Follow-up also announced

Mar 6, 2009 14:08 GMT  ·  By

Eminem fans must be having a field day, as the rapper has just announced a release date for his delayed and much-anticipated comeback album, “Relapse.” Not only that, but the announcement also came accompanied by the first promo shot and details on a follow-up material, of which much has been said already, but that has just now been made official. A single and video will precede the album in April, MTV News reports.

According to a press release coming straight from Interscope, Eminem’s label, “Relapse,” will drop in stores on May 19. To make the waiting seem a bit shorter, the rapper will be releasing the first single off it on April 7, which will see a simultaneous launch with the video, it has been said. Furthermore, Eminem himself has confirmed that “Relapse” will have a follow-up, called “Relapse 2,” at the moment, which has prompted many to say that he probably worked on both at the same time, which means that the release dates will be close to each other.

“A lot of people were expecting ‘Relapse’ to drop last year. I was one of them. Then Dre and I went back in the studio in September for a few days, and that turned into six months. We were on such a roll; we wound up with a ton of new music produced by Dre. Putting out ‘Relapse 2’ will let everyone get all of the best stuff.” Eminem says in the Interscope press statement. At the same time, he confirms that “Crack a Bottle,” which saw him working again with Dr. Dre and 50 Cent and brought him a new record for the number of digital sales just recently, has already made the cut for the album, and will be included on “Relapse.”

Speaking of “Crack a Bottle,” 50 Cent hinted in a recent interview that the track might not appear on Eminem’s “Relapse,” since it would be included on his much-delayed “Before I Self Destruct,” as Rolling Stone pointed out at the time. “50 Cent, who contributes a verse to the song, recently told MTV that ‘Crack’ will show up on his perpetually delayed ‘Before I Self Destruct’ before it winds up on Em’s Relapse or even Dr. Dre’s ‘Detox.’ Fiddy also plans to shoot an animated video for ‘Crack,’ along with a video for his own single ‘I Get It In.’” Rolling Stone wrote.

50 Cent also pointed out that his own album would be released shortly after Eminem’s. Given that the latter rapper has finally set a release date for his material, several music-oriented publications are now waiting for 50 Cent to make his move.