Metro Interview [magazine]

METRO TIMES: Since I've returned to Detroit, I've become an even bigger fan of yours, especially due to your pride in the city. John Smyntek, the gossip columnist at the Detroit Free Press, wrote in his farewell column that no major Detroit personality had more potshots thrown at them than you did over the years. And yet, you have remained loyal and dedicated to this city. There are other hometown stars who have nothing good to say about Detroit at this point. You could live anywhere in the world. So what is it about Detroit that's so close to your heart?

EMINEM: Oh, man. Well, I do think, one, I'm a creature of habit. You know? I'm just so comfortable here. It's where I grew up. It's where I basically spent all my teenage years. And it's just that I don't live too far from where I spent those years. I can always go back and revisit my old neighborhood any time I want. And stuff like that is very important. Even if I just want to drive by one of my old houses or something. You know? Just drive by and look at places where I came up. It brings back memories for me. And there are a lot of memories I have here in Detroit. I'm just so comfortable here, I guess.

MT: I've read that Relapse, the new LP, harks back to a simpler time for you. I'm curious as to whether nostalgia played any role in the creation of the new album, particularly nostalgia for Detroit?

EMINEM: Hmmm. Nostalgia ... [laughs]

MT: In the sense of looking back at your past?

EMINEM: In the sense of looking back at my past ... I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question?

MT: Sure. I've read that the new album, Relapse ...

EMINEM: Oh! OK, I get what you're saying. Yeah. Well, conceptually and musically, the new album does go back. I don't know if it's nostalgia but the record probably feels like maybe somewhere along the lines of the first two records. You know? I guess in that sense of nostalgia or whatever, it's like it's kinda going back to the feel of those two records — the Slim Shady LP and the Marshall Mathers LP.

MT: What are your feelings about the current plight of Detroit's auto heritage and blue-collar workers, both part of your lineage? And how do you see the city's future?

EMINEM: Well, I don't really know how I see the future. I mean, I really wish I had an answer for what's going on here right now, you know? It really is kinda complicated for me when I look at it. But it just kinda pisses me off a little bit when people, like, I guess, refer to this city or look at this city as a whole. When you look at the crumbling auto industry ... [sighs] you see and hear people blaming the auto executives and shit like that for mismanaging the companies and, you know, putting money in their own pockets and taking too big of salaries and shit like that. But I don't know if people outside of Detroit realize, OK, yeah, that did happen and, yeah, they made some bad decisions. But in the long run, who is it affecting? Well, the real people of this city who are losing their jobs. They're the ones who are being affected by this daily. It's a really complicated situation because everyone is just pointing fingers right now. But the truth is it's fucking up the lives of real people here. You know what I mean?

MT: This might be too lofty of a question, but what role, if any, would you like to play in the city's future? Or do you think that's beyond your concerns?

EMINEM: Well, I don't know that it's beyond my concerns. But I don't really know how to answer that or what role I'd like to play in this city. That, that ... it's a little ...

MT: Yeah, I understand. It does seem, though, that music is still one of the few Detroit exports that people care about. And you are a Detroit institution. People can't think Eminem without thinking Detroit. So at least that's a positive.

EMINEM: Yeah. Well, hopefully, that's a good association. I guess it is.

MT: Even though the album harks back to your earlier stuff and maybe better times, during the last couple of years, there's been a lot of pain in your life. Proof's death. Your drug problems. There's an old cliché that says pain is the best and truest teacher. Have you learned anything important from the pain you've experienced since the last record?

EMINEM: Well, I don't know that I've learned anything. ... Well, you know, I guess I've actually learned quite a bit. As far as Proof passing away, I've gotten a little better at dealing with it. I guess as time goes by, you get a little better at dealing with something like that. And I've certainly learned from my own experiences with addiction. I don't know if this is gonna answer the question for you or not — but I've learned that you certainly can't get sober just because everyone else wants you to. You have to want to do it yourself. You know what I mean? When I first went into rehab, I kinda felt like I was doing it just because everyone else was ready for me to get sober. But I wasn't. And that is why I relapsed when I came out of treatment. When I came out of rehab. And it was because I just wasn't ready. I had to actually be ready, mentally, to say, "I'm done with this now. I've had enough."

In response to losing Proof, I've also just learned that no matter what — no matter how much I want to beat myself up over what happened, the wish that I could have done something or have been there or done something to change the course of what happened — nothing that I do or say or wish is gonna bring Proof back. So I've just kinda finally come to that realization. I don't know if I can ever totally accept his death. But I'm certainly getting better at coping with it.

You know, just a couple of days ago was pretty rough for me. When I'm doing something like getting back into performing again and shit like that — you know going onstage again and stuff like that, it just feels really empty. Those are the days when I really miss him. So, you know, I do still have my days with it. I have good days and bad days with it. But I'm certainly getting a little better at coping with the loss.

MT: Some people have suggested that Proof's death was, in some ways, the end of classic Detroit hip hop as we knew it. Or at least it shifted things into a more fragmented hip-hop scene. Do you think that's true?

EMINEM: Well, I mean losing Proof ... [sighs] Proof was so much to Detroit in so many different ways. And he meant so much to so many different people in so many different ways. Proof was like ... I heard someone describe Proof once as like a comet. And he was like a comet because you only get to see it once in a lifetime. That made a lot of sense to me. Because it's true. You know, there will only be one Proof. And Proof was so much to this city in so many different ways. His spirit. In many ways, he just kinda was Detroit.

MT: One of the things that was interesting in your autobiography is when you're discussing the topic of guns and you wrote: "guns are bad." I'm wondering if you're happy to see hip hop and rap in general kind of moving away from the "gangsta" element.

EMINEM: Um, well, do you think it is moving away from that? I guess, in a sense, it does kinda feel like that, doesn't it?

MT: Yeah. And I think you're partially responsible for that because you brought a more humanistic sense to the form.

EMINEM: Well, that would be good. But for me, personally, I mean, I'm done with guns. You know what I mean? They certainly never ever brought anything good into my life. Especially with my own family and our history [of suicide] and shit like that. And my own personal experience with guns. And then you lose your best friend to guns. ... No. Guns are just bad news.

MT: I thought it was really good that you put that in the book so that kids read that. Are there any contemporary Detroit artists that you're into?

EMINEM: Well, honestly. ... Actually, I've been hearing a lot about ... Black Milk?

MT: Yeah, he's good.

EMINEM: Yeah. I just recently heard a song ... let me see, like last week, I think it was. But I haven't had a chance to really listen to a lot lately. It's only in the last couple of weeks that I stepped away from everything and put the pen down. So I've been like trying to get back into recent music. Because when I'm in work mode — when I'm actually writing lyrics and working on an album — I don't really listen to anybody else's records. That's just because I don't want to subconsciously take a flow or something from someone else, you know what I mean? I still want to make sure I sound like no one else when I rap. So I purposely stayed away a little bit from what's been going on in hip hop. And I'm trying to play catch up right now, especially with Detroit hip hop. So it's not really fair for me to give you a good answer on that as of right now. In other words, I might need a couple of more weeks to listen and then I'll be able to give a better answer on that.