Trick Trick talks about albums from Eminem, himself

DetNews wrote:Eminem's new album will feature the full-fledged return of Em's celeb-skewering alter ego Slim Shady, according to Em's pal Trick Trick.

"Everybody gets it. No one is safe," says Trick, a close friend and cohort of Eminem. "He is showing no mercy. Slim Shady is a (13-letter curse word), and he's back."

Eminem set aside his Slim Shady persona, effectively killing him off on "When I'm Gone," a track from his 2005 greatest hits set "Curtain Call." A resurrection of sorts would seemingly signal a return to the days when Em savaged pop culture targets such as the Spice Girls on 1999's "My Name Is," *NSYNC and Christina Aguilera on 2000's "The Real Slim Shady" and Moby on 2002's "Without Me."
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There is still no release date for Eminem's still-untitled album, his first studio LP since 2004's "Encore." It is expected to be released before the end of this year, though there has been no official word from his label, Interscope Records.

Trick Trick says that Eminem was in the studio last month in Orlando, Fla., working with Dr. Dre when Dre's 20-year-old son was killed in Los Angeles. Though Dre's long-in-the-making "Detox" LP was also penciled in for a fourth quarter release this year, it is unclear what effect, if any, the death of Dre's son will have on either his or Em's albums.

Trick Trick, meanwhile, is set to release his new album, "The Villain," on Oct. 28. The follow-up to 2005's "The People Vs.," the album features a cavalcade of A-list guests, including Eminem, Dr. Dre, Kid Rock, Ice Cube, Lil Jon and more.

Eminem raps on one track, "Who Want It," and produced three of the album's cuts. Dre produced "Hold On," while Kid Rock raps on a cover of Run D.M.C.'s "Together Forever" alongside E-Sham and late Detroit rapper Proof. The track has an appropriately old-school feel, and while previewing it for The News on Wednesday at his Livonia studio, Trick tightly clutched the diamond-studded cross around his neck during Proof's verse, which Trick says was recorded only two days before his death in April 2006.

Trick recently shot a video for "Let It Fly," a song he recorded with Ice Cube, on which Cube cracks a joke about former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's text-messaging scandal. Trick also recently shot a video in downtown Detroit for "I Luv It," which acts as a tribute to his city and features scenes shot in front of Comerica Park and downtown headwear emporium Henry the Hatter, among other Detroit locales.

"The Villain" -- which also features an assemblage of Detroit rap talent, including Paradime, Guilty Simpson, Marvwon and Fatt Father -- is Trick's tribute to the Motor City, he says.
"This album is me letting the world know that this is Detroit," says Trick, born Christian Mathis. "This is what we are. This is who I am, and I'll show them what Detroit is. Eminem did his thing. He's the number one rapper in the world, and he's from Detroit. I'm just backing that up."