A new release by Eminem just came out like gangbusters. The Eminem Presents: The Re-Up contains twenty-three tracks on one disc. Eminem initially conceived the project as “an underground, unoffical CD with raw production values” that featured new Shady Records artists Stat Quo, Ca$his and Bobby Creekwater on several tracks. Much like his mentor, Dr. Dre, the transformation eclipsed the original vision for Eminem’s proteges:

“[W]hat happened is that the material was so good and the tracks were getting produced like a regular album. Instead of putting it out there rough and unfinished, I thought we should add some other new tracks, make it a real album, and put it in the record stores to give these new artists a real boost.”

Eminem executive produced the album and most of its songs, with the exception of a few produced by The Alchemist. Don’t worry, there is no shortage of Slim Shady present on the tracks themselves. His voice comes out like one hundred bullets, and the result is a compilation in true mixtape fashion. What was old is fantastically new yet again.