With less than 24 hours until his album officially drops, we’ve seen more of Eminem in the past few months than we have in the past three years.
After a short hiatus following the release of Recovery, Eminem has been back on the scene as the musical guest of SNL, a brand collaborator with G Shock and more, but we’ve yet to get an editorial look at the man once known as Slim Shady.
Thankfully, Complex snagged a cover story with the best-selling rapper, and he opened up about why he keeps his private life so private, and what the revisitation of the Marshall Mathers LP will provide as part two drops tomorrow.
Oh, and of course he had to answer the question posed to every single rapper: “What did you think about Kendrick Lamar’s “Control” verse?” Check out some excerpts from the interview below.
On what themes he is revisiting from Marshall Mathers LP:
“Um… [long pause] certain things, man. I’m trying to think if I can answer this. And I’m retarded, so…. On the first Marshall Mathers LP there were some personal things that I addressed and on this record there are some chapters that I wanted to close. This isn’t Recovery, where I was coming off some personal tragedies. I’m not coming off of a drug overdose. It’s more about going back to the basics of hip-hop and some fundamentals in that sense.”
On no longer putting his personal life on front street through his music:
“Yeah, I don’t know. A lot of my career I put a lot of my life out there. It was personal shit I would put out there and didn’t really give a fuck. Sometimes I think back and I’m like, “Damn, was I doing the right thing? How much of myself do I wanna put out there?’ In one aspect you want your fans to feel like they know you and connect with you. But then you’re like, ’Man I got nothing to myself no more.” I don’t want to give away how personal this shit is going to get.”
On not listening to his old music:
“I always say this about my music, and music in general: Music is like a time capsule. Each album reflects what I’m going through or what’s going on in my life at that moment. I don’t want to give too much away as far as how personal this album gets, but I don’t know if it’s going exactly where that album did.”
On feeling like he is in a fishbowl of fame:
“And that’s the reason I chose to not talk about personal shit anymore—aside from what I put out there on records. I’ve got to do things to protect my personal family life. I wouldn’t even comment on that honestly. That’s not being a dick to you.”
On his initial reaction to Kendrick Lamar’s “Control” verse:
“It’s hard to say because he fucking destroyed that verse, but it’s fucked up because everyone tells you what he did before you get a chance to hear it. My initial reaction was “Holy shit” and then it was “Wow, that was smart as fuck.” He did it in such a smart way. You really can’t get mad because he’s saying what every MC is thinking or should be thinking. You know what I’m saying? ‘I want to destroy the competition. I want to fucking kill everybody.’”
Be sure to head over to Complex for the interview and the full visuals.
SOURCE: COMPLEX
