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Eminem Announces Free Concert

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He may be freshly out of rehab, but Eminem still knows how to party — and theDetroit rapper will do just that tomorrow, May 19, with a free concert in his hometown that will celebrate the release of his first album in five years, Relapse.

The concert will take place Tuesday night at the Sound Board Theater in Detroit’s Motor City Casino, and will also feature a performance by hip-hop luminary/Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star DJ Jazzy Jeff. Tickets will be handed out for free at Roseville, MI, music store Record Time starting at 5 P.M. today, May 18, and will also be given away by MySpace Music, Hot Topic, and radio stations in the Detroit area.

It’s sure to be one hell of a party — but don’t expect favors of the illegal variety. The rapper’s drug problems — and subsequent stint in treatment — are well documented on Relapse, and in a recent interview with the Detroit Metro Times, Em revealed a rather unlikely source of inspiration during his struggle: Elton John.

“I talk to Elton a lot,” Eminem said. “We became friends and I talk to him about things, career wise. And he had a substance abuse problem in the past. So when I first wanted to get sober, I called him and spoke to him about it because, you know, he’s somebody who’s in the business and can identify and relate to the lifestyle and how hectic things can be. He understands the pressure and any other reasons that you wanna come up with for doing drugs, you know? Me and him have had similar lives and stuff. So I reached out to him and told him, ‘Look, I’m going through a problem and I need your advice.'”

The rapper had less kind words for conservative TV pundit Bill O’Reilly: “That guy’s a turd. I don’t know of a better way to put it than to just say he’s a turd.”However, he’s not entirely against the conservatives. In fact, Em is an admirer of former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin: “I want to nail her,” Em said on Brit chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross of his new music video for “We Made You”. Um, gross. [Via NME.com]