I Don't Know If He's "Back", But A Relapse Is Definitely In Effect

Looks like Eminem has gotten over that whole "IT'S GOTTA BE PERFECT!" thing all creative folk deal with (the good ones tend to have that issue, at least), and is returning to the hip hop landscape.

Mp3's are starting to leak, video snips are starting to spread, and the publicity machine is revving up as only it can for the blonde hip hop wonder. And his return is a two-prong attack...

Officially: His book/memoir, The Way I Am, written with Sacha Jenkins comes out next Tuesday. Music aside, Marshall and Sacha are two of the most creative, smart, compelling minds in hip hop so I'm looking forward to peeping that.

Even more intriguing, however, is the "long-awaited" album, Relapse. There isn't an official release date, but looks like it's definitely coming out before the year's end.

For the most part Eminem's recent appearances have been skillful, but lethargic and not particularly entertaining. What one might expect from a once-hot rapper now dealing with fatherhood and the rest of the world that doesn't care about a hot 16.

Jay-Z dropped The Black Album, his best album, then retired (technically), and has since been fading into old age and diminished relevancy.

But Em is an artist who gives hope for countering that loss of edge. And unlike Jay's Kingdom Come it sounds like his mind is in the right place. From Detroit Free Press:

"I can tell you this much: Slim Shady is back. Not Marshall Mathers," he said. "Slim Shady, that jackass everybody fell in love with? Yeah, he's back."