The Eminem Show is raising its curtain even sooner than expected.

After being pushed up from June 4 to May 28 a week ago because of

bootlegging (see [article id="1454071"]"Eminem Show

Coming Even Sooner; Bootlegs Spur Date Change "[/article]), Eminem's latest

will now hit stores this Sunday, Interscope announced on Friday (May 24).

Although smaller record chains and mom-and-pop stores have for years been

known to sell albums the weekend before their official Tuesday release, it

is unusual for major chains to be urged to get involved in the practice and

go against the industry retail standard.

"We found we were able to meet the demand and get The Eminem Show

into the stores even earlier than expected," Interscope marketing exec Steve

Berman, who appears in skits on both The Marshall Mathers LP and

The Eminem Show, said in a statement. "Our mandate as a company was

to put the album in listeners' hands the way Eminem intended them to get it,

and to do it as quickly as possible to battle the problems we were having

with illicit copying. We saw no reason to have fans waiting until Tuesday in

this particular case."