Friday, April 30

Havoc Of Mobb Deep Speaks On Working With Eminem

Earlier this morning on his Shade 45 Sirius Satelite radio station, Eminem revealed that Havoc landed a spot on his new album, Recovery. XXLMag.com quickly picked up the jack to speak to the Mobb Deep beatmaker—an self-described Shady fan—about how he got one of his beats on the disc.

According to the Queensbridge-native, he has been submitting music to Mr. Mathers for years. “I been trying to get placement on an Eminem project for the past two years with no success at doing it ’cause you know they pretty picky over there and rightfully so,” he said. “So I almost landed a placement on [Relapse] but for whatever reason it didn’t happen. I was never mad, but my philosophy was keep hitting them ’til something [stuck].”

The philosophy seemed to work perfectly. Em ended up picking a track that Hav produced alongside his new protégé, up-and-comer Magnedo7. The hip-hop composer, known for his dark, moody productions, describes the track as a flip of a 1960s pop song, which he failed to name.

Havoc’s longtime associate, who also serves as Eminem’s tour DJ, The Alchemist took to his twitter account this morning to congratulate H-A-V. “Hate that I didn’t make Em’s album,” he wrote, “but i love the fact that my big bro Havoc did! Salute!”

The rap vet told us that, “The feeling is mutual. Whenever we both get a big placement we always patting each other on the back, and there’s no animosity or jealosy cause it almost feels like if I made it, he made, and if he made it, I made it. And it just makes us go that much harder.”

Eminem’s Recovery is set to hit stores on June 22. Along with Havoc, it will also feature production from Just Blaze, DJ Khalil, Jim Jonsin and Boi-1da.

Friday, April 16

Eminem Was 'Open To Ideas' On New Music, Jim Jonsin Says

Jim Jonsin is a former Fire Starter and a repeat Behind the Beats subject. Jonsin is rolling with a string of hits for people such as Beyoncé, but the Miami beatmaker is ready for the world to hear his latest endeavor with a man he's been waiting to chop it up with in the lab for a while: Eminem.


"He was open to ideas," Jonsin recalled of working with Em on Recovery. "He was real respectful to my craft. He let me do what I do. He asked me ideas on some of the lyrics. We had ideas for lyric changes. Certain words may or may not work on radio. We talked about that. He had a setup outside of the room to do production, but I'd rather be in the room where he was at, and he was cool with that. And I knocked out a couple of joints in there while he was in there with me. He was pretty open and he let me do my thing. He did his thing. It was a pretty good experience."

Jonsin is leaving most of the info under wraps, but he did say Mathers went to a place where the producer had never gone before.

"We touched on something that I haven't done anything like that before," Jonsin revealed. "It's unique in a way for myself. It's a place I've been wanting to go, and I'm so happy he allowed it to go down. He played a huge part in the record. Without him on it, it's not the same. I don't wanna give up too much about what it is and what direction."

Double J also said Slim Shady is hungry and sounds like he did on his first couple of projects. "He's got some traditional Eminem on there, but he's definitely going in. The fans are gonna love it."

Eminem's Bumpy Road From Relapse To Recovery

News about a hip-hop album being pushed back multiple times or even scrapped entirely in favor of fresh tracks is not exactly a shocking development these days. But when the artist is Eminem and the release is the highly anticipated sequel to his comeback album, 2009's Relapse, every scrap of information is treated like a Dr. Dre-blessed gold nugget.

So it was confusing on Wednesday when Slim Shady shocked fans by telling them that there would be no Relapse 2. Just like that, after a year of hype, Em had given up on part two, which was reportedly going to be more emotional and lyrical than the first installment.

Just hours later, though, he revealed that it would be replaced by a whole new album called Recovery, due out on June 22. Wait, what?

The long and winding road to Recovery began way back in November of 2008, when details first began to leak out about Relapse. By January of 2009, 50 Cent revealed that Relapse was "almost done" and we soon learned that it would drop in May.

By March, it was already known that Marshall had recorded so much material that he planned to put out a follow-up LP by the end of 2009. Because the reclusive rapper didn't do many major interviews to set up Relapse, most of the news about his plans came out through 50 and other members of G-Unit.

"You can't ask for more excitement from a hip-hop perspective than two Eminem albums," 50 said in March of 2009. "One is great. It's a treat. But the second one is exciting. ... Actually, it was my idea for him to release two albums, because he had so much material over a time period," Fif added. "The [second album] kind of feels like a sequel. They're both written to one album topic almost, that it felt like part one and part two of the [same album]. They tie together."

A month later, Em himself revealed on his Shade 45 Sirius satellite station that he was planning to release Relapse 2 at the end of 2009, since he was already almost done with it.

"It's extremely close to being finished," he said of the sequel LP at the time. "It just depends on how many songs I wanna put on it." Around the time of the first album's release, there was a lot of talk about the blood-drenched video for "3 A.M.," the run-in with Brüno at the MTV Movie Awards and some smash first-week sales, but then things got a bit quiet for most of last year, save for a few beefs with the likes of Mariah Carey and her hubby, Nick Cannon.

By September, talk of Relapse 2 heated up again as DJ Whoo Kid promised a more "maniacal" Slim Shady. "The comeback is crazy," Whoo Kid said about Em's return earlier in the year while previewing new tracks he'd heard. "What I really laughed at was the Mariah Carey [dis record]. That was funny. But that's nothing compared to Relapse 2. What I heard, that's just 2 percent [of the intensity]. Eminem from back in the day has returned. The crazy, lyrical, maniacal Eminem is back. Maniac! ... Now that he's comfortable, now he's gonna be like [a monster] in Relapse 2. Good luck, people."

A month later, Em said that he was bringing in production help for 2 after letting Dr. Dre helm all but one of the first album's tracks. Again speaking on Shade 45, he told Whoo Kid that Just Blaze would be sparking some tracks, along with Mr. Porter, a D12 member.

"I definitely feel like I'm in a little different space right now," Em said about the sequel album. "With the last record, it had a lot to do with me getting sober and just my eyes being open again and my brain went into overdrive. With Relapse 1, I was just trying to prove to myself that I could do it again. It was a [re-introduction] and what made me in the first place with the zany, loony, ridiculous sh--. I felt like a lot of that album, I kind of wanted to [spit] rapid-fire and [do] punch lines."

Shady also revealed that he and 50 had recorded songs for each other's albums and that a duet with Fif would likely end up on Relapse 2. At that point, the album was still expected before year's end.

That same week in an interview with DJ Tony Touch on Shade 45, Slim said the second effort would portray his more emotional side. "[The album] is gonna be a lot different than people expect," Eminem said. "As far as the contrast from the last album to this one ... I went back to songs that are more emotionally driven. The last record I made, I think I was concentrating more on spitting. On this album, I feel like there's some of that, but I went back to songs with [feelings] to them as opposed to just rap records."

While he tried to prove he could spit again on Relapse after suffering from some crippling writer's block during its genesis, Shady said he broke free and wrote three albums' worth of material, which his camp decided to cut down to two releases. Because he was working so hard on the second half, Em said he made few appearances over the last year, but would consider touring once both parts were out.

"During the process of me getting sober and starting to record again like I used to, I got so excited about making music again that I wanted to concentrate [just] on that," he said. "I started recording so many records that we thought about putting out two albums. Then that became my motivation. I wanted to stay grinding and keep making music. But the time I got engulfed in [Relapse 2], it just kind of worked out this way, where I wanted to fall back from live performances for right now and concentrate on making the best music I could make. After this record comes out, we'll see what happens from there."

Blaze confirmed in late October that things were going well with his new collaborator and that they had made solid progress on 2. In mid-November, there was a sudden shift in plans and it was announced that a bonus version of Relapse entitled The Refill would drop on December 21, with five new songs and the hit Drake track Em guested on, "Forever."

"I want to deliver more material for the fans this year like I originally planned," Em told his official Web site. "Hopefully these tracks on The Refill will tide the fans over until we put out Relapse 2 next year." In an interview with Complex magazine in December, Shady further explained, "When I finished Relapse, I had a whole album of material that didn't make it that I wasn't ready to throw away, so that was going to be Relapse 2. But then I got with Dre in Hawaii and started recording more, and now the new material has knocked out all the old songs. But yeah, the new material is definitely different."

And then radio silence ... until this month, when Blaze popped up again and said that Eminem "[is] really back spitting. The wordplay is crazy, the metaphors are crazy. He's really back on his game. He had his ups, he had his downs, he's back way, way, way up. This is definitely going to be up there with the best of his albums, for sure, for sure. The fact that he's branched out working with a lot of different people now, collaborating in a lot of different ways that he never has before, I think he's going to surprise a lot of people."

That hype boosted expectations, until Em mysteriously announced on Wednesday that "there is no Relapse 2." Period. No explanation. Fans were left dumbfounded. Was it really possible that one of the most anticipated and hyped albums since Wayne's Tha Carter III could just vanish into thin air without ever getting released?

And that brings us to a few hours later when, just as abruptly, Shady announced that while he's scrapped 2 he's got a renamed effort, Recovery, slated for release in June.

"I had originally planned for Relapse 2 to come out last year," Eminem said in a statement. "But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album. The music on Recovery came out very different from Relapse, and I think it deserves its own title."

We don't know much about it, except that it has production from Blaze, DJ Khalil, Jim Jonsin and Boi-1da and that it's coming out in six weeks ... unless it doesn't.

Are you looking forward to hearing Eminem's new songs? Let us know in the comments below!

Thursday, April 15

New Eminem Album Recovery Release Date June 22nd

After announcing earlier that "There is no Relapse 2", Eminem has now tweeted "RECOVERY http://www.eminem.com". On his website there is a press release stating Eminem's new album will not be called Relapse 2 but Recovery to be released on June 22nd.

Full Eminem Press Release
SANTA MONICA, CA - April 15, 2010 - The much-anticipated new album from Eminem, Recovery (Aftermath/Interscope), will be released June 22, 2010, it was announced today by Interscope Records. On Recovery, his seventh major label studio album, Eminem has reached out to an exciting list of first-time collaborators, including DJ Khalil, Just Blaze, Jim Jonsin and Boi-1da, among others.

Eminem releases Recovery just over a year after his last album, 2009’s Relapse. Relapse put the cap on an impressive ten years of recorded output, and contributed to Eminem being the biggest selling artist of 2000-2009. In recognition of this, Neilsen SoundScan named him their Artist of the Decade. Relapse entered the charts at #1 and, at nearly double platinum, was the best selling rap album of last year. It also earned Eminem his 11th Grammy award, winning in the Best Rap Album category. Relapse’s first single, “Crack A Bottle” from Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Eminem’s second #1 after 2002’s “Lose Yourself”) and set a SoundScan record at the time of its release for opening week download sales (418,000). The album also spun off two other hits; the Top 10 “We Made You” and Top 20 “Beautiful.”

"I had originally planned for Relapse 2 to come out last year," remarked Eminem. "But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album. The music on Recovery came out very different from Relapse, and I think it deserves its own title."

Eminem has sold more than 78,000,000 albums worldwide. After 1999’s quadruple platinum The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002) became two of the Top 5 best selling albums of the 2000s, with approximately 10,000,000 copies of each sold in the U.S. alone. 2004’s Grammy-nominated Encore reached #1 and was certified quadruple platinum. The #1, double platinum, 2005 greatest hits collection Curtain Call: The Hits and #2, platinum, 2006 various artists compilation Eminem Presents: The Re-Up followed.


So everyone get ready Shady is Back. Recovery in stores everywhere June 22nd.

Eminem Collaboration 'Was A Gift,' B.o.B Says

Eminem is a busy guy — he isn't exactly the most accessible artist to work with, which is part of the reason his guest spots on songs like Lil Wayne's "Drop the World" and Drake's "Forever" are such big deals. He doesn't just do it for anybody, because not just anybody can keep up with him. So when the track list for B.o.B's debut album The Adventures of Bobby Ray was released, it was a surprise to see Em's name included.

B.o.B scored a guest spot from an enthusiastic Eminem on "Airplanes (Part II)," also featuring Hayley Williams of Paramore. Marshall Mathers said manager Paul Rosenberg introduced him to B.o.B's work, starting with his first mixtape Cloud 9, and he liked what he heard.

"Paul Rosenberg played him the Cloud 9 mixtape and it kind of gave him an idea of what my music [sounds like]," B.o.B explained. "Eventually he started playing Em more of my stuff and was keeping him updated on my progress and eventually he wanted to get in the studio with me, so that was a gift."

According to B.o.B, working in the studio with Em was like being in a laboratory with a mad scientist, watching and observing how everything works. But he was happy to find that while each artist has different methods, they're all trying to find that zone.

"It's really reassuring to know that every artist has a way of working but it's all ... the essence of it all is to get in that vibe and to get in that zone, and everybody has a different way to get in that zone," B.o.B offered. "It's good to see a different way, because you know, 'OK, I can do this or I can do that.' It kind of showed me where I was thinking inside of a box and where I can open up even more."

What do you think of the collaboration between Eminem and B.o.B? Let us know in the comments below!

Friday, April 9

Ice Cube Calls Out Eminem, Dre, Kanye & More

Ice Cube wants everyone to know he hears what they have been saying. At a recent "Paid Dues" show, Cube told fans what he had to say. "There's been a gang of motherf*ckers talking sh*t about your boy Ice Cube," he told fans at a Paid Dues concert. "I love it though -- I got a message to the new emcees in the house right now...You can't diss Dr. Dre. You can't diss Eazy-E. You can't diss Ice-T. You can't diss King Tee. No, you cannot diss Ice Cube. No, I ain't going for it. And any of you young motherf*ckers that do want to diss, I got one thing to say before you do it. You better check yourself before you wreck yourself."

In the song "Drink The Koolaid" Ice Cube calls out EVERYONE... check out his verse below calling out Kanye, Dr Dre & Eminem

"I rock the Louie, but not like Kanye
I ain’t the doctor,this ain’t the patient.
This ain’t the nigga always on vacation.
  This ain’t the white boy’s rehabiliation."

Eminem Says Drake Used To Hang In Detroit

Bizarre's new "Friday Night At St Andrews" album hits stores on May 18th but in the mean time, he recently was in the studio with Eminem working on some new music and found out a little news. "Drake used to come to St. Andrews, back in the day, on Friday nights. He was really good friends with Elzhi from Slum Village. I just found that out through [Eminem]. Marshall just told me that when I was in the studio with him." Drake has referred back to Slum Village, Elzhi's group, on his popular So Far Gone song "Fear". Located near the city's Financial District, the venue was a key stage for many of Detroit's would-be stars, including Slum Village, Royce Da 5'9", D12 and a particular Toronto emcee that used to travel three hours to attend, Drake.
Source: RapBasement

Eminem Slays Features On BoB Track

Hayley Williams, a member of the rock group Paramore, not only confirmed our ealrlier report that Eminem is on BoB's album but he says Eminem being on the song doesn't go unnoticed as he "slays" her feature. "I was given the track a while ago while we were on tour," Williams said in an interview. "The guys and I all loved it. They told me I was crazy if I passed it up. I liked the part too much anyways, so of course I was down. I only found out about Eminem getting on the track like a month ago. As if the song couldn't get any better. He just slays me, he's such a genius. And I'm a big B.o.B fan. Got everything of his that I've been able to get my hands on. Whether our fans know or not, I'm not sure, but [Paramore bassist ] Jeremy [Davis] and I have always been really into hip-hop. It means a lot that I got to collaborate with a hip-hop artist who is from Atlanta. Not far from home. We Southern gals love us some Southern gentlemen."

Source: RapBasement

Saturday, April 3

Eminem's New Music Will 'Surprise A Lot Of People,' Just Blaze Says

It seems like the only time Just Blaze isn't in the sky these days is when he's working. Blaze has been DJing at places like the Winter Music Conference when he isn't busy traveling back and forth and producing for people such as Jay Electronica and Eminem.

"I'm working on Eminem's album still, so I've gotta hurry up and get back to Detroit," Just said. He was fresh off the turntables at club Grand Central during the Fool's Gold party in Miami, where he spun a two-hour house set. "I've been back and forth — Detroit, New York, Detroit, New York, Miami, back to Detroit — for like the past two and a half weeks. [The album], it's getting there, but we still got a lot of work. So I wish I could stay [in Miami] longer."

Blaze says he's sworn not to reveal too much about Eminem's album, but he's already calling it a classic, one of the ultimate efforts in Slim Shady's storied catalog.

"As far as what's going on in Detroit, a lot of good music is being made," Blaze said of Em. "He's really back spitting. The wordplay is crazy, the metaphors are crazy. He's really back on his game. He had his ups, he had his downs, he's back way, way, way up. This is definitely going to be up there with the best of his albums, for sure, for sure. The fact that he's branched out working with a lot of different people now, collaborating in a lot of different ways that he never has before, I think he's going to surprise a lot of people."

Other than Em, Blaze has Jay Electronica on his plate, but what about the super-producer linking back with the other Jay, as in Young Hova? Just says he talked to the Jiggaman right before the U.S. leg of the Blueprint 3 tour ended.

"Maybe," he answered with a sly grin about whether or not he and rap's G.O.A.T. would collaborate again. "You never know."
Source: MTV


Are you excited to hear Eminem's new music? Would you like to see Just Blaze and Jay-Z reunite? Let us know in the comments below!