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Interview with MTV, 2002 |
Eminem's current mode of transportation has none of the
plush luxuries you would assume a rapper might have in his
traveling venue: no TV, no PlayStation 2, no DVD player and
no roof.
"Throw it up," the Detroit rhyme Goliath says, looking down
at an anxious fan waving a CD. Eminem's in New York City,
traveling with a small entourage around Manhattan on a
double-decker bus, made for tourists to go site-seeing. But
Slim Shady is the spectacle today as he rides downtown from
Times Square.
"I remember them days, just being so f---ing hungry," Eminem
laughs after trying to catch the guy's CD that was flung to
him from street level. "People will go to such lengths. I
would do anything to let people hear my sh--. I didn't care,
[I was like] 'Please dub my sh--, please listen to my demo.'
"
Nowadays, there aren't too many people who haven't heard
Eminem's irresistible irreverence, and while he loves to be
heard, nothing will ever beat a day at home chilling with
his daughter, Hailie Jade. And while his young one thinks
her dad's gone crazy, Eminem insists he's quite the sane
one. It's the world around him that's gone bonkers.
Atop the double-decker and on a hotel roof in Manhattan,
Shaheem Reid and Sway Calloway got the lowdown on Marshall
Mathers, the man. Among the things they chatted about were
how he rates himself as a dad, what he thinks of his own
father, why he doesn't cover himself in ice and what it
feels like to have strangers jumping into your pool ...
MTV: Jay-Z has a new album coming out where he says
fame is both a gift and a curse. Do you agree with Jigga's
assessment?
Eminem: You gotta take the ups and downs with it.
Fame has got its pros and cons. The pros would be you don't
have to ride one of these [double- decker buses] anymore.
The cons would be all the craziness that comes with it. When
you get rid of some of your small problems, like having
bills, [and then transition] to getting to where somebody
like me or Jay-Z is, you have a whole new slew of problems,
like lawsuits and other things I never knew could exist.
MTV: The tour is going well and you've sold millions
of records, but you're one of the few rappers that we never
hear talking about ice or cars or your bank account. What do
you do with your money? Better yet, what's the first
big-ticket item you bought?
Eminem: The first big-ticket item that I bought was a
house. When I first started seeing money, I treated that
like it was the only house I would ever buy and the only
royalty check that I would ever get. That's how I treat
every [check]. The truth is, you don't know what's gonna
happen tomorrow. This is a crazy ride and nothing is
guaranteed. I could wake up tomorrow and this could all be
over. You have to invest.
MTV: What was it like owning your first home?
Eminem: At the time I bought it, I had no idea how famous I
really was. It was across the street from a trailer park and
we had kids coming across all day knocking on the door. We
had a pool in the backyard, kids were jumping in the pool.
It was crazy. The house was on a main road so we had people
whipping in my driveway like, "Em, what up?" I literally
couldn't go outside my house. So we deaded that real quick,
sold the house, lost money and bought a new house. That's
probably the best investment I've made, my new house.
MTV: You say you weren't aware of your fame when you
first started blowing up. When did you start sensing how
popular you were becoming?
Eminem: The first time I really sensed it was
flipping through channels and seeing my face on every
channel. You kind of get sick of yourself. The first time I
experienced it was probably walking through a mall or
something and not realizing how many people really know who
you are. I probably got the most unmistakable nose and chin
in the business. Sometimes I'll go out and cover up [most]
of my face. If they see one eye [people know it's me], it's
crazy.
MTV: Your daughter Hailie is obviously a huge
inspiration in your life and music, and the two of you have
even recorded a song together. But does she know the depths
of her daddy's fame yet?
Eminem: Yeah, she knows. She's six and she's getting
the grasp of that whole thing. She's starting to realize.
She goes to school like, 'My dad's on TV,' and these other
kids, their dads aren't on TV.
MTV: Hailie is becoming a mini celeb in her own
right. She seemed really comfortable recording "My Dad's
Gone Crazy." Do you see her following in your footsteps and
making music when she gets older?
Eminem: When she's 25, maybe she can. She's gotta
grow up first. She scares me a little bit 'cause she's got
that "little star" quality.
MTV: So will Hailie be getting any siblings anytime
soon? Maybe you could spearhead a hip-hop Partridge family.
Eminem: No more kids. I'm good with Hailie. I'll
spoil her and give her everything I never had. I have other
family members that I take care of and want to take care of,
but as far as kids, I'm cool. No more, one is enough.
MTV: As you approach the big 3-0, are you getting
this whole parenting thing down pat? How would you rate
yourself as a father?
Eminem: I do the best I can right now. I truly
believe I'm doing the right thing and I do a good job. I'm a
father before anything. I'm a father before I pick up the
mic. I'm a father before I'm Eminem. Of course I'm not the
perfect parent. There may be things I'm doing wrong and I'll
find out in 10, 15 years, but right now I'm doing the best
job I can and that's all I can do.
MTV: As much as she depends on you, in "Say Goodbye
Hollywood" you liken Hailie to sort of your lifeline, saying
"I gotta get up, thank God/ I got a little girl/ And I'm a
responsible father/ So not a lot of good I'd be to my
daughter/ Layin' in the bottom of the mud ..." Do you think
that your daughter has saved your life?
Eminem: I think that in a roundabout way she did save
my life. I always had drive coming up and I always wanted to
make it as a rapper. That was my dream. But when she was
born, it was the reality of "I have to do this." I had
nothing else. I had no high school education. I want her to
be able to grow up and look back on this and be like —
whether people agree with it or not — "My dad put me on a
song. My dad wrote songs for me, my dad said my name all
over the place." I want her to be able to look back in
magazines and everything and just know. I don't ever wanna
be like my father was to me.
MTV: In the video for "Cleaning Out My Closet," you
talk a lot about your mother, but some of the most
mind-searing images portray your recollection of how your
father treated you and your mother. Have you ever tried to
reach out to him?
Eminem: I have never spoke to my father and I never
will. I'm cool. It's not a void in my life, [I don't feel
there's something] missing or anything. I'm happy and I've
got who I need in my life and I think I've found a peace, an
inner peace. I don't feel like I ever need to meet him one
day and be like, "Oh my life is complete." I don't want to
know him.
MTV: You've been feuding with your mother for quite
some time, you've dissed her numerous times in songs and
even took a couple of shots at her during the Anger
Management Tour. What type of toll, if any, has your
estrangement taken on Hailie's relationship with her
grandmother?
Eminem: That's a difficult situation because my
little brother lives with me now so my mother occasionally
has to come there. I know that I can't imagine what goes on
in a six-year-old's head. I know there's probably part of
[Hailie] that maybe wants to see her grandmother but she
doesn't know what's going on, and I just basically keep her
sheltered from it. When [my mother] does come to the house,
I try to occupy Hailie. When she's old enough and she wants
to know her grandmother, she can make that decision on her
own. But as of right now, I'm not gonna subject my daughter
to any of that.
MTV: You have a first-hand perspective of what it's
like to come from a home where the parents are not together.
How much of an effect do you think your divorce from Kim
will have on Hailie?
Eminem: I think that it's good that this happened
while Hailie was real young and didn't get so used to seeing
her mother and father together all the time. I think it's
better we did it early because sh-- was rocky for a while
... I don't wanna subject my seed to that type of turmoil,
'cause it was turmoil a couple years ago. I think that right
now when I look at it, she's a happy little girl. To me she
doesn't show any signs that something's bothering her or
anything like that. Maybe when she gets older she could tell
me, maybe it was something I didn't know.
MTV: So now that you're single once again, are you
going the Puffy route and looking for a new girl to ride,
ride, ride?
Eminem: No. I'm not looking for a new woman. I'm cool
being single — not to say I don't get down (laughing). But
as far as a relationship or getting married again, I'm cool,
man. I learned my lesson and I've seen what it is and what
it can and can't be and I feel like I've learned enough from
my first mistake. Let that be the last one and keep moving
forward. Relationships? No. |
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