Eminem - AOL Chat Transcript
June 2000
Multi-platinum rap star Eminem came by AOL Live on June 12 to chat
with members about the huge success of his new release, The Marshall Mathers
LP. Straight out of the Detroit hip-hop scene, Eminem's music has dominated
the airwaves since the days of his debut single "My Name Is." Check out what
the real Slim Shady had to say below! Scroll down to read the full
transcript...
LIVEJesse: Eminem, it is really great to have you with us. Do you know there
have been people in this virtual auditorium since, like, 1PM today? You have
MAJOR fans here.
Eminem: Great! That's two hours before I woke up.
LIVEJesse: Question: In a song, you say you wish you had a butt big enough
so the whole world could kiss it. Well, your CD is flying up the charts.
Looks like you may have your wish. Feeling good?
Eminem: I wrote this song before all this stuff happened, and now I am just
glad to be making a CD that deals with all of this. That's a lot of room on
my ass still for everyone to kiss.
LIVEJesse: One of the things you do best is make people crazy. Why do you
think it's so hard for some people to get the joke?
Eminem: Some people just don't get it. Those people need more in their life
than just my music, I guess.
LIVEJesse: We have a zillion audience questions. Let's go there.
Question: How did you come up with the song " ... Slim Shady"?
Eminem: Dre gave me the song, and the idea just jumped out of me. It was the
last song that I recorded for the album, so it really dealt with what was
going on currently.
LIVEJesse: You've said in an interview how much you care for your daughter.
You said, "I want to be there every step of the way." There's a lot in
gangsta rap that's not very pretty about women. Any thought of making music
that would make the world kinder for your daughter?
Eminem: First of all, I wouldn't classify my music as gangsta rap. It's not
up to me to make the world kinder -- I just make music.
Question: What's the most difficult thing about writing music?
Eminem: For me it's the actual recording process, because I try to make my
delivery perfect every time.
LIVEJesse: And it's true, the sound of your stuff is really amazingly good.
Does it cheese you off when people reject it just because it's rap?
Eminem: People reject my music for all kinds of reasons -- it just gives me
the fuel to make more angry music. The more people piss me off, the more I
have to write about.
Question: If you weren't involved with the music industry, what do you think
you would be doing?
Eminem: I'd still be a short-order cook, going out of my mind.
Question: What is you opinion of the NWA reunion, in spite of the fact that
Dre and Eazy's relationship was strained?
Eminem: As far as I know, Dre and Eazy made amends before Eazy passed, and I
am sure that he would like the legacy of NWA to live on.
Question: Did you read the recent RS mag w/Christina on the cover where she
says, "It was wrong of Eminem to dis me. All year I've been recognizing his
talent"? What do you think of the article/quote?
Eminem: She should have been talking about my personal business on MTV
--should NOT have been -- and [I] probably would have left her alone. Plus,
it's very fun to do.
Question: You are a brilliant song/rap writer, but your material is reaching
kids who are too young to separate the art from the artist -- they are
following your words too closely. Don't you feel any responsibility about
that? I'm talking kids like 10, 11, 12.
Eminem: I can't parent every kid in the country. Just like parents cannot
prevent their kids from seeing adult films, they can't prevent them from
hearing my music, I guess.
LIVEJesse: Bruce Springsteen has written a new song about the shooting of an
African immigrant in New York by the cops, and word is he'll be playing it
in New York. Do you ever think of writing songs that are directly political?
Eminem: Politics were never a big interest of mine. I write about things
that affect me personally and that I can use to get reactions from people.
Half of the satisfaction that I get from releasing music comes from the look
on people's faces when they hear it.
LIVEJesse: You have a line: "ignorant men with hair triggers." Why are
rappers so fascinated with guns?
Eminem: That line is Dre's line. Rap is an urban music, and guns have always
been a part of urban culture and hip-hop culture.
Question: Eminem, when you made that song up about your one fan sending
letters, did that truly happen?
Eminem: It's a mixture of different things
that have happened, combined with some fantasy. Who is this Stan?
Question: What's the craziest thing someone has done when they met you?
Eminem: They try to leap through security to serve me with a court summons.
Question: Hey Em, who do you admire the most in music?
Eminem: If I had to pick one person, of course it's Dr. Dre. But I like a
lot of artists.
LIVEJesse: You're such a good writer. Are you a reader, or is your talent
working off only what you've lived and thought?
Eminem: I don't really read too much. It all comes from my mind and
experience. Remember, I failed ninth grade three times.
LIVEJesse: On your best day off, what happens?
Eminem: I get to stay at home, watch TV and play with my daughter.
Question: Do you have plans to introduce new artists, like Puff Daddy and
Master P have done in the past?
Eminem: The first group I plan on putting out is D-12. They'll be released
on my home label, Shady Records. There will be a single coming out late this
summer and an album next year.
LIVEJesse: What was the hardest song to write?
Eminem: Probably "Kim" because it took every bit of rage that was in me to
put it on paper.
LIVEJesse: When you finish recording a song like "Kim," do you feel more
peaceful?
Eminem: Yeah, like I've said before, my music is my therapy. It's the only
thing that keeps me partially sane.
LIVEJesse: It's funny... they say in Alcoholics Anonymous, "You're only as
sick as your secrets." You don't seem to have any. It's all in your work.
True?
Eminem: I still got plenty of things to talk about. Just wait until the next
album.
LIVEJesse: Can we guess that the next album will deal with some of the stuff
you've been going through recently?
Eminem: I haven't thought about starting to record it yet, but let's just
say that no stone ever goes unturned.
LIVEJesse: Well, you can come turn over stones here on AOL anytime. There's
a huge audience that wants to hear you and talk to you. Thanks for coming.
Eminem: Thanks for having me. Come and see me on the Up In Smoke Tour, and
tour dates are on the http://www.eminem.com/. And middle fingers for everybody.
AOLiveMC19: Thanks to all you fans for showing up tonight!
{Copyright 2000 America Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Portions of this
transcript may be edited by AOL to correct spelling, punctuation and/or
remove any material that violates AOL's Terms of Service.}
-------------------------------
Newsweek Article/Interview
May 2000
"Sensitive or sick: will the real Eminem please stand up? A new album takes
us on a wild trip with the rap world's brightest and bawdiest talent.
'God sent me to piss the world off,' proclaimed Eminem on last year's catchy
hit single, "My Name Is." And standing on a Manhattan street corner in a
superhero suit with an MTV camera crew in tow, taunting a pair of
dangerously irate construction workers through a megaphone, the rapper is
definitely living up to his rep. Eminem, a.k.a. Slim Shady, refuses to break
character; as the MTV folks back away, he relentlessly needles the hardhats
from behind his two burly bodyguards. 'He called me an asshole in front of 300
people,' screams one victim, unaware that he's just been pranked by the
hottest rapper around. 'I'll stab that motherfucker in his fucking back.' Take a
number, dawg. After Eminem's new album hits stores this week, you'll have to
line up behind Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Will Smith, 'N Sync,
Billboard magazine and Eminem's own mother, all of whom come under heavy
fire from the lyrical arsonist.
Out this week, 'The Marshall Mathers LP' is Eminem's follow-up to his
triple-platinum, Grammy-winning 'The Slim Shady LP.' Accented by his
cartoonish sound effects and sarcastic asides, and anchored by producer Dr.
Dre's keep-their-heads-ringin' beats, it's absorbing and appalling in equal
measure. The 18 hair-raising tracks include the Columbine-inspired "Remember
Me?" ("Two kids, sixteen, with M-16s and ten clips each... And Slim gets
blamed in Bill Clinton's speech?") and the gleefully homicidal anthem "Kill
You" ("Okay I'm ready to go play/I got the machete from O.J."). But this
isn't just a twisted joke; the rapper's sociopathic facade masks the
lingering hurts of his Dickensian childhood. And by artfully filtering his
rage through a barrage of intricate rhymes, Eminem has not only become the
legitimate heir to Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., he's arguably the
most compelling figure in all of pop music.
Away from the daily grind of album promotion, the cocky, hyperkinetic Eminem
is replaced by an introspective, highly self-aware Marshall Mathers (his
real name, hence the M&M moniker). Compulsively honest, he readily answers
every question-except one. 'People ask me, 'Well, how do we know when you're
joking and when you're serious?' ' he said last week, stretched out on a
couch in his Detroit studio. ' 'Cause you say you don't mean everything you
say, but some things you say you mean.' It's like, you don't. That's the
mystique about me.' In the post-Littleton battle between the forces of irony
and literalism, that's probably way too much mystique for most parents.
These folks are now up in arms over Marilyn Manson, goths and, in the case
of Billboard editor Timothy White, Eminem. The fear is that if there's a
joke behind Eminem's lyrics-profane, violent, misogynistic, homophobic,
misanthropic, self-loathing and brilliant - their kids won't get it. But
today's media-addled kids may be more savvy than that. Bay Area teen Randi
Anderson explains that Eminem, by saying the unsayable, actually goes beyond
merely venting aggression to capture the confusion of his generation. 'When
Eminem raps about the s-t that goes on in his head, I identify with it.'
All irony aside, Eminem has lived a difficult life. Born in Missouri to a
single mother (he's never met his father), he bounced back and forth with
his mom between Missouri and Michigan. By changing schools every three
months, Eminem became an easy mark for bullies, one of whom pounded him into
a five-day coma. He and his mother finally settled in a virtually all-black
Detroit housing project when he was 12, and hip-hop became his salvation: he
went from lip-syncing N.W.A. songs at home to battling other MCs on
open-mike nights. Loud boos greeted the skinny white rapper-until he opened
his mouth. 'I heard him in a battle with 50 other MCs,' says Paul (Bunyan)
Rosenberg, Eminem's 28-year-old manager and attorney. 'He took them all by
himself.'
In 1997, stuck in a series of dead-end jobs, Eminem completed a demo called
'The Slim Shady EP' that finally captured his snarky persona: the class
clown with the head-of-the-class lyrics. But he and his girlfriend Kim were
also struggling to make ends meet while raising their infant daughter,
Hailie Jade (her name is tattooed on his right arm), all of which he
recounted in unflinching detail on the track "Rock Bottom." 'I couldn't
afford to buy my daughter diapers and shit,' he says. 'My girl had to strip
to make money.' Things got so bad that he even tried to kill himself by
swallowing pills.
Fortunately, his prince came, in the form of veteran producer/gangsta rapper
Dr. Dre. 'When [Interscope Records chief] Jimmy Iovine gave me the tape on
him - I was like 'Wow',' says Dre. 'He had crazy flow and some funny shit to
say.' The first track they put down was "My Name Is," the singsongy
crossover smash that had some people saying he'd be a novelty act like
Vanilla Ice. But Dre gave him the credibility he needed for rap fans to pay
attention to his prodigious skills. And Eminem had secured the approval of
the hip-hop community-everyone from Missy Elliott to Jay-Z-because of his
years in the trenches. Says Los Angeles radio DJ Sway: 'He was no stranger
to getting on mikes and getting into battles, and that's like paying your
dues.'
Offstage, it's been a roller-coaster year for the mad rapper. On the
positive side, Eminem married Kim, who he fantasized about killing on the
supremely controversial " '97 Bonnie and Clyde." 'Right now, I feel like I'm
on top of the world,' he says of their reconciliation. 'I did right for my
daughter.' Yet on his new album, there's a prequel to " '97 Bonnie and
Clyde" titled "Kim," recreating the argument that led him to (lyrically)
murder her. 'It's really weird for me to listen to that song,' which he
recorded while they were apart. 'The pain that I felt at that time was so
real that I really actually wanted to do that. That's why I just don't
listen to the song anymore.' He adds: '[Kim] doesn't like the fact that it
went on the album, but I'm like this - music is a form of expression.'
Eminem was a little too expressive for his mother; angered by his statements
in interviews that she was a drug user who failed to provide for him, she
sued him last September for $10 million (the lawsuit is still pending).
Rather than tone down his rhetoric on his new album, Eminem repeats his
charges and proceeds to get, well, Oedipal on her in two separate songs.
He's still seething: 'If my mother is fucking cruel enough, knowing she
didn't help me get where I'm at, try to take food out of my mouth and out of
my daughter's mouth, try to take me for everything that I have, then I'm not
holding back on this album,' he says. His mother's attorney, Fred Gibson,
told NEWSWEEK that her problem was with Eminem's interviews, not his lyrics.
'She asked him to lay off, stop ridiculing her, to stop demeaning her and
stop defaming her on numerous occasions,' says Gibson. 'This was the last
action she had available to her to make him stop.'
If Eminem was just a wounded child lashing out at the world around him, he'd
be worth one listen at best. But he picks on himself almost as much as he
does the people on his enemies list, a defense mechanism that he developed
as a child. 'When I started using the whole Slim Shady name, it gave me the
chance to take what was wrong with my life and turn it back on [others],' he
explains. By flipping his razor-sharp lyrics on himself, Eminem subverts the
smirking superiority that plagues mainstream rap, a wily underdog move that
lets him get away with more than he could otherwise.
And as the underdogs of their own reality, teens are looking for a few good
icons. When alternative rock's no-sellout fear of success led to the
downsizing of the rock star, millions of white kids turned to rap superstars
like Tupac and Biggie. But after both were gunned down, the
hip-hop-dominated music scene was left without a galvanizing figure.
Thankfully, Eminem has come along to save hard-core hip-hop from the flossy
tales of Cristal-popping, Glock-toting thugs that play in an endless loop.
Blessed with Biggie's witty wordplay and Tupac's soul-baring courage, Eminem
is limited only by his ambition-and he's already setting his sights high.
"Tupac was good at making you feel his pain," Eminem says. 'I want to be
able to make people cry, to make people feel.' And Interscope's Iovine is
certain that today's youth will eat it up. 'There's one of these [hip-hop]
kids in every household.' In other words, the chickens have come home to
rap."
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Much Music.com article about D12
The past year has been a turbulent one for the artist known as Marshall Mathers a.k.a. Eminem. It's been 12 months plagued by lawsuits, divorces and criminal charges. His diabolical views mixed with a mad poet's anguish attracted controversy like flies to shit.
On the other hand, that unique characteristic led to a full year of otherwise positive attributes. As we speak, Em continues to garner critical praise for his record-breaking sophomore release, The Marshall Mathers LP (8x Platinum in Canada). He's received countless award-winning merits from some of the music industry's most respected musical outlets. And in a test of true showmanship, the blond-haired rap-phenom dazzled viewers with a classic performance at the 2001 Grammy Awards. So what's next?
Three Grammys, 2 Source Awards and 14 Million records later, the artist known as Eminem continues to exceed expectations. This June, Marshall Mathers (entrepreneur) will officially introduce the world to 5 more of Detroit's wildest wordsmiths via his new imprint, Shady Records. D12 (Eminem, Proof, Denaun, Bizarre, Kuniva and Swifty) will make their bloody red carpet debut on the highly anticipated Devils Night.
Labelled after the notorious night before Halloween in which the city's relentless youth run amok in a barbaric fashion, Devils Night will feature Em and Co. tearin' mics over production from Dr. Dre (N.W.A., Snoop Dogg, Nas), DJ Head, D12's Kon Artis and Eminem himself.
Raw and rambunctious from the outset, D12 includes Em, plus five of his Motor City co-di's who, like him, double up on their personas in order to unleash more contained rowdy energy. Denaun Porter a.k.a. Kon Artis, Big Proof a.k.a. Derty Hairy, Swift a.k.a. Swifty McVay, Kuniva a.k.a. Rondell Beene and Bizarre a.k.a. Peter S. Bizarre.
The 6-man crew met seven years ago at Detroit's HIP HOP shop, a local hangout where emcees of all calibres would gather in hopes of droppin' a verse or two during the stores "Saturday open-mic sessions". Meanwhile, word about the "the ill white boy" was getting around to another of Detroit's most notorious emcees, MC Proof. The two squared off and instantly gained respect for each other. "I remember we both said the same obscure punchline to each other," remembers Proof. "That's when I knew he did his homework as an emcee."
Most members of D12 had already established themselves throughout hip-hop's underground segment with their respective solo careers. Bizarre independently released his debut EP, Attack of the Weirdos in 1997. Swifty was earnin' stripes as one half of the BMG/Mecca Don Records recording artists, Rabeez, while veteran emcee Proof, released an indie single, "Searchin" b/w "Anywhere", in 1995
"We were all these little stragglers," says Proof, "so we thought that we would form together in a group and be the illest." Instantly finding a common bond with their outrageous subject matter, the six assembled forces and honed their skills under the alias D12 (six members plus alter egos). It was actually D12's idea to create alter egos, one that led to the infamous alias, Slim Shady.
"We made a pact years ago," says the clique's most notorious member, Eminem. "Whichever one of us gets signed, comes back for the rest."
Devils Night attests to that team loyalty D12 abides by. While all members made their debut on "Under The Influence", off the classic Marshall Mathers LP, the world got an official full dose of D12 with their first release, "Shit On You," a relentlessly sinister yet off the wall tirade featuring the production of DJ Head.
"D12 is just a throwback to the Motor City's legacy on music history," says Proof. "We try our best to exploit Detroit culture and make sure that Detroit is felt - and remind ourselves of the old Motown days."
Not surprisingly, D12's debut album is loaded with controversial material. The first single off of Devils Night, "Purple Pills", already reeks of trouble as D12 takes listeners on a psychedelic ode to the "ultimate non-prescribed medicine". Another party-on record takes place on "Blow My Buzz", a celebration of substance abuse and the effects of other people's tendency to ruin a good "buzz". While dark humour is the vibe of choice for these Motor City Madmen, things get a bit serious on songs like "Pistol, Pistol", in which D12, over a slick, yet sinister, violin proceed to pay homage to their weapon of choice. In "American Psycho", D12's maniac-at-large, Bizarre, attempts to push the limits of parental discretion with lyrics too controversial to put on paper.
Staying true to his disrespective demeanour, Em "lets-off-a-little-steam" to say the least on "Girls". According to Em, his targets this time are "those who decide to stick their heads outside the window in the middle of a shootout. If there a public feud with me and a certain individual, don't throw your two cents in for the sake of media coverage," warns Eminem, "cause you're liable to catch it just as quick."
Not one to miss out on the commotion, the great spin-doctor, Dr. Dre, steps to the table providing four tracks on the highly anticipated Devils Night.
One that's sure to lure attention is "Revelation", a call to arms for all those fed up with what society deems correct. Another song that undoubtedly captures D12's rambunctious chemistry at its best is "That's How�" a humorous meeting of the minds on consequences that cause people to get "fucked up, locked up, messed up and beat up" just to name a few.
Coming from a place that seems to be breeding some of the sickest emcees in the game look for Detroit's D12 to carry on the aggressive moniker made famous by Em this Summer on Shady Records.
"Detroit What?!"
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Detroit Free Press
June 30, 2000
Detroit rapper Eminem talked Wednesday to Free Press pop music critic Brian McCollum.
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 fucking 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 fucking 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. Shit 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 fucking 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 fucking person. But I'm not a regular fucking 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 shit I get, motherfuckers 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 fucking 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 fucked 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 shit 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 shit keeps happening that fucks 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.
