Eminem as The Punisher in XXL Magazine

“Relapse,” Eminem’s comeback album on the rap scene, drops in stores on May 19. With a fresh new single off it on air and a video to match, the rapper is back to doing the media rounds to promote his upcoming material. The first stop is XXL Magazine, where Em takes on comic book character The Punisher in a fierce photo spread, while also revealing some details about his addiction and pain following his friend’s death, and the evolution of the rap industry in his absence.

Speaking of the latter, Eminem says that, over the past three years, he noticed that more and more artists were heading towards catchy beats and commercially viable tracks that lacked substance. Luckily, Em adds, the situation seems to have mended recently, with T.I. and Lil Wayne coming out with albums that are really worth the attention of fans of the genre. At the same time, the rapper admits to keeping up to date with everything that has been happening in the industry, which, of course, makes his arguments more solid, it has been said.

“I stayed up on the music, and obviously I watch TV and saw what was going on. And without naming any names, it just felt like hip-hop was going downhill. And it seemed like kinda fast. You know, in [these] three years, it was like everybody just cares about the hook and the beat; nobody really cares about substance. But with this new T.I. album, with this new Lil Wayne album of recent, it seems like things are looking a lot better now. […] It just seems like now the craft is getting cared about more.” Eminem tells XXL.

In the same interview, Eminem also opens up about his addiction and the pain he felt after his good friend Proof was murdered. As it usually happens, he too did not realize he had a drug problem until it was too late – and it took him three years to acknowledge this fact. Still, he says, he struggled to keep on making music, a task he successfully completed. Eminem ends by hinting that he never actually left the music industry (therefore talk of a “comeback” becomes redundant), because he was always there, even if his name did not appear in the media.

“I wasn’t ready mentally. I wasn’t ready to give up the drugs. I didn’t really think I had a problem. Basically, I went in, and I came out. I relapsed, and I spent the next three years struggling with it. Also, at that time, I felt like I wanted to pull back, because my drug problem had got so bad. I felt like, Maybe if I take a break, maybe this will help. I started to get into the producer role more…” Eminem says about the last three years of his life.