Eminem's 'Passion Is Back' On Recovery, DJ Khalil Says

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Relapse can be considered as "Eminem's" return to the music industry after a 5 year vacation , when the rapper descended into a deep drug dependency and suffered from writer's block during his darkest days . The project was rife with heavier fare about his personal demons and a fixation on serial killers, as he returned to his Slim Shady persona to spark creativity. (He recently said he put Slim Shady to bed momentarily for Recovery.)

Now, a year after Relapse, the MC has made much of a change . Eminem released Recovery on Monday (June 21), a project that represented a departure of sorts for the rapper . Eminem collab with a list of super producers (Just Blaze, DJ Khalil, Jim Jonsin, etc.) for Eminems first time in his career he collabs with (Pink, Rihanna), and rather than lead with a satirical first single, the first single off the album was "Not Afraid."

We heard it from those who knows Eminem. He is all the way back .

"He's back. He really brought it," DJ Khalil, who helmed the most songs on the project , told MTV News. "Every song that he played me, it just seemed like he had so much to say since Relapse, and Relapse is just a moment in time for him, and now it's just a different moment. Every record is where you're at at that particular time. With him, I feel like he wanted to really express himself and really get out whatever feelings he had. He talks about being sober, and he's been sober for over a year now, so he talked about that. He's gone through a transformation. And I was at Staples Center, and I saw him perform last week at Activision's E3 concert. I had goose bumps. He came out to 'Won't Back Down,' and I thought, 'Oh my God.' It was powerful. It just seemed like his passion and everything is back."

Khalil had worked for Dr.Dre a long time and was recuited to produce on Recovery — he didn't have to change the way he worked .

"There was no direction," Khalil said. "He's a fan. Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg and Em both called me, they said they'd been following me since the Slaughterhouse records, the Clipse/Kanye record and all the stuff that I've down with Kobe. They were into my production, and it's different than everybody else's, because it's dense. There's a lot of music going on. Even with 'Won't Back Down,' he told me the track was beating him down. He had to scream to be able to rap over that track. They just wanted what I do.

"When I talked to them, they said I was a big part of the direction for the record," the producer continued. "And for Eminem to say that, that's amazing. That's like the biggest compliment you can get."