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THE RETURN OF EMINEM WITH NEW ALBUM TITLED "RELAPES"
By Hip Hop News
04/14/09
Nearly five years after his last album of new material, Eminem is headed back into the limelight. "Relapse," the first of two promised
albums for the Detroit hip-hop icon this year, will hit stores May 19.
The record's saucy first single, "We Made You," was released last week
amid much hoopla.
And
now the fanfare -- which has been on a steady simmer since the autumn
release of Em's autobiography -- is set to flash to a boil.
But
the big question remains: A decade after he broke onto the pop-culture
radar, firmly securing Detroit's spot on the hip-hop map, does Eminem
still matter?
Cynicism would be easy: His 15 minutes are up. He's old news; in fact, he's old. His audience has moved on.
But
that's not the mood of industry analysts, culture watchers and fans as
the rapper emerges from seclusion. Does Eminem still matter? They
answer with a resounding yes, absolutely. "Relapse," they say, is shaping up to be a bona fide Event.
One
thing is certain: The 36-year-old rapper faces a dramatically different
world than the one that gave "The Slim Shady LP" a huge welcome in '99.
Eminem isn't just a hip-hop elder statesman -- he's an elder statesman
in a battered industry. No matter how well "Relapse" performs in
relative terms -- and it's a sure bet to top the charts -- the album is
unlikely to accumulate the same raw numbers as Eminem's previous
best-sellers.
His top career disc remains 2000's "The Marshall Mathers LP," which has moved more than 10 million copies, according to Nielsen Soundscan "Encore," released in 2004, clocks in just over the 5 million mark.
"It's
a new game now," says Mike More, a marketing specialist and CEO of the
online media company Nabbr Inc. "But a brand name still means equity.
And anyone who has that -- like Eminem does -- already has a running
start."
In other
words, Eminem benefits by being a star who became a star when he did,
securing his status before the Internet made such a triumph far more
difficult.
EMINEM RELAPES IN STORES MAY 19 SHADY/AFTERMATH/INTERSCOPE
