[Denver]

Could Eminem be about to drop that most modern of things, a surprise album?

One slip from Allen Hughes, director of Dr Dre documentary The Defiant Ones, has got fans of the newly bearded rapper feeling hopeful.

Speaking before the premiere of his film, Hughes was talking to Uproxx about Dre and said: "People don't know this: Dre records every day. Literally, he's in there recording songs every day.

"He's like Picasso in that way. He's always painting. Right now he's producing, in the 11th hour, a track for Eminem's latest album.

"So Dre's still real active in music, you know? But I hear what you're saying. It's the truth."

Forget about whether or not Dr Dre is "like Picasso" or not – the suggestion here is that the rapper is in a fight against time to finish a track for Em, who hasn't released an album in four years.

The last one, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, was broadly well reviewed so any new music from the 44-year-old would be keenly received,

So here for the icon to slay the world again