntables.

NE-YO WANTS HIS LIFE STORY ON FILM October 2, 2008

 

      He compares the project to Eminem’s 2002 biopic “8 Mile,” which was “inspired” by the Detroit rapper’s early path toward stardom.

 

       “We are putting together the (film) right now as we speak, as a matter of fact,” the artist tells Rap-up.com. “The name of the movie is ‘Venice Beach’ and basically it’s going to be my ‘8 Mile,’ loosely based on (my) life, but not really.”

 

       Like Eminem, Ne-Yo plans to star in his film, which carries the title “Venice Beach.” His acting resume includes an appearance in 2007’s “Stomp the Yard.”

EMINEM BACK IN THE STUDIO September 22, 2008

Eminem says he’s currently recording material for a new album that could be released by year’s end.

      “I’m concentrating on my own stuff right now — just banging out tracks,” Eminem told listeners of his Sirius XM satellite radio station, Shade 45. “The more I keep producing, the better it seems I get. I start knowing stuff, learning the boards like the back of my hands.”

 The Detroit rapper said he was producing tracks for both himself as well as artists signed to his Shady Records label.

 A rep for Interscope said there is no official release date for the project, nor a first single, but confirmed that an album may arrive before year’s end, reports Billboard.

      Rapper 50 Cent, with whom Eminem has collaborated in the past, spoke to BBC Radio 1 this week and said fans will be “seeing (Eminem) shortly. “He’s working. I spent the weekend at his house,” said 50. “Even though he tries to relax and stay home, it’s impossible for him to stay in.”

EMINEM’S MAMA RELEASES TELL-ALL September 19, 2008

Debbie Nelson details what it’s like to raise a rebellious teen-turned-rap superstar in her new tell-all memoir “My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem: Setting the Record Straight on my Life as Eminem’s Mother.”

 

       The book, due in November, follows her son’s teenage years, his rise to stardom and the strained relationship between the two. Also included are photographs and never-before-seen lyrics and poems written by Marshall Mathers before he adopted his stage name.      

       According to MTV.com, Nelson said she was troubled by the disparaging things he said about her and his upbringing in public, but he reassured her that the fouler he was, the more the audience loved him.      

       “At first I went along with it for Marshall’s sake — if I made one mistake as a mother, it was giving in to my eldest son’s every whim,” she says, noting that some relatives commented that mother and son were so close, it was as if the umbilical cord had never been cut.       

       “He never knew his father, and I did all I could to make up for it. I wasn’t happy when he made up a whole new life for himself — what mother wants to be known as a pill-popping alcoholic who lives on welfare? To tell the truth, I was heartbroken. The lies started coming thick and fast — and not just from Marshall. … I think he’s forgotten the good times we had, and this book is my way of setting the record st