Interview Magazine always has artists interviewing each other and it feels like they get the most out of them because they are in understanding about what the game is about and ask the right questions.
Longtime friends Eminem and Elton John sit down for the mag to talk about what’s been going on in Marshall’s life, tour life, how Paul Rosenberg keeps him in check, as well as what it was like when they first hit the stage to perform “Stan” at the GRAMMYs. They also spoke on the new album and new music he’s checking for.
JOHN: You must be pretty excited to have a new album coming out. Tell me about it.
EMINEM: I’ve been working on it for over a year. You know how it is—you make songs, and as you make the new ones, the old ones get old and you throw them out. The album is called Revival. It’s a reflection of where I’m at right now, but also I feel like what I tried to do was diversify. I’ve tried to make a little something for everyone.
JOHN: Do you listen to a lot of current hip-hop?
EMINEM: I listen to pretty much everything that comes out.
JOHN: Who do you think is doing great stuff at the moment?
EMINEM: J. Cole. Travis Scott. Kendrick is great. My friend Royce da 5’9″ is incredible. Joyner Lucas is really good. Tech N9ne, too.
Slim also explained that BET Awards freestyle and how it came about. Apparently, he was supposed to perform the verse live acapella on stage, but last minute things changed and he ended up doing it in Detroit. Nobody heard it before until he spit it on the spot, either. He was trying hard to memorize all the words, since he has trouble doing that, but he got it down.
Interestingly, he shared some advice he received from Dr. Dre.
JOHN: What’s the best piece of advice you ever got, and who was it from?
EMINEM: I would have to say Dre again. Actually, he gave me a couple of pieces of advice. When I first got signed to Aftermath, we had many discussions about how I wanted to bring in my group D12 and put them on right away. Dre said, “You’ve gotta build your house before you can let your friends come in,” and it made so much sense to me. In hindsight, waiting was probably better because eventually we got Shady Records and were able to sign them to it. He also used to say, “It can be in bad taste as long as it don’t taste bad.”
Read the full interview HERE.
OS REWIND: Eminem – Walk on Water (feat. Beyoncé)
OS REWIND: Eminem Reveals Tracklist for ‘REVIVAL’ Album