Eminem on 'MMLP2’: 'It's About the Nostalgia'

In less than two weeks, Eminem will release his eighth album The Marshall Mathers LP 2. So what can fans expect from Shady this time around?

“[It’s] not necessarily a sequel, as much as it is a revisitation,” the Detroit rapper told Rolling Stone of the follow-up to his iconic 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP.

“So there’s not gonna be, like, continuations of every old song on there or anything like that,” he added. “To me, it’s more about the vibe, and it’s more about the nostalgia.”

He recorded and then scrapped dozens of songs in the process. “Calling it The Marshall Mathers LP 2, obviously I knew that there might be certain expectations,” said Em. “I wouldn’t want to call it that just for the sake of calling it that. I had to make sure that I had the right songs—and just when you think you got it, you listen and you’re like, ‘Fuck, man! I feel like it needs this or that,’ to paint the whole picture.”

Rick Rubin, who produced the first single “Berzerk,” also serves as the album’s executive producer alongside Dr. Dre. “Getting with him was like, ‘Holy shit!'” Em said of the Def Jam founder. “As many genres of music that he is able to fuck with, he’s like Yoda. I couldn’t do it. You sit me there with a rock group, I don’t know the first fucking thing about banging on the drums.”

He has been working harder than ever to get the album done in time for its November 5 release. “Aside from around the time of The Eminem Show, when I was also doing the 8 Mile movie and soundtrack and score and shit like that. This is probably the equivalent of that, but all focused on the record,” he said.

In addition to Rubin, MMLP2 features Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Skylar Grey, and fun.’s Nate Ruess. Just last week, Eminem debuted “Rap God,” which enters at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week.