Alchemist Conjures Up Eminem, Lil Wayne, Maxwell For 'Chemical Warfare'

From Maxwell to Lil Wayne to Snoop Dogg, Fabolous and Three 6 Mafia, The Alchemist stocks a pretty potent guest list on his upcoming second studio album, "Chemical Warfare." But the New York-based producer and DJ doesn't hide the fact that he's most proud of snaring Eminem, for whom he DJs regularly, to feature on the title track. "It was definitely a feat for me," The Alchemist (real name Alan Maman) tells Billboard.com. "I've been working with him for years as a DJ and been affiliated with him, and I always felt like...it was gonna lead to some type of relationship where we could collaborate musically, and it finally got that point now and it just feels good to be able to pull that off." The Alchemist says the "Chemical Warfare" track was one of a couple of beats he submitted to Eminem, "and that one sparked him. At the end of the day I just wanted him to be himself on it. I didn't want to give him any direction, 'Yo, this song is' or 'I want it to be about this.' It really wasn't a concept; it was more of just Em doing his thing on the type of production of mine I thought would fit him. It's real tip of the iceberg-type shit. It's gonna make people want to hear more -- that's what we intend to do." In fact, he expects to be stepping back into his DJ role with Eminem in the not too distant future as the rapper both continues to promote his "Relapse" album and prepares for the expected fall release of "Relapse 2," which The Alchemist says "is ridiculous" -- in a good way, of course. "We've been discussing a lot of ideas between me, (Eminem) and Mr. Porter" from D12, who's serving as Eminem's new hype man, reports The Alchemist, who executive produced the 2006 compilation "The Re-Up" for Eminem's Shady Records label. "We've been discussing a lot of concepts and ideas that we can do. A lot of things are going to happen, I think, that are gonna be exciting." In the interim, The Alchemist is on the road with Evidence to promote "Chemical Warfare" -- which comes out July 7 -- as part of the Rock the Bells tour. He's also preparing to roll out Gangrene, his group project with Madlib's brother Oh No; their song "Under a Siege" appears as a bonus track on "Chemical Warfare." Source:BILLBOARD