Eminem’s long awaited fifth studio album, Relapse, is due out on the 19th of this month and after getting a sneak peak, I am here to tell you, it does not disappoint. How was I so blessed to have a copy of the album a week early? My younger brother stayed up until 2 in the morning downloading a leaked copy. Umm, I mean, I heard this guy on the train talking about it, wait, umm, never mind. I just know. This is Slims first album since 2004′s Encore, which was a commercial success, but a creative failure compared to some of his earlier albums. This album is straight 1998 Slim Shady LP. It is dark, witty, fast, and filled with phrases and word combinations that can only make you smile with bewilderment and think to yourself, am I witnessing the greatest of all time? And the short answer to that question is simply, yes.

For the past few years, Eminem has dedicated most of his time to producing for many of the artist on his Shady Records Label. He went through a dark period of depression and drug addiction after the passing of his best friend and mentor, Proof, and he stated he wasn’t sure if he would ever record another album. In early 2006, after Em had been released from rehab, he started to work on recording new material. There was speculation that a studio album was in the works, but it was unconfirmed, as Em continued to produce and act as a mentor and leader to the others in his camp. After featuring on other artist’s songs, Eminem discovered he really liked a lot of his new material, and kept recording with Dr. Dre. They have stated that over the past 2 years, about 100 songs have been recorded and mastered. 100! These are Tupac numbers. Lil Wayne numbers. This is especially exciting knowing that at some point these songs will be leaked and spread around the internet. With the conclusion of Relapse, the only 2 people who had the finalized master copies were Eminem himself, and Dr. Dre. The record label didn’t even have a copy to review until 1 month before the scheduled release date because Eminem and Dre feared it being leaked to the internet.

This album was produced entirely be Dr. Dre, with the exception of 1 song being produced by Eminem himself. Em said that he left the production up to Dre because he wanted to concentrate fully on his lyrics. He also said that he challenged the Doctor to create more complex beats, in order to force Eminem to elevate his rhyming ability. Imagine that, Eminem is actually telling Dre that his beats aren’t challenging or complex enough. I’ll bet my life that he is the only person in the world who can get away with something like that. Eminem’s lyrics hold the tone of someone who is so excited to be rhyming that they almost cant rap fast enough. Sound familiar? It should. Eminem’s biggest problem in his earlier days was rapping so fast people almost couldnt understand him. You can hear in his voice that he is so full of energy that he could rap for days. He introduces a new style, which is almost rapping in a Southern tone, which is refreshing and different. I honestly can’t say enough good things about this album. Can you tell Im excited?

Even with the internet, and the ability to get this album for free online, I urge everyone who has even the slightest love for hip hop to go out and spend the 15 bucks on this album. I am here to tell you that this will be the best album released in at least the last 10 years, with a track list that is enjoyable and playable from front to back, like all of Eminem’s albums. Supporting what is real and true to music is what is important, and given the hard work and length of time that was put into this album it only seems right to have the hard copy on hand.

Plus the cover art is amazing.