Eminem, Reflection Eternal

Eminem has been making a lot of noise these past couple weeks as he prepares to drop his newest album, Relapse. He also released a brand new video, “We Made You”, the second single off of the project. Em took time to do a rare interview with Shade45’s Angela Yee in which he talked about the status of Hip Hop, current artists in the game, and of course, his upcoming album

“For a while it seemed like Hip Hop was not really in a good place,” he said.“For like a good three or four years it seemed like all anybody really cared about was having a dope beat and making a good hook, and there was kind of no substance. And [Hip Hop] seems to be coming back…with artists like Lil Wayne, artists like T.I., Kanye [West], I like Kanye a lot too. It just seems like it’s getting back to being in a good place again.”

Eminem has already finished shooting the video for “3 A.M.,” the third single off the album [click to read], and he shared a bit about what else to expect from Relapse.

“[Dr.] Dre made all the tracks. He produced the whole album. So it gave me a chance to step away from the drum machine and step away from trying to make tracks myself.”

Em also talks about his reaction to Vibe readers crowning him the best rapper alive, how he keeps his music from leaking, and the status on Relapse 2.

The album drops on May 19.

In other news, Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek (together dubbed Reflection Eternal) announced on Thisis50.com that they are planning on releasing an album together this summer. Having released an album back in 2000 called Train of Thought, the album will be the duo’s second project together in nine years.

“The record right now sounds beautiful,” said Kweli. “Anybody who’s a fan of the first Reflection album know how me and Tek get down. They know how much work we put in, how passionate we are. They know that the sound that we create has been missing for some time.”

The duo will go on tour with Rock The Bells this year, but have not chosen a name for their upcoming album.