Eminem Will Relapse Twice

Eminem will release his long-awaited Relapse on May 19, and will make up for his time out of the spotlight by issuing a companion disc recorded with producer Dr. Dre later in the year.

"A lot of people were expecting Relapse to drop last year," Eminem said in a news release announcing the two LPs. "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."

An unfinished version of Relapse track "Crack A Bottle" (featuring Dre and 50 Cent) leaked online in December and broke first-week digital sales records in the U.S. when it was officially released last month by Interscope Records, but it's not considered the first official single. An unnamed new single and video will be released on April 7.

Eminem has sold more than 75 million albums worldwide. His last studio effort was 2004's Encore, while his biggest seller is 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP. The Detroit rapper's Eminem: The Way I Am autobiography was published in October.