Hip Hop Connecion 2000

The interview is from the April 2000 issue of British hiphop mag', 'HIP HOP CONNECTION'



As he emerges from the shadows of his New York hotel lobby, Marshall Mathers
is instantly recognizable. He looks exactly how you would imagine, dressed
in a red baseball cap and vast stiff denim jeans and jacket. As he and his
boys pile into a blacked-out mini van the scene is familiar enough to seem
like a flashback. With his second major album due his attention is firmly
fixed on the music, which judging from a swift playback of a clutch of the
new songs, is more serious this time round. 'The Marshall Mathers LP' will
reveal the real Eminem - Slim Shady and his cartoonish exploits have been
pushed into the background. One aspect of Marshall that isn't clear from the
new album is his surprising politeness and modesty. He speaks with respect
and deference to the van driver, and the studio staff organising the photo
shoot. With journalists, however, he speaks more candidly and directly and
peppers his replies with a straight-faced sarcasm that he rarely explains,
often leading him to misinterpretation.

Why are you releasing another record so soon after 'The Slim Shady LP'?
"I had a lot to say. I went through a lot in the past year so I've been
building things up. On tour i couldn't really write much because we were
concentrating on the shows, but when I got home in December it took me about
two months to record the album."

What would you say is the difference between the two albums?
"This one is more serious. It's angrier, it's not as happy-go-lucky as the
last album. I just reflected on things I've been through in the last year
and wrote about it. People have had some things to say about me, so I've had
things to say about them"

Is the sound different?
"Musically, the production is better. Aside from the tracks that Dre did
I've produced a few cuts myself. I produced a lot of the last record - a lot
of people didn't know that. Also on this record FBT (responsible for 'The
Slim Shady LP'), Mark The 45 King, and DJ Head did a beat for the D12 song."

Have you pursued a rock sound?
"It's mostly Hip-Hop. One or two tracks have got some guitar, but other than
that it's hip-hop and it's much rawer than the last album. I think it's a
better album. It's features Dre, the D12, Snoop, Xzibit, Nate Dogg, Sticky
Fingaz and RBX".

What's the forthcoming single, 'The Real Slim Shady', about?
"I'm just a regular person - that's what the whole vibe of the album, that's
what I'm trying to get across. Before all this rap shit, after all this rap
shit, when all the glitter and glamour and all the fame is gone I'm going to
go back to being Marshall Mathers. Nobody's going to give a shit about me -
before they didn't. I really don't understand what the big deal is. Back
home kids now look at me like I'm not a regular person, like I'm some God or
something. They look at me crazy like I don't eat, breath and shit the way
they do."

Is this a theme then?
"The whole message I'm trying to get across is 'What's the big fucking
deal?' I've always rapped but now that I've got a record deal and people are
hearing me nationwide or worldwide, I'm a big deal. That's what I'm trying
to get across to my fans and my whole family - from cousins to neices to
aunts."

This is even true of your relatives?
"Everybody in my family acts crazy about me, whenever I visit they fight
over whose house I'm going to stay at. I'm like, 'What the fuck is the big
deal? You guys didn't give a shit about me before, so why do you care now?
Before your door was never open, now all of a sudden it's always open'".

Surely the whole point is you're not a regular guy. You're a star.
"I am a regular guy. Maybe I'm so successful because I am a regular person.
I don't think I come across as arrogant, I come across as me, I'm myself and
maybe that's why I'm successful. I am a regular person with a job, maybe
with some talent but when it comes down to it, I'm still a regular person."

Shabaam Sahdeeq recently mentioned recording with you while blasted. Have
you been leading rappers astray?

"Yes I have. I will be the downfal of hip hop - any rapper who hangs out
with me will be addicted to drugs in a matter of days"

Are you still keen on Ecstasy?
"It's classified, if I tell you then I have to fucking kill you. Ecstasy is
big, period - it's the drug of choice now. As soon as I stopped that I
stopped fucking with mushrooms. You want to hear that I'm addicted to drugs,
but I'm not the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I do my fair share of drugs, put it
that way. I'm not saying you should or shouldn't touch anything, but have I
fuckd with heroin or crack lately? No, I've never fucked with that."

Talking of drugs, have you settled the legal problems with your mum?
"No, it's not finished, and it probably wont be finished for a couple of
years, if it even makes it to a courtroom."

You rap about the situation on the new album and sounds confident you're
going to win.

"Of course I'm confident. Everything I said was the truth, but that's all I
can say because they're looking for me to say shit now and I'm not giving it
to them."

You must be besieged by groupies, is that a lot of fun?
"No comment. Are we talking about the music here or are we talking about my
personal life? What I say in my music is what I want people to know but I'm
going to keep some things to myself or everybody's going to know my
business."

The Outsidaz told HHC [Hip Hop Connection] that girls would do anything to
meet you...

"The Outsidaz used to mess with girls like that, then they used to tell me
about it. They'd say, 'Oh you want to meet Eminem? Well suck our dicks
first.' It's was wild on tour with them, the Outsidaz are wild."

How did u meet them?
"I met Pace Won through Bizarre, who met Pace and Young Zee backstage at a
Fugees concert. He wanted me to meet them, so Pace stayed at my house, he
slept on the couch for a week and we were going to the studio every day
doing songs. A couple of months later, they returned the favour. They let me
stay at their crib and I did a show with them where we opened for Wu-Tang at
Staten Island."

Are your stories about STDs true?
"The herpes shit? That was me fucking around, sarcasm. Anybody who took my
last record seriously has got more problems than I do."

How do they know what to take seriously?
"They don't, that's for me to know."

You mentioned Britney Spears And teen pop bands on the new record. Have you
met any of the people you talked about?
"I've met Britney a couple of times but I'm not going to demolish her in
public. I'm not a fan of her music because I think that the boy/girl bands
are garbage. I think that shit is trash, it's as corny as fuck but
whatever....let them do their thing. I can't knock her for doing her thing,
she sucks and she can't sing but whatever."

Would your daughter agree with you?
"Hailie listens to Britney Spears and she listens to my shit too, she
listens to whatever's on. My little girl watches MTV, she likes Britney
Spears, Christina Aguilera and my shit. She likes a lot of people, i don't
like, what am I going to do? She's four."

Is their anybody's opinion you care about?
"No, not really. If somebody's got something to say about me then you best
beliee I am going to say something back. I'm not going to go quiet. I
haven't really go into trouble for saying anything. I say whatever I want to
say and whoever doesn't like it can suck my dick, and whoever likes it,
cool."

On 'The Real Slim Shady' you seem to be inviting people to have a go if they
think they're hard enough.

"On one verse I was talking about a group who dissed me and made a song
about me. I'm not going to say their name and give them any more light - I
already gave them enough on the song. These muthafuckers dissed me, they
were talking shit about me, so I let them have it. I'll let them have it in
public, I'll let them have it on record, I'll let them have it verbally,
physically, whatever."

Are you rich yet?
"Yes, but I haven't had the time to spend much of it. The money's good, but
the money isn't what I'm concerned with. More than anything I like what I
do. I didn't start rapping because I wanted to be rich; I started out
rapping because I wanted people to say I was dope. Of course I want the
money, of course the money is nice, but if I'm making money and not
respected then what the fuck am I doing it for? Repect means a lot to mee."

What have you been spending money on?
"I've got a Mustang and an Explorer. I don't want a Benz, I don't wear
jewellery - that's not me. This shit deosn't last forever and I don't want
to wear my house around my neck or my car on my wrist. I'd rather invest and
do the right things, make sure my daughter is put through college and she
has an opportunity that I never had. I invest it in stocks and bonds. I've
got my own record label, so I'm going to make that jump off the way that I
want to."

What would you do if you weren't rapping?
"I can't imagine myself doing anything but rap, except for cooking and
washing dishes at the record I worked at for three years before I got my
record deal."

Do you still cut your own hair?
"I do, but this dude fucked up my hair yesterday. I told him I wanted a
little trim and he gave me a fucking buzz cut. He chopped my shit to shit,
it doesn't bother me much though."

Until recently, you were still living in the same house in Detroit....still
there?

"I just moved. I lived there all my life but once I hit MTV everybody was
coming up to me and talking about it, people that knew me for the longest
were starstruck, the kids in the neighbourhood were knocking on the door all
day. It got to the point where I was like, 'I've been here all my fucking
life, what is different about me now?' Before I could walk down the street
and nobody said shit, now it's ridiculous."

Do you have posters on your wall of rappers you idolised as a kid?
"Of course I did. LL Cool J. My room was covered in posters from Word Up!,
The Source, every rap magazine there was. You couldn't see any wall, it was
all posters. Big Daddy Kane and all the rest."

And what would have happened if you had met LL when you were a kid?
"When I was younger I probably would have flipped out. I probably would have
done what these kids do to me, so I try not to be rude. I try to understand
them and put myself in their position and remember what I was like at that
age. But sometimes I can't help it, it gets on my fucking nerves."

Is this what the new song 'Stan' is about?
"Yes and No. I get a lot of fanmail, some of it's normal, and some of it's
crazy fanmail. I'm a crazy guy, not clinically insane, but crazy, so i
attract a lot of weirdos. I wanted to make the song 'Stand' about an
obsessed fan and base it on letters that I've got showong the way people
perceive me."

What happens in the song?
"Stan is an obsessed fan who takes everything that I say and that I clown
about totally serious and he just flips out. I look at almost every letter I
get, but I don't have time to write back, I'm just too busy. The plot is
that I don't have time to write back to this guy so he thinks I'm dissin him
and finally at the end of the song I write back not knowing that he's killed
himself."

Now that you're rich do you get to wear different clothes?
"No. Jeans and a T-Shirt always, that's what I'm most comfortable in, that's
what I'm seen in public in. I don't think anyone's ever caught me dressed
up. I like shit that might not necessarily look good but is comfortable."

Do you have a license to act like an asshole now that you're famous?
"I can't get away with it as much as I used to. I can on record, but out in
public. Now if I hit someone I make them rich, so if somebody gets to me
physically, or there's a confrontation, I have to bite my toungue. I can't
swing at that person or do what I would have done two years ago. I have
people who are there for me so that doesn't happen, and to do it for me."

Does it happen often?
"Sometimes is somebody has got something to say. If I'm walking through a
club usually everybody's cool, but there is usually one fucking heckler, or
somebody who has something to say or has a fucking grudge and I can't react
like I would normally. I usually do, but it ends up being stopped before it
evolves into something ugly. But I say what I want to say on record, I say
what I want to say period. Whoever likes it likes it, if they don't like
they don't have to fucking listen."

How does it feel seeing kids who are dressed like you?
"It's cool. A bunch of little Slim Shadys running around, I think it's dope.
People have to remember it's just music. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't
think I was a role model to kids because whether you want to be or not,if a
kid is buying your CDhe is looking up to you."

Do you feel a responsibility towards the kids?
"I feel the parents should be responsible, I'm responsible for my little
girl and that's all I give a fuck about. I'm not saying that I hate kids or
anything like that, but I'm not a babysitter - that's the parents; job. I
listen to everything my daughter listens to and I watch everything that she
watches. If she watches something that has got cuss words in it then she
knows not to repeat the cuss words. She's going to hear them in school
anyway, so I'd rather teach her at home that these words are bad."

You seem to take this vocation of being a parent very seriously.
"All we do as parents is contain our kids until they get into their teenage
years because then you can't control them anyway. So you try and teach them
not to cuss or anything but they're going to learn it regardless. Hailie
listens to both of my albums and she likes them, sometimes she'll say 'Daddy
put that one song on'. But she's a smart little girl and is she hears cuss
words, she knows not to repeat them."

At your last London show you complained about the UK press.
"They were full of shit, these magazines and newspapers were full of shit.
We performed for 40 minutes and one paper said it was only 20 and the other
paper said it was 15 minutes. I only had one albums worth of material but we
did two encores and performed for 40 minutes and so we did damn near every
song on the fucking record, plus some freestyle shit and some encores.
What's with your writers? Your writers are fucking dicks."

Is there anything else that sticks in your mind from the UK?
"The food is horrible, it fucking sucks. I don't know how you guys live over
there. I can't see how there are fat people over there because I'd never
want to eat. But other than that I like it, it's cool. I do think you guys
are a little bit too polite, a little bit too nice."

Where else have you been that you liked?
"Amsterdam. But if I'm in the States or I'm in Mexico, I'm going to do my
drugs regardless. It's cool that drugs are legal though. It's not cool that
you can't smuggle shit out and take it home with you. What if you buy a
bunch of weed and you can't smoke it all? You want to take it home with you,
this shit you've paid for."

Do you like travelling?
"Whenever I go to England or Germany people always ask 'Do you like the
country so far?', but I don't get to see anything. I get to see the inside
of rooms, talk to people, take pictures, then do a show. So it would be a
fair statement to say I don't like it. I haven't seen enough to know whether
or not I like it."

Do any places really suck?
"There's a lot of places but if I say them..so I'll keep that shit
confidential. There might some places that suck, but people might buy my
records there."

What happens when you're away from home so much?
"Kim looks after Hailie. Last year I was home for maybe a month out of the
whole year. A month total, so I'd come home for a day, two days then go away
for a week or three weeks. I was on your a lot last year. I got December
off, but I had to record in the studio in Detroit."

Are you a happier person now that you're so successful?
"I don't know. I'm thankful for the position I'm in, but it's got it's ups
and downs - being busy, not having much of a personal life, but that's the
price you pay for fame and being successful. Yes in the financial sense, no
in the sense that the work's got harder, it's more of a job now and there's
a lot more to do."

Are you happy about being signed to such a big label as Interscope?
"I definetly wouldn't be where I'm at today with any other label. Interscope
is good, the perfect label for me. They're a controversial label so they're
used to dealing with that. They knew what to do and I think they marketed me
the right way, plus Dre gave me the credibility. I needed for people to take
me seriously when I first came out. Before Interscope I was signed to a
smaller label and we were selling a little but we weren't selling units. But
that's how it started picking up, and the buzz we got was from the
independent tapes we pressed up."

How long do you think this will last? Any chance of you not wanting to do it
anymore?

"I'm going to ride the wave however long it lasts. I can't tell you how long
that will be, I might drop this album and nobody will like it. I'll still
make more albums but I don't want to be rapping forever. I'm just going to
keep doing it until I can do it no more."

What else will you do?
"I'll take a step back and run the label, or get into production like Dre. A
lot of people don't know I produce my shit. I come up with the melodies and
arrangements, write all my own shit. I can't play instruments so I have
these cats that play the melodies I have in my head, but I produce and
arrange all that shit. People will see on this album that's I'm able to rap
and make tracks too. I learned a lot from Dre. A lot of times I'll get a
rhyme in my head and I'll know how the beats and melodies should go, so I'll
go into the studio and lay it down."

What inspires your music?
"Experience. I've been making my own beats for six years, but I don't know
where my inspiration comes from. My lyrics come from my life, but musically
shit just pops into my head."

Where does your rage come from?
"The anger inside me, I'm a smart ass and if somebody has something to say
I'm going to say something back. I can't see myself running out of shit to
see. Money makes things easier but it doesn't solve your problems. You can
have personal problems, you can have mental problems or problems at home and
money isn't going to sort that out."

You could spend it on therapy...
"My music is my psychiatrist. My microphone is my psychiatrist, it listens
to me talk. Once I've got it out, I'm not mad anymore. As long as people
piss me off, I'll piss them off."

How do you think you come across?
"Like a fucking dick. I'd like to think I don't come across as arrongant or
conceited or big-headed or anything like that. It's just me; I come across
as Marshall Mathers, somebody who doesn't take shit from anybody. I don't
know.... I'm a real person. I answer all these questions in my music,
anything that people were wondering about me. It's all there, everything
that anybody needs to know about me."

And with that he's gone, hustled into the next photo shoot and the next
interview, the day is rounded off with an appearance on Funkmaster Flex's
show on Hot 97. Quite what his fans will think of the new direction isn't
clear, but for Eminem it's a change he has to make to stay true to himself.
If this new, serious tone isn't as popular as the madness of Slim Shady then
his honesty will have caused both his rise and fall. But don't bank on it.
The sheer star quality he denies having will keep him in the limelight for
years to come.