The Returns of Michael Jackson & Eminem!

Two white men are returning to music stages and record shelves at a soon to be closed record store and arena near you!

OK, well one white man — I’m not sure WHAT MJ is these days, besides a role model for Lil’ Kim’s plastic surgeon…

First off — Michael Jackson is returning to stages for the FINAL time (right) for a 10-night run in London at the O2 Arena. Posted this earlier but now it has been confirmed via a press conference today.

Eminem is also finally returning to shelves to save his record label and rap music fans all over the world. Not only is he returning, but he’s releasing 2 albums this year! Now that’s hustling. His “Crack A Bottle” single had set a record when it debuted for most iTunes downloads, but that has since been eclipsed by Flo-Rida’s “Right Round” I believe.

Eminem, the biggest selling music artist of the decade, officially announced the street date of his eagerly awaited new album; his first original studio album in over four years. Relapse (Interscope/ Aftermath/Shady) will be released on May 19, 2009. The first single from the album and its accompanying video will see a simultaneous release on April 7th.

Anticipation for Relapse has been building since the fall, when Eminem first announced the album title and debuted the freestyle, “I’m Having A Relapse,” during an interview on his Shade 45 satellite radio station. Last month, the release of “Crack A Bottle” from Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent brought that anticipation to a head. The track soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Eminem’s second #1 after 2002’s “Lose Yourself”) and set a Nielsen SoundScan record for opening week download sales (418,000). The recording ranked third in the history of all weekly download sales. “Crack A Bottle” will be included as an album track on Relapse.

With the announcement of the release date for Relapse also comes confirmation of something that had been rumored in recent weeks: Eminem is already working on a follow-up album, Relapse 2, that fans can expect in the second half of 2009. “A lot of people were expecting Relapse to drop last year,” said Eminem. “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.”

I’m interested in seeing what kind of sales Eminem gets in this economy. Will hip-hop heads ACTUALLY go out or will Rapidshare get all their ad money from the year from people going to download it there?

And if I had the money, I WOULD SO pay to go see MJ perform. I grew up listening to MJ but haven’t really had the opportunity like our parents did of seeing him live, outside of the sporadic MTV performance. How dope would that be?

Related posts:

1. Really? “This Is It”? RIP Michael Jackson!

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