Guess who’s back? Eminem’s first album in nearly five years, Relapse, topped the Billboard 200 chart and sold 608,000 copies in its first week. Released May 19, that’s more copies than anyone else has sold this year, and comes in second only to AC/DC’s 2008 album Black Ice. Plus, Relapse was streamed over seven million times via his MySpace page before its release. And you thought no one bought CDs anymore.
As one might suspect from its title, the tone of the album is dark, both in beats and rhymes. The rapper avoided the spotlight for a few years while dealing with pill addiction, an unsuspecting methadone overdose and the death of best friend and D12 member DeShaun “Proof” Holton, who was fatally shot outside a Detroit nightclub in 2006.
But where there’s a will there’s a way, and Eminem fought to find it. A few trips to the hospital and rehab proved a success, and Mr. Mathers was back in the studio making more clear-headed music alongside Dr. Dre. Now he’s back with an iPhone game and an appearance at the MTV Movie Awards. No word on a tour yet, but we can guarantee you’ll be seeing more of Slim Shady.
Should you still have ill will toward Mr. Mathers for his past, uh, behaviors, antics and shenanigans, rest assured knowing you’re not the only to one struggle with liking the man or his music.