ShadyVille
shady-ville.cjb.net
NOTICE: This is only a temporary site layout as I am in the process of designing a new and more user-friendly site layout.
Sign Guestbook | View Guestbook
| NAVIGATION Home |
INTERVIEWS The following are interviews by various reporters and magazines. -The Eminem Interview: "Fame Leaves
Sour Aftertaste" The Eminem Interview: "Fame Leaves Sour Aftertaste" Eminem is discovering that the sweet flavor of success comes with a nasty aftertaste. "I always wished for this," he said of his skyrocketing fame. "But it's almost turning into more of a nightmare than a dream." In his first comprehensive interview since topping the charts and being arraigned on gun charges earlier this month, the Detroit rapper talked Wednesday from Universal Studios in Los Angeles, audibly tired after a grueling shoot for his upcoming video, "The Way I Am." With its brash take-me-or-leave-me declaration, the song is Eminem's favorite from "The Marshall Mathers LP" -- "a message to everybody to get off my back." As he talked, occasionally profanely, about his whirlwind June, Eminem offered a snapshot of a young man struggling to celebrate his triumph while watching normal life slither away. It's a classic celebrity tale, to be sure: "You gotta be careful what you wish for," he said. "I miss going to the park and playing basketball. I was never that person who wanted the big cars and (Mercedes) Benzes. All I really wanted was to have a career in hip-hop." Eminem isn't new to the fame game; he broke out last year with "The Slim Shady LP" and two Grammys. But the new album's success startles even the rapper himself. With 4 million copies sold in five weeks, including the best-selling solo debut week in pop history, the 27-year-old rapper now finds himself in the rarefied air of the celebrity stratosphere. Last year, he bought a house in Sterling Heights, figuring his success had peaked. "I didn't know I would be as successful as I am now," he said. "It was like, 'I better grab this house now; I don't know if any more money is coming.' I bought the house, got it on the main road ...just figuring I might get a couple of fans every once in a while. That was a big mistake." He's miffed at the City of Sterling Heights, which during a May 22 hearing permitted him to build a 6-foot fence around the property -- a height Eminem said won't keep determined fans out. "I've got to have security guards sitting outside my house now because they won't let me put a fence up. The other night somebody hit one of them in the head with a battery.... (People) coming to my house, knocking on the door. Either they want autographs or they wanna fight. We've had people getting in our backyard and swimming in our pools." He insists that he misses being a "regular person," bolstering that stance when he pauses the interview to order a Burrito Supreme from an associate headed to Taco Bell. No wine and caviar for Detroit's latest millionaire. "Not only did I never think I'd get this big, it's like I'm still refusing to believe it," he said. "I don't like having security hold my hand to walk out to my mailbox. There's something inside of me that refuses to believe I can't walk down the street, or be as normal as I want to be." It has been nearly two years since Eminem, who was raised Marshall Mathers III on Detroit's east side, traveled to Los Angeles in what became a successful quest to score a record deal. In a voice markedly different from last year's -- when he grumbled bitterly about his early struggle to make it in Detroit -- he now talks wistfully about his days toiling at local clubs such as the Palladium, Ebony Forum and the Shelter. "It doesn't seem that far away," he said. "These past couple of years have really shot by for me. (Life) is speeding now. Before I was famous, when I was just working at Gilbert's Lodge, everything was moving in slow motion." The past month has been a particular blur. Eminem is to appear in a Macomb County court next Friday for a preliminary examination on felony charges of assault and carrying a concealed weapon. Police say the rapper hit and threatened a man seen kissing Eminem's wife outside a Warren nightclub on June 4 -- days after the new album debuted at No. 1. Royal Oak police have also charged Eminem with felony gun possession for an incident the previous night, in which he allegedly brandished a gun at an associate of Novi-based rap duo Insane Clown Posse. Each charge carries a maximum five-year prison sentence upon conviction. Eminem's attorneys and public relations handlers have advised him not to talk about the legal troubles, but he's champing at the bit. "I can't comment on it as much as I'd like to," Eminem said. "All I can say is that it's the story of my life: Whenever something good happens, the bad always follows. That's the story of my life since the day I was born. "I should have been out celebrating my record sales. Instead, I'm sitting there in jail. Hopefully I can get through this." That his wife was at the center of the Warren incident didn't surprise anyone who has kept tabs on Eminem's personal saga, chronicled with brutal frankness in his music. "The Marshall Mathers LP" features the dark "Kim," which re-enacts a raging fight between the two as their daughter, 5-year-old Hailey, looks on. "Me and the missus, we go at it. It's no secret that we've had our problems, or that we're still having our problems," he said. "Once you bring a child into this world, it makes it that much more complicated, especially when you don't get along with someone. You're trying to make it work, you want to make your family work, but (stuff) keeps happening that (screws) it up." The tension was manifested as Eminem struggled to get a musical break. "When we were younger, she supported everything I did. The older we got, the more reality started to set in," he said. "She's one of those people that's really down to earth, like 'Hello! You're living in fantasy land. These things don't happen to people like us.' I was always the optimist, like, yo, I'm gonna make this happen." The resulting fame, Eminem said, has only caused more marital trouble. "Not to defend Kim, but I realize what has happened with me has probably been a strain on her, too," he said. "It's a crazy thing to deal with. You've really got to be in shape." - By Brian McCollum Rolling Stone Magazine Interview MCCOLLUM: You say on "The Way I Am" that "I'm not gonna be able to top 'My Name Is.' " Here you've sold four million records in five weeks. Guess you proved yourself wrong. EMINEM: When I wrote that song the label was really stressing me for a first single. I had my whole album just about finished. I went up to Interscope and played it for everybody. But everybody was saying they didn't feel like I had a leadoff single -- they were all second singles, like "Stan" and "Criminal." That's when I wrote "The Way I Am," right after we had that meeting. I was feeling the frustration and pressure of like trying to top "My Name Is." So instead of giving them "The Real Slim Shady," which I ended up writing at the last minute right before my deadline -- thank God -- I gave 'em that song. I just let it out. It was a message to the label, a message to everybody, to get off my f------ back. Nobody really understands the pressures put on me, to always be good, to always be on point. There are so many pressures that go with my job right now. It's crazy. I'm really glad we're shooting a video of this song. It's my favorite song on the album. Despite all your success last year, it doesn't sound like you've found much peace. In fact, it seems quite the opposite. You gotta be careful what you wish for. I always wished and hoped for this. But it's almost turning into more of a nightmare than a dream. In what way? In every aspect: not being able to walk down the street anymore, people not treating me like a normal human being anymore. I miss going to the park and playing basketball. I was never that person who wanted big cars and Benzes. All I really wanted to do was have a career in hip-hop and be successful. Does that mean you would take back the last year? Would I take it all back? That's a good question. That's a real good question. It's 50-50. People would argue, "You got everything you want. You've got money, you don't have to worry about paying bills." But I can't even go in public anymore. I've got the whole world looking at me. I can't be treated like regular person anymore. But there are positives, just in the sense that my little brother's not gonna need anything the rest of his life. My moth ...My mother! My daughter's not gonna need anything the rest of her life. Sometimes I feel like I'm living my life for everyone else. I wake up at seven in the morning, and the rest of the day is work. I can't sleep. I don't eat. It's just crazy. It's a lot of f------ work, a lot more work than I ever expected. When you look back at your days playing clubs around town, does it feel like ancient history, or are those memories fresh in your mind? It doesn't seem that far away. These past couple of years have really shot by for me. S--- is speeding now. Before I was famous, when I was just working in Gilbert's Lodge, everything was moving in slow motion. Most people figure that after delivering a multiplatinum album, like you did last year with "Slim Shady," you could go just about anywhere you wanted. But you stayed in the Detroit area. Bought the big house in Sterling Heights last year. I tried to stay close to home. For one thing I bought the house when I didn't know I would be as successful as I am now. It was like, "I better grab this house, I don't know if any more money is coming." I bought the house, got it on the main road ...just figuring I might get a couple of fans every once in a while. That was a big f------ mistake. And the city won't let me put up a fence. They won't pass a city ordinance for me. They won't take my case as a special case. Everybody wants to treat me like a regular f------ person. But I'm not a regular f------ person. I've gotta have security guards sitting outside my house now because they won't let me put a fence up. The other night somebody hit one of my security guards in the head with a battery. That's they type of s--- I get, m-----------s coming to my house, knocking on the door. Either they want autographs or they want to fight. We've had people getting in our backyard and swimming in our pools. I take it you're planning to find somewhere else to live. Yes, I will. Yes, indeed. And you stayed close to home ... Just because I'm so used to it. Like I said, a lot of people don't understand this about me.... I guess the point I'm trying to get across is not only did I never think I'd get this big, it's like I'm still refusing to believe it. I don't like having security hold my hand to walk out to my f------mailbox. There's something inside of me that refuses to believe I can't walk down the street or be as normal as I want to be. That's the downside. Your run-ins with the law have upped the ante. I can't comment on it as much as I'd like to. All I can say is that it's the story of my life: Whenever something good happens, the bad always follows. That's the story of my life since the day I was born. I should have been out celebrating my record sales. Instead I'm sitting there in jail. Hopefully I can get through this. How do you feel about your chances? Uh . .. (Pauses) Man, I can't even say what I feel. But I have no idea what's gonna happen. I hate not knowing that, but I guess it's part of the life I lead. I don't know, man. My personal life is kind of f----- up. Every aspect of my personal life is put out there. And you've helped put it out there. How does somebody get past the intimidation of airing their dirty laundry for millions of listeners? I don't know. I think one of the reasons is because I make my songs for me. Me and the missus, we go at it. It's no secret we've had our problems, or that we're still having our problems. I feel like when something's bothering me, the best way to get it out is to write a song about it, I think when I do that, people can relate to me more. The more I tell them, the more in touch they are with me. Because I guarantee you there's a lot of people going through this kind of s--- with their relationships -- with their girl, their man. I think a lot of people feel what I'm really saying. There's a lot of people out there that get in relationships and have kids involved. Once you have a child, once you bring a child into this world, it makes it that much more complicated, especially when you don't get along with someone. You're trying to make it work, you want to make your family work. But s--- keeps happening that f---- it up. Not to defend Kim, but I realize what has happened to me has probably been a strain on her, too. It's a crazy thing to deal with. You've really got be in shape. How supportive was she of your music as you were trying to catch a break? Want me to be honest? It was off and on. When we were younger, she supported everything I did. The older we got, the more reality started to set in. She's one of those people that's real down to earth, like "Hello! You're living in fantasy. These things don't happen to people like us." I was always the optimist, like, "Yo, I'm gonna make this happen." And I just kept busting my ass. To be honest, I really didn't have much support, nobody in my family, in her family. Just a few friends. And just myself. Music 365 Interview: "Oh Yes, It's Shady's Night" Eminem is still the baddest boy in
hip-hop. So bad, in fact, that his own mother sued him
for £10 million last year after he claimed in his hit
single 'My Name Is' that she smokes more dope than he
does. Gary Graff Interview: "Eminem on NFL and his Mom" The most promising new rapper of the year is a cartoonishly angry welfare kid from the Detroit ghetto. Oh, and by the way, he's white. by CHARLES AARON Give this kid a magazine rack, because he's got a lot of issues. For starters, there's race (he's the "corny-lookin' white boy" who got his lunch money stolen at his inner-city school and never forgot), drugs (he's well acquainted with mushrooms, weed, etc.), and women (he envisions his mom as a drug addict with no breasts, fantasizes about murdering his baby's mother, and advises a husband to cut off the head of his adulterous wife). For 23-year-old Marshall Mathers, a.k.a. Eminem, a.k.a. Slim Shady, whose major-label debut, The Slim Shady LP, is the shocker pop-hit of 1999 (entering the Billboard 200 at No. 2 with more than 280,000 first-week sales), life is a bitch who needs to die, now! He's so angry his "dance" song features a line about Kurt Cobain committing suicide. But by outrageously spoofing every fear every parent ever had about his/her child, the album also defies any pat answer as to why this runty dude is so pissed off. And it implicitly ridicules anybody who tries to label his music as either "positive" or "negative." Less than a year ago, Eminem was a little-known, if nastily skilled, MC from Detroit, with only an independently released album and EP to his name. Now, after hooking up with Dr. Dre (he'll soon appear on Dre's Chronic 2000 album), he's been known to give shout-outs to Interscope boss Jimmy Iovine onstage. Since early '99, MTV has been endlessly rotating the uproarious video for his single "My Name Is," in which Eminem impersonates Marilyn Manson and Bill Clinton, as well as a publicity bit featuring Missy Elliott and Dre giving the rapper props (Interscope also bought commercial time to play the video during Howard Stern's Saturday night CBS TV show). He's getting spins on hip-hop radio stations, extremely rare for a white artist, and is even recording a song for Limp Bizkit's new album. All those years he spent fighting for his right to be white finally paid off. Spin: From listening to your album, you get the impression that your childhood was pretty much a living hell. What was it really like? Eminem: I was born in Kansas City, and my dad left when I was five or six months old. Then when I was five we moved to a real bad part of Detroit. I was getting beat up a lot, so we moved back to K.C., then back to Detroit again when I was 11. My mother couldn't afford to raise me, but then she had my little brother, so when we moved back to Michigan, we were just staying wherever we could, with my grandmother or whatever family would put us up. I know my mother tried to do the best she could, but I was bounced around so much-it seemed like we moved every two or three months. I'd go to, like, six different schools in one year. We were on welfare, and my mom never ever worked. I'm not trying to give some sob story, like, "Oh, I've been broke all my life," but people who know me know it's true. There were times when friends had to buy me fuckin' shoes! I was poor white trash, no glitter, no glamour, but I'm not ashamed of anything. Spin: These were mostly African-American neighborhoods where you grew up? Eminem: Yeah, near 8 Mile Road in Detroit, which separates the suburbs from the city. Almost all the blacks are on one side, and almost all the whites are on the other, but all the families nearby are low-income. We lived on the black side. Most of the time it was relatively cool, but I would get beat up sometimes when I'd walk around the neighborhood and kids didn't know me. One day I got jumped by, like, six dudes for no reason. I also got shot at, and ended up running out of my shoes, crying. I was 15 years old and I didn't know how to handle that shit. Spin: Were most of your friends black? Eminem: When you're a little kid, you don't see color, and the fact that my friends were black never crossed my mind. It never became an issue until I was a teenager and started trying to rap. Then I'd notice that a lot of motherfuckers always had my back, but somebody always had to say to them, "Why you have to stick up for the white boy?" Spin: When did you first get into hip-hop? Eminem: The first hip-hop shit I ever heard was that song "Reckless" from the Breakin' soundtrack; my cousin played me the tape when I was, like, nine. There was this mixed school I went to in fifth grade, one with lots of Asian and black kids and everybody was into break dancing. They always had the latest rap tapes-the Fat Boys, L.L. Cool J's Radio-and I thought it was the most incredible shit I'd ever heard. Spin: What'd you think when you first heard the Beastie Boys? Eminem: That's what really did it for me. I was like, "This shit is so dope!" That's when I decided I wanted to rap. I'd hang out on the corner where kids would be rhyming, and when I tried to get in there, I'd get dissed. A little color issue developed, and as I got old enough to hit the clubs, it got really bad. I wasn't that dope yet, but I knew I could rhyme, so I'd get on the open mics and shit, and a couple of times I was booed off the stage. Spin: Your single ("My Name Is") is getting played on both Modern Rock and Urban radio. Are you surprised at how quickly you're being accepted? Eminem: Thing is, I'm not really a commercial rapper. My whole market, my whole steez, is through the underground; if those hip-hop heads love it, I'll rise above. It's like, you hardly ever hear a Wu-Tang song on the radio, but they rose from the underground on word of mouth. Spin: Has being white really affected the way you see yourself as a rapper? Eminem: In the beginning, the majority of my shows were for all-black crowds, and people would always say, "You're dope for a white boy," and I'd take it as a compliment. Then, as I got older, I started to think, "What the fuck does that mean?" Nobody asks to be born, nobody has a choice of what color they'll be, or whether they'll be fat, skinny, anything. I had to work up to a certain level before people would even look past my color; a lot of motherfuckers would just sit with their arms folded and be like, "All right, what is this?" But as time went on, I started to get respect. The best thing a motherfucker ever said about me was after an open mic in Detroit about five years ago. He was like, "I don't give a fuck if he's green, I don't give a fuck if he's orange, this motherfucker is dope!" Nobody has the right to tell me what kind of music to listen to or how to dress or how to act or how to talk; if people want to make jokes, well fuck 'em. I lived this shit, you know what I'm sayin'? And if you hear an Eminem record, you're gonna know the minute that it comes on that this ain't no fluke. Spin: Did you ever come close to quitting? Eminem: About three or so years ago, not that long after my daughter [Hailie Jade Scott] was born. I was staying in this house on 7 Mile Road, and little kids used to walk down the street going, "Look at the white baby!" Everything was "white this, white that." We'd be sitting on our porch, and if you were real quiet, you'd hear, "Mumble, mumble, white, mumble, mumble, white." Then I caught some dude breaking into my house for, like, the fifth time, and I was like, "Yo, fuck this! It's not worth it. I'm outta here." That day, I wanted to quit rap and get a house in the fucking suburbs. I was arguing with my girl, like, "Can't you see they don't want us here?" I went through so many changes; I actually stopped writing for about five or six months and I was about to give everything up. I just couldn't, though. I'd keep going to the clubs and taking the abuse. But I'd come home and put a fist through the wall. If you listen to a Slim Shady record, you're going to hear all that frustration coming out. Spin: Could you see why some black people might be not be so enthusiastic about a white kid trying to be a rapper? Eminem: Yeah, I did see where the people dissing me were coming from. But, it's like, anything that happened in the past between black and white, I can't really speak on it, because I wasn't there. I don't feel like me being born the color I am makes me any less of a person. Spin: Did you ever wish you were black? Eminem: There was a while when I was feeling like, "Damn, if I'd just been born black, I would not have to go through all this shit." But I'm not ignorant-I know how it must be when a black person goes to get a regular job in society. Music, in general, is supposed to be universal; people can listen to whatever they want and get something out of it. Personally, I just think rap music is the best thing out there, period. If you look at my deck in my car radio, you're always going to find a hip-hop tape; that's all I buy, that's all I live, that's all I listen to, that's all I love. Spin: How do you feel about other white rap fans? Eminem: Say there's a white kid who lives in a nice home, goes to an all-white school, and is pretty much having everything handed to him on a platter-for him to pick up a rap tape is incredible to me, because what that's saying is that he's living a fantasy life of rebellion. He wants to be hard; he wants to smack motherfuckers for no reason except that the world is fucked-up; he doesn't know what to rebel against. Kids like that are just fascinated by the culture. They hear songs about people going through hard times and want to know what that feels like. But the same thing goes for a black person who lived in the suburbs and was catered to all his life: Tupac is a fantasy for him, too. Spin: Should suburban white kids, who don't have any firsthand experience of the way black people live, really be identifying so closely with hip-hop? Eminem: Well, whether a white kid goes through as much shit as I did, or didn't go through any trouble at all, if they love the music, who's to tell them what they should be listening to? Let's say I'm a white 16-year-old and I stand in front of the mirror and lip-synch every day like I'm Krayzie Bone-who's to say that because I'm a certain color I shouldn't be doing that? And if I've got a right to buy his music and make him rich, who's to say that I then don't have the right to rap myself? Spin: Do you think that hip-hop culture can open up their minds at all? Eminem: I don't know, man. Sometimes I feel like rap music is almost the key to stopping racism. If anything is at least going to lessen it, it's gonna be rap. I would love it if, even for one day, you could walk through a neighborhood and see an Asian guy sitting on his stoop, then you look across the street and see a black guy and a white guy sitting on their porches, and a Mexican dude walking by. If we could truly be multicultural, racism could be so past the point of anybody giving a fuck; but I don't think you or me are going to see it in our lifetimes. Spin: What do you think will happen if your album blows up and becomes a huge hit? Eminem: I imagine I'll go through a lot of this same racial shit, but that'll just make my second album better-because I'll have even more to rap about. As far as rapper Eminem is concerned, the National
Football League can go get stuffed — The NFL recently pulled its new promotional spots that
used Eminem's hit "My Name Is" in tributes to
hall of famers Joe Namath, Joe Gibbs, Joe Montana, and
"Mean" Joe Greene. Though the spots have scored
a touchdown with viewers, the league got cold feet when
officials discovered that Eminem's music carries — Eminem says he saw the NFL spots once, when he was in Los Angeles earlier in the fall. "I didn't know they were using it," he says. "I was like, 'What the f--k?'" After hearing that the league was taking them the off the air, he says, "It just makes me laugh, you know what I'm saying? I was laughing on the phone with my manager, like good, f--k 'em. It doesn't make any difference to me at all. "People are so f--king stupid, man, to actually take my s--t that seriously. I don't walk around and try to portray this gangster image, but the media has made me out to be that way, like I think I'm some kind of f--kin' white thug." A more pressing problem for Eminem is his mother,
Debbie Mathers- In fact, Eminem says he's written a song about the
legal fracas that may or may not appear on his next
album, which he's currently recording with label chief
and producer Dr. Dre. He hopes to have it out during the
first half of 2000 and describes what he's done so far as
"along the same lines" as Slim Shady, but with
song topics that are "a little bit harder. The beats
are harder, too." —
|
Disclaimer | Site Layout/Design © '02-'03 by MeraiT