S. Samuel
Grammy-winning rapper Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg has confirmed reports of the rapper releasing "Not Afraid" as the lead single from his upcoming album, Recovery.
In addition to the song, Rosenberg also spoke on Em’s re-vamped direction on the Relapse 2 replacement.
“It’s not a dark song, it’s an uplifting song,” Rosenberg tells Billboard.com about the Boi-1da-produced track, which is scheduled to be released this week. About the album’s new direction — reflected in the album’s recent title change — Rosenberg says the set will be “more accessible to more fans. He [Eminem] had pretty much completed a whole second album worth of material but at some point he took a step back, looked at it and said, ‘I think I want to record some more,'” he says. “But in recording, the album started to sound so different and was going in such a different direction that he decided to keep it going and turn it into a whole new album. The last album was really for the core Eminem fans. I think this record will open that up a bit.” Producers confirmed on the album include Dr. Dre, Just Blaze, Jim Jonsin and Mr. Porter. (Billboard)
The single was revealed and confirmed earlier this week.
Just got word from the powers that be that Eminem’s first single “Not Afraid” off Recovery is scheduled to drop sometime this week. Don’t get scared, now. (Rap Radar)
Initial reports suggested the song’s producer was Jim Jonsin.
Now that (what was once) Relapse 2 has started to take the shape of a full body of work, they’ve decided a name-change will reflect that this is now a project that can stand on its own, but is still somehow linked to Em’s last album. The first single is produced by Jim Jonsin, and as of right now, the album also has production by Just Blaze, Boi-1da and DJ Khalil. (Nah Right)
Earlier this month, Em released a statement regarding the album’s release.
“I had originally planned for Relapse 2 to come out last year,” Eminem said via a statement. “But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album. The music on ‘Recovery’ came out very different from ‘Relapse,’ and I think it deserves its own title.” (Statement)
Check out Eminem’s new “Despicable” freestyle below:
