Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg recently talked about his artist's notorious habit of taunting celebrities on records and how he has seen Slim Shady evolve over the years.

Rosenberg explains why Em gets a kick out of kicking jokes but likes the reaction even more.

    "He gets a real kick out of getting a rise out of people--he wants a reaction," Rosenberg said in an interview. "Whether you hate it, love it or think it's hilarious. It's like he's throwing the paper airplane in class to see who's paying attention--that's how his mind works. It's not as if he enjoys taunting, but he does like poking people, pushing their buttons. At the same time, this is a grown-up version of Eminem, but not Adult Contemporary by any stretch. It's an evolved person, who's evolving musically as well." (Hits Daily Double)

Pop singer Pink recently revealed her past fear in being a target to Em's disses.

    "I think he's one of the most poetic, ballsy, and hilarious people this industry has ever seen," Pink told SPIN magazine. Unlike her pop peers Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson, Pink was spared Em's wrath in his songs. "I was always afraid he'd pick me as a target, but he's always been nice to me and finally approached me to be on the album, so I must have done something right," said the flattered singer. (Rap-Up)

Last month, Em opened up about jealously motivating him to nearly release diss records directed toward Lil Wayne and Kanye West.

    "When I made the record, 'Talkin' To Myself,' what I was basically talking about was the time period that I was away, I was kinda watching what was going on in the game and it was like, anything that was hot at that moment or anybody who was really killing sh*t at that moment, I felt so bad about myself and the music that I was creating that I felt like I was starting to turn into a hater," Em told radio personality Big Boy. "It wasn't just, singling Lil Wayne and Kanye West at that time period, they were the ones killing it the most, to me, and it hurt. And it was like, 'F*ck man, I'm not doing it good' I felt like I came really close, for me, it would have been career suicide. I felt like making a song just dissing everybody who's doing it in the game right now. I just had the thoughts, walking around in the studio, I think deep down, I wasn't happy with myself." (Radio Big Boy)

Since his return to the sales chart last month, Em's new Recovery album has remained atop its competition.

    Grammy-winning rapper Eminem's Recovery has continued its reign atop the charts at No. 1 with 187,200 sold copies. According to Nielson SoundScan, the rapper's latest solo effort has sold 1,669,600 units after five weeks on the charts. (SOHH Sales Wrap)save

Hate it or love, but for a fifth week, Eminem’s still on top. Despite the preliminary figures, Recovery moved another 187,200 copies. Meanwhile, Rick Ross’ Teflon Don debuted at number two with a total of 176,300 units scanned. To date, Recovery has sold 1,669,600 copies domestically. Will he ever fall off? No.

Number	Last Week	Artist	Album	This Week
1	1	Eminem	Recovery	187,000
2	-	Rick Ross	Teflon Don	176,000
4	2	Drake	Thank Me Later	49,118
13	19	Usher	Raymond vs Raymond	20,815
17	15	Big Boi	Sir Luscious Left Foot	18,419
22	23	Black Eyed Peas	E.N.D.	15,074
28	30	B.o.B	Adventures Of Bobby Ray	12,583
31	29	The-Dream	Love King	11,959
41	12	M.I.A.	Maya	9,494
50	42	Alicia Keys	Element Of Freedom	9,732

We tried to get the sales figures out before everyone but we reported too early. As the final numbers came in, it looks like Eminem's 5th week on the charts landed him in the number one spot while Rick Ross debut only could grab the number 2 spot. Eminem's "Recovery" pushed 187,000 copies (1.6 million in 5 weeks) while Rick Ross' new "Teflon Don" was only able to sell around 170,000 units.

Well one-day sales figures turned out to be semi-right. Rick Ross and his new "Teflon Don" album beat out Eminem's "Recovery" by less than a thousand copies. Rick's debut week showed 188,816 thousand copies sold while Eminem's 5th week was at 187, 968 copies sold. Drake comes in 4th with his "Thank Me Later" album and Usher's album gained six spots to 13th.

     Big Boi's new "Left Foot" album only moves down two spots to 17th selling close to 18.5 thousand while the Black Eyed Peas "E.N.D." album jumped one spot to 22nd. Bobby Ray's new project also gained two spots, The-Dream dropped two spots and M.I.A.'s "Maya" moved from 12th all the way down to 42nd. Alicia Keys rounds out the top 50 with her "Element of Freedom" album with just under 8,400 copies.

Number	Last Week	Artist	Album	This Week
1	-	Rick Ross	Teflon Don	188,816
2	1	Eminem	Recovery	187,968
4	2	Drake	Thank Me Later	49,118
13	19	Usher	Raymond vs Raymond	20,815
17	15	Big Boi	Sir Luscious Left Foot	18,419
22	23	Black Eyed Peas	E.N.D.	15,074
28	30	B.o.B	Adventures Of Bobby Ray	12,583
31	29	The-Dream	Love King	11,959
41	12	M.I.A.	Maya	9,494
50	42	Alicia Keys	Element Of Freedom	9,732

... Read more

Rick Ross' Teflon Don will reportedly out-sell Eminem's Recovery and debut atop the sales charts this week.

According to estimates from Hits Daily Double, Ross will just barely out-sell Em.

1. Rick Ross' Teflon Don: 188,816.
2. Eminem's Recovery: 187,968. (the 5th week)
3. Sheryl Crow's 100 Miles From Memphis: 55,467.
4. Drake's Thank Me Later: 49,118. (Hits Daily Double)

Last week, Eminem's Recovery continued its reign on the charts.

    Grammy-winning rapper Eminem's Recovery has shown no signs of slowing down as it scanned 195,500 records this week. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Slim Shady's latest offering has sold 1,482,500 records in one month of availability.

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They are comparing Recovery with Teflon?! Are they outta their minds? Recovery's in its 5th week, let's not forget! :|

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Rihanna says when Eminem came to her to be on "Love The Way You Lie," she felt a powerful connection with it and she recently opened up about why she did the collaboration. "It's something that, you know, [Eminem and I have] both experienced, you know, on different sides, different ends of the table," she said. "It just was authentic. It was real," Rihanna continued. "It was believable for us to do a record like that, but it was also something that needed to be done and the way he did it was so clever. He pretty much just broke down the cycle of domestic violence and it's something that a lot people don't have a lot of insight on, so this song is a really, really powerful song and it touches a lot of people."

     Despite Eminem being so forward with his rhymes, Rihanna had faith in his artistry. "Eminem is an artist of class and I knew if he sent me a record there must be something to it," she said. "It couldn't just be, 'Oh, duh! She was in that relationship, so we have to get her.'" She continued "The lyrics were so deep, so beautiful and intense. It's something that I understood, something I connected with," she revealed.

      When it comes to the video they are shooting, Rihanna actually wasn't going to be in it. "Actually, it came really last minute. We shot the video last night and he happened to be in the same city and he was like 'Hey, can I perform with you?' " she said. "We fit it in and we couldn't have done anything better because Los Angeles loves Eminem. They couldn't stop screaming."

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Fuck Rihanna.

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Dope Shit.

The battle for top-album may come down to the wire as rappers Rick Ross and Eminem are practically dead locked for a No. 1 debut next week.

Based on weekend estimates, Ross' Teflon Don and Eminem's Recovery now share the same one-week projected sales totals.

    The top of next week's chart is still too close to call, as a couple of hip-hop heavyweights continue to duke it out in a bout that promises to stay nip and tuck throughout the weekend. If Eminem is victorious, it will be his fifth consecutive week at #1. As for challenger Rick Ross, regardless of where he lands on the chart, dude's on track to beat the first week of his previous release by about 25k. Eminem (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope): 180-190K, *Rick Ross (Def Jam) 180-190K, Sheryl Crow (A&M) 45-50K, Drake (Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown) 45-50K. (HITS Rumor Mill)

Earlier in the week, Eminem's Recovery continued its reign on the charts.

    Grammy-winning rapper Eminem's Recovery has shown no signs of slowing down as it scanned 195,500 records this week. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Slim Shady's latest offering has sold 1,482,500 records in one month of availability. (SOHH Sales Wrap)

Def Jam Senior Marketing VP Chris Atlas recently said the label fully backed Ross' new album.

    "We took the fact that he had so many people working with him on the record and captured it on film and video, which we are releasing around the Web," Atlas says. "Rick has been working nonstop since the last record feeding stuff to his lifestyle and street base. He's put out three or four mixtapes, and there is constant messaging to his core." Atlas says Ross is on a 10-city promotional tour and making club and radio station appearances. Atlas adds that Ross is starting to work with brands, due in part to his recent co-management deal with Sean "Diddy" Combs. "We're opening him up to working with brands," Atlas says. "He did some smaller stuff before, and he's been doing some things with Ciroc [a vodka brand Combs endorses]. But now he's starting to attract attention from some bigger names. For instance, he's using the nickname 'Ricky Rozay,' so some champagne brands are expressing a desire to do something." (Billboard)

Last year, Ross' Deeper Than Rap debuted atop the charts.

    Rick Ross' Deeper Than Rap led the way this week landing at No. 1 with 158,000 scanned discs followed by the Hannah Montana soundtrack which landed at No. 2 with 104,300 copies and Depeche Mode's Sounds of the Universe at No. 3 with 80,100 copies. Asher Roth's Asleep in the Bread Aisle debuted at No. 5 with 62,000 copies while Chester French's Love the Future opened at No. 77 with 6,300 copies. (Sales Wrap)

Grammy-winning rapper Eminem scolds Kanye West over his public interruption during country singer Taylor Swift's MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech last fall in the new issue of SPIN magazine.

Em stood by Swift's side in the debate.

    At one point in his career, Eminem may have targeted Swift in one of his songs, but the "Not Afraid" MC is taking a different stance when asked about his thoughts on Kanye West's VMA debacle. "He shouldn't have done that," the father told SPIN of Kanye's outburst. "I mean, she's a little girl." Eminem is raising his three daughters who are not too far in age from Swift. He remains very protective of them, telling the magazine, "The less that's out there about the kids, the more chance of them having a normal life. I want the world to know how much I love them, but at the same time you gotta know when to pull back." (Rap-Up)

Speaking on her "American Boy" collaborator, singer Estelle recently also gave her opinion of West's controversial MTV Video Music Awards incident with Taylor Swift last fall.

    "I was surprised by the amount of crap he got. It was like, do you know this guy? Come on now everyone, stop being surprised," said Estelle, who collaborated with West on the single "American Boy." "I don't think he will have any problems coming back. He speaks the absolute truth, no editing or tailoring. I thinks that's why every time he comes back everyone is really excited." (NBC Miami)

Earlier this year, Chicago rapper Rhymefest also addressed critics attacking West's character.

    "The crazy thing is people hate you, then when you put another album out they like you again," he said in an interview last month. "I think that we as a people are so force-fed by corporations that we don't know what we want. Yeah, people were mad at Kanye last year, but they're also looking forward to him putting another album out. Soon as the album drops they are going to forget why they were mad in the first place. I think people love Kanye because he speaks his mind and there ain't that many Black men that do that and why we are on it, n*ggas need to stop fronting like that White girl deserved that award. They knew what he was saying and need to cut it out, for real." (XXL Mag)

R&B singer Ne-Yo hit up SOHH last month and gave his reaction to his Def Jam labelmate's new "Power" record and the Swift incident.

    "I feel like Kanye is one of the smartest dudes in the musicbusiness," Ne-Yo told SOHH. "And I say that to anybody. He caught a little bit of flack behind that Taylor Swift situation or whatever and so he moved away from it, let the fire die down and came back with something undeniable. That 'Power' record is ridiculous to me and he's back on his thing, he's talking sh*t and that's what Kanye do. It's one of those records that you hear one time and you're like, 'Yeah, Kanye's back.' I feel like the summer is about to be something crazy." (SOHH)

... Read more

Eminem will post the first back-to-back Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers of his career as "Love The Way You Lie," featuring Rihanna, is set to hit No. 1 on the chart to be released tomorrow morning (July 22). The rapper debuted atop the Hot 100 in May with "Not Afraid," the introductory single from his current  Billboard 200 chart-topper, "Recovery."



 
"Love The Way You Lie" is Eminem's fourth Hot 100 No. 1, following the 12-week juggernaut "Lose Yourself" (2002), "Crack a Bottle," with Dr. Dre & 50 Cent (2009) and the aforementioned "Not Afraid." For Rihanna, the track is her seventh No. 1 since first appearing on the Hot 100 dated June 11, 2005, the most by any artist during that time span.

 "Lie" maintains its hold of the No. 1 slot on Digital Songs for a fourth frame, its entire chart run, reaching a single week high of 352,000 downloads (up 12%), according to Nielsen SoundScan, while airplay continues to build at a rapid clip (7-6 on Radio Songs, up 25 million listener impressions to 99 million), according to Nielsen BDS. Both increases are enough to earn "Lie" the dual Digital & Airplay Gainer awards on the Hot 100.

Guess who was the special guest last night during Rihanna‘s show? It was Eminem who joined her during the Last Girl On Earth tour to perform the “Love The Way You Lie“-hit! Great performance!

With recent talk of an upcoming D12 album being in the works, SOHH hit up Bizarre to find out what hip-hop heads can expect from the Dirty Dozen in 2010.

Speaking on how the group has matured over the past few years, Biz said plans to put out a mixtape has become the primary focus.

    "The passing of Proof really affected us," Biz told SOHH about the group's growth over the past decade. "We learned to really appreciate life more. We definitely had to step up more and play more of a leadership role as a group to make sure everything was focused and keep this D12 movement moving and alive. That's one thing that Proof definitely wanted to happen so we gotta see through with his wishes. The mixtape we're doing is just a warmup, just to get the vibe going and get the streets talking. We can't just come out with an album and ain't nobody heard from us in a while. Right now it's really about lyrics and mixtape styles to break it up with some D12 concepts and ideas." (SOHH)

He also wanted to let fans know D12's return is not a "comeback" since they never parted with hip-hop.

    "Everybody's looking at this as a comeback but we just had to get ourselves together because for a while it wasn't really focused on music, we just had a lot of things going on," Biz added. "Like I said, with the death of Proof, so we're definitely doing it for ourselves, definitely for our fans, definitely for Proof, so I guess for all three of those reasons." (SOHH)

Earlier this year, Biz said work on a third group project stopped after Proof was fatally shot in 2006.

    "Actually, we started working on the album a week or two before Proof got killed. After that, we went in like four or five months after, but it just didn't feel right. Then we just took a break for a year. Proof's death just threw everybody off. I came out with Blue Cheese and Coney Island. Mr. Porter was heavy working with Dr. Dre. But we finally got it together again like three of four months ago. We did a whole tour together to get the vibe back. We just going back in the studio now. We got some songs, but they're kind of outdated, so we want to get a fresh new batch. We realized that this is what Proof would want us to do." (Complex)

D12 have over a decade of music to their names.

    D12's 2001 debut album, Devil's Night (Interscope/Shady Records), had potential to cause some waves, with the inclusion of their raucous 2000 single, "Sh*t on You." After a three-year wait, D12 returned with 2004's D12 World, including guest appearances from Obie Trice and B Real. (All Music)

Eminem once again has topped this week's sales charts as his new "Recovery" album sold right at another two hundred thousand copies, only a 15% decrease from last week, beating out a debut from the rockers Korn and landing fellow rapper Drake in 3rd with just under fifty-thousand units scanned. United Kingdom artist M.I.A. debuted her new "Maya" album in 12th with close to 26,000 copies while Big Boi's "Left Foot" dropped from 3rd to 15th but Usher only lost one place (landing at 19th) unlike the Black Eyed Peas who gained one spot this week.

      The-Dream lost 14 spots landing at 29th while B.o.B was right behind him with his "Adventures Of Bobby Ray" selling close to 13,000 units taking the 30th spot. Alicia Keys moved down the list but managed to push close to 10k while The Roots pushed over 10k landing in 38th. Other rappers in the top 50 include Currensy who debuted his "Pilot Talk" album in 48th with just under 9,000 copies sold in it's first week.

Number	Last Week	Artist	Album	This Week
1	1	Eminem	Recovery	194,072
3	2	Drake	Thank Me Later	48,635
12	-	M.I.A.	Maya	15,935
15	3	Big Boi	Sir Luscious Left Foot	24,081
19	18	Usher	Raymond vs Raymond	17,894
23	24	Black Eyed Peas	E.N.D.	15,590
29	15	The-Dream	Love King	12,714
30	25	B.o.B	Adventures Of Bobby Ray	12,583
42	36	Alicia Keys	Element Of Freedom	9,732
48	-	Currensy	Pilot Talk	8,84

Actress Megan Fox is reportedly being considered to appear in the upcoming "Love the Way You Lie" music video by Eminem and Rihanna.

According to reports, Fox would play opposite of "Lost" television star Dominic Monaghan.

    Megan Fox doesn't need Michael Bay. The former Transformers star has Eminem. The world's hottest newlywed is "thisclose" to being in the video for "Love the Way You Lie," the Detroit rapper's hit single with Rihanna. A "Lost" star has already been cast in the vid... Dominic Monaghan is set to appear. Plans call for some rather steamy sequences between D.M. and Fox. "It gets really intense," a source says. The source said Fox and Monaghan would shoot their scenes later this week in Los Angeles. (E! Online)

Last weekend, the video's director Joseph Kahn tweeted that production would begin this week.

    "Got off a call. Emergency music video. Gonna write and turn in a treatment in three hours to shoot asap."

    "Video is gonna happen. Lots of work to do now."

    "Video is awarded. Starts shooting Tuesday. Eminem & Rihanna. Off we go!," Kahn wrote publicly via his Twitter page over the weekend. (Joseph Kahn's Twitter)

With over a decade of work to his name, Kahn previously gained recognition for directing Em's "Without Me" hit single.

    Kahn has collected multiple Music Video Production awards. He has won several MTV Video Music Awards with nominations for Best Video of the Year for Brandy & Monica "The Boy is Mine", and Britney Spears "Toxic". In 2002 he won his first Grammy for Eminem's "Without Me" video which also won the MTV VMA's Best Video of the Year, as well as Best Direction. (Wikipedia)

Em's new record takes listeners a bit closer into his personal life.

    Em reflects upon an abusive relationship (likely his own, with ex-wife Kim), while Rihanna provides the delicate and ultimately submissive counterpoint to his rage-filled confusion. Yet by tapping into the extreme emotion that is Em's hallmark, and connecting to Rihanna's own complex history as a recovering abuse victim, "Love the Way You Lie" throws into question the very stereotypes it evokes. (Los Angeles Times)