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Eminem: This is the house. See back there? There used
to be a garage there, but it burnt down. Looks like they've
put a new front door on. Actually, it doesn't look that bad.
Let's see if anybody's here... (to person inside house)
Hello? Yo, excuse me. Can we talk to you -- not through the
door?
Voice: About what?
Eminem: My name is Slim Shady. I used to live in this
house. I'm here with MTV right now.
Kurt: That always works for me when I want to break
in someplace.
Eminem (to person inside): I used to live in this
house six years ago, and I grew up here. What if we take a
look in the back yard? Can we do that?
Voice: Yeah, go ahead.
Kurt: Who lived here? Was it just you and your mom?
Eminem: Yeah, me and my mother and my little brother.
Kurt: Where does she live now?
Eminem: She lives in Kansas City.
Kurt: Where'd your dad go, do you know?
Eminem: Nah, I never met my father. I heard he lives
in California, and I heard he's trying to get in contact
with me or whatever, but...
Kurt: Would you be up for that?
Eminem: Nah, man, not now. I never got one letter. I
never got anything from him and I think he could have at
least tried to write. He could have done something, made an
effort.
Kurt: So what was your mom doing while you were
growing up? Was she pretty much on her own?
Eminem: Yeah, she pretty much was, but she used to
have different boyfriends and people like that who would
come and go and help her out.
Kurt: So she was mainly on public support.
Eminem: Yeah, we was on welfare.
Kurt: Now what does she say now when she sees you on
television? Does she actually watch you?
Eminem: Yeah, because I got a little brother, and he
keeps MTV on all day. He tells me, "I've seen your video 100
times today." So I talk to my mother and she's like, "I'm
proud of you and what you've made of yourself."
Kurt: Let's talk about the album a little bit. You
write all your stuff down beforehand right?
Eminem: Much thought goes into everything that I do.
Much thought. I'm conscious of every line that I write and
making sure that everything is consistent. It doesn't take a
lot of time, usually anywhere from 2 to 4 hours to write a
song.
Kurt: Your daughter, who appears on the album cover,
is 3 now. When she grows up and asks, "Dad, what's 'Guilty
Conscience' all about? This track with the 15-year-old
girl?" Would you be able to explain that song to her?
Eminem: I would be able to explain that song to her
just like I would to any other child on the face of this
earth. Anyone with a half a brain can see that "Guilty
Conscience" was me just talking about the ways of the world
and your conscience. It's a concept song.
It's like you got the bad half of you and you have the good
half -- and it seems like in America these days, the evil
side always rules. And that's what I was trying to do with
that song. It was a concept, you know, me taking little
stabs at Dr. Dre and him throwing them back.
As a kid growing up, my daughter is gonna know right from
wrong. She's gonna know what to do and what not to do. She's
also gonna go through the same things that other children do
when growing up.
When I was 12 years old, if I heard an NWA record or I heard
an Ice-T record, I never went out and shot somebody. You
have to be smart enough to know.
Kurt: What did her mom think about "'97 Bonnie &
Clyde," the track where you describe killing your child's
mother and dumping her body into the ocean? How'd she take
that?
Eminem: She flipped out, because we had actually
broken up for a while and we went through a lot of issues. I
was very mad at her at the time and that's just what I felt
like writing. So I wrote the song and then we got back
together a couple of weeks later after I finished the track.
So I played it for her and we broke up again. She flipped
out. She really flipped out.
Kurt: Has she gotten over that by now or...?
Eminem: I think she's over that song by now. She's moved on
to other songs, yeah. But anything I go through, if it takes
a toll or has an effect on my life, then I'm gonna' write
about it...
Kurt: No matter what the consequences?
Eminem: Yeah. But look at Biggie, look at Tupac. If
you look at any of those writers, you'll see [that] one
minute Tupac is talking about hurting somebody and the next
minute he's saying keep your head up. It's because the
different moods that a person goes through and what you're
feeling at that time ends up [being reflected] in the
writing.
Kurt: Some critics have labeled "Slim Shady" as
homophobic and anti-gay. Do you think those criticisms are
justified at all?
Eminem: As far as being homophobic, I'm not. I never
claimed to be homophobic. If I said in one of my songs that
my English teacher wanted to have sex in junior high, all
I'm saying is that I'm not gay, you know. People confuse the
lyrics for me speaking my mind... I don't agree with that
lifestyle, but if that lifestyle is for you, then it's your
business.
Kurt: You're planning on heading out on the road
soon. What's the tour going to be like? Big production,
smoke bombs, lights?
Eminem: Well, I plan to have a really big show
because I've been doing a lot of small venues lately and
just packing them in. But now moving up to bigger venues, we
can have a better show. I plan to have a true show this time
instead of just grabbing a mike and rapping.
Kurt: There'll be like costumes and stuff like that?
Eminem: Yeah, yeah. We're gonna do a lot of stuff. Me
and Dre have been discussing it.
Kurt: That'll be cool. So life is better now right?
Eminem: Life is definitely better now. I really don't
want it to get much better, because I won't have anything to
rap about if it does.
Kurt: That could be a problem. What would happen if
you just got so good that there was nothing bad to say? Then
the ballads would come out.
Eminem: Yeah, then the love songs. The love songs and
the '80s remixes, you know. |
