Reviews:

Audio Mixers: Dr. Dre; Eminem.
Lyrical acrobat Slim Shady returns after a five-year absence with his fifth major label release, continuing to strike the perfect balance between brooding insight and absolute silliness on 2009's RELAPSE. Opening single "Crack a Bottle" reunites Detroit's maddest rapper with his superstar mentor (Dr. Dre) and protege (50 Cent) on a fittingly funky tour de force.

Generation Twitter/Facebook is prone to oversharing (to put it mildly), so when an artist takes any time off, the speculation is both rampant and ridiculous. To be fair, it has been a pretty substantial five years between records for Marshall Mathers, but short of 8 Mile 2, we’ll never know if he, for example, gained enough weight to resemble an actual M&M (peanut variety). Regardless, the "unretirement" looks like a good idea so far. "Crack a Bottle" leaked almost three months before Relapse’s street date, and did so to great acclaim, sharing verses with not only 50 Cent, but Dr. Dre—both of whom are no strangers to lengthily delayed albums. The latest word is that both 50 and Em are planning two records in 2009 (although Dre’s Detox is still notoriously nonexistent). We just hope all of this signals a return to the creativity and poignancy of The Marshall Mathers LP.