First 50 Cent started talking about the return of Eminem and then Em himself spilled that he might be releasing an album of new material “this year” … and, according to News of the World, it looks like that is exactly what’s going to happen. Eminem appears ready to come out of retirement and release his first new studio album in over two years called King Mathers:

HIP hop, yer don’t stop—especially if you’re still SLIM SHADY. That’s right rap fans. Throw ya hands up in the air, and wave ’em like you just don’t care . . . for I can reveal that the Em-pire will strike back this Christmas. After years out of the rap game, the world’s most popular lyrical gangster EMINEM is back and spitting dope rhymes in the studio again. I understand that Slim Shady will stand up in style with a new album called King Mathers. Slim, real name MARSHALL MATHERS III, revealed: “I’m writing and producing again, banging out tracks—and the music just gets better and better” … The 35-year-old megastar has sold a staggering 80 MILLION records and now his label Interscope Records can’t wait for his new release by the end of the year. My source tells me: “It’s exciting times and, of course, there’s massive expectation surrounding this new record. “But the fans need not worry about its quality. Most of the music’s being mastered at the moment. There’s a real belief the album will go stellar.” The 8 Mile actor has teamed up with fellow hip hop rhymesayer 50 CENT in the studio. I’m told the pair have been spending hour upon hour at the mixing desk in Em’s Detroit home perfecting one of the biggest comebacks since the SPICE GIRLS. “Eminem is out to realise his full potential,” adds my man in the recording suite. “The volume and quality of music he’s producing is prodigious.” It’s good news for the controversial rapper after years of hurt. The star who brought us classics like Way I Am and Stan, confronted an addiction to sleeping pills in 2005. But the doting dad—still embroiled in an ongoing slagging match with mum Debbie Nelson—has revealed that the worst is over and he can finally concentrate on his music, which is great news for his legion of fans. He says: “For a while, I didn’t want to go back to the studio. I went through some bad times but I’m coming out of those. It feels good.”

I find it very interesting that in the same year that both Britney Spears and Xtina Aguilera are releasing new music (and that Britney is making a genuine “comeback”) Eminem is releasing music in a comeback of his own. That the height of Britney and Xtina’s fame, Eminem also enjoyed his own staggering fame … fame that was built, sometimes, on lampooning the poplets and boybands that also ruled the airwaves at the start of the new millennium. It really is like 1999 all over again. It’s weird to think of these people all grown up. I’m curious to see if Em can achieve the same success that he enjoyed in his hey-day. Tastes change … will the public be ready to welcome back the real Slim Shady again?

[Source]

Despite the fact that he once claimed that he was ready to retire from making music forever, it now looks as if reports of the return of Detroit’s own Eminem to the music biz have some validity. Earlier this week, it was reported that 50 Cent was talkin’ about Eminem’s return to music-making and now the Real Slim Shady is doing some talking of his own:

It’s the return of Slim Shady! Ending a four-year break from music, rapper Eminem says he may release a new album this year. “I’m concentrating on my own stuff right now – just banging out tracks,” Eminem said in a recent interview on Sirius satellite radio station Shade 45. The rapper, 35, will continue to produce for other artists on his label, Shady Records. “The more I keep producing, the better it seems I get. I start knowing stuff, learning the boards like the back of my hands.” Eminem may have shelved his professional life since 2004’s Encore, but he’s stored up a lot of personal material for his next album. In 2005, the rapper entered rehab to treat a dependency on sleeping pills. In 2006, he re-married his ex-wife Kimberly Anne Scott, only to file for divorce three months later. His mother, Debbie Nelson, who famously sued her son for $10 million over alleged slander in his debut The Slim Shady LP, has written a memoir titled, My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, to be released in November. “I do truly believe that Marshall will be back,” Nelson writes in the book. “I’m sure he’s biding his time, waiting for the right moment, and when he does return, he will be bigger and stronger and more successful than ever. I know my son, and he just doesn’t give up that easily.

Oh man … a new Eminem album AND a memoir written by his estranged mother? Something tells me the shizz is gonna be hittin’ the fan any day now. Now, I’m not the biggest Em fan (nor am I a fan of some of the things he has to say) but I can deffo respect the man and his art. I think he reps Detroit very well and for that, I gotta give him his props. I am very intrigued by the idea of new Eminem material … has he evolved? Has he grown? Will he have an entirely new sound? I suppose we’ll be finding out, hopefully, very soon.

[Source]