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(dramatic airy music)

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- [Narrator] A rapper,
record, producer, songwriter,

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and actor, Eminem has a
wide range of talents.

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- [Eminem] I've been writing lyrics

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since I was like 14 years old,

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you know, and just the more I wrote,

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the better I kept getting at it.

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- [Narrator] It is widely considered

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that he is one of the greatest
and most influential artists

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of all time.

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He has been named King of
Hip-Hop by Rolling Stone Magazine

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and one of the 100 greatest
artists of all time.

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- What Eminem did was just come out

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and be such an original artist,

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you know, in terms of
perspective and style.

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- I still feel like I'm
an underground artist

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regardless of how many units I sell.

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The subject matter and the
topics that I rap about

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are still underground.

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- I mean, in the simplest
way to look at it,

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he made being a white rapper okay.

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But beyond that, he's
really redefined hip-hop.

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- I tell it like it is.

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And when you buy a "Slim Shady" album,

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you're gonna get Slim Shady.

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(hip-hop song)

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- [Narrator] He released successful albums

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such as "The Slim Shady LP"
and "The Marshall Mathers LP".

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- I feel like if you wanna
sue me at this point,

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just take a number because
there's a lot of people in line.

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- His legal troubles have been numerous.

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He's known for his explicit use of words,

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often sending out aggressive signals.

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- A rawness and a keen
intelligence, and a lyricism,

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and a mastery of the English
language that a few artists,

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if any, have ever matched
and none will surpass.

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(hip-hop song)

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- [Narrator] Despite that this rap artist

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has won the hearts of
critics and fans alike,

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earning more than a dozen Grammy Awards.

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(hip-hop song)

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- People forget that Eminem
worked at his use of language.

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- In terms of like straight up pure skill,

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he might be the best technician

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to ever reach that multi-platinum level.

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- He worked hard to fall
in love with language

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and to find the immense way

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in which he was able to express himself.

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(hip-hop song)

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- [Narrator] He bases most of his songs

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on his personal struggles and
those of his family members.

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(hip-hop song)

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- I think people appreciated

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that if you come from a poor background

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and maybe even your entire life were told

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that you'd never amount to anything,

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that that's more reason and
more motivation to make it.

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And I can't imagine that
there's any rapper in the world

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who hasn't looked to Eminem and said,

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if he can do it, I can do it too.

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- [Narrator] One of the biggest sensations

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in the rap industry, his albums
have all been smashed hits.

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(hip-hop song)

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(hip-hop song)

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- One of the things that
is important for us all

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is to belong, to actually belong somewhere

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and belong to someone.

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And what defines Eminem's
life from day one

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is that he never belonged anywhere.

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He was never part of either the family

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or the community in which he grew up.

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- [Narrator] Born on October 17th, 1972

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in St. Joseph, Missouri.

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Marshall Mathers had an
extremely underprivileged

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and turbulent upbringing.

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His childhood traumas are recurring theme

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throughout his music

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and his lyrics paint a dark
picture of his early years.

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- And I think the best way
to describe his environment

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is grim.

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It was poor, it was trailer trash.

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His words, not mine.

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It was incredibly an
impoverished way to grow up.

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And as a kid,

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he was never really like
in a stable environment.

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His mom moved around a lot, you know.

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She didn't have any sort of like roots

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that he could hang onto.

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So I think he was just one of these kids

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who just ends up being
kind of lost as a youngster

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and not really finding a
community that supported him.

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- You know, at six months,
his father, Bruce, you know,

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walks out on him.

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(hip-hop song)

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The abandonment by his father
at an early age left him

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with no male role model.

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And worse than that, with
a sense that the male

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into whose care he was entrusted

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did not think highly enough
of him to stick around

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and make sure he was okay.

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And that was the first act of abandonment

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that Marsh started to put up with.

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You know, his mother is troubled.

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His grandmother was an alcoholic

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who was, you know, allegedly, you know,

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abused by her mother, which
would be his great-grandmother.

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So he's got this dysfunctional
family he grows up in.

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He moves as a child every few months,

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he's moving from place to place.

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He's got no stability in his family life.

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No anchor where he can sit
down and say, this is who I am,

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this is where I live, this
is my part of the world.

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He was deprived of that from an early age,

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and that had long-term
and significant effect,

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and ultimately drove,
you know, his creativity.

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It's where that genius comes from.

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- [Narrator] After Bruce Mathers
had abandoned the family,

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it was up to Debbie Mathers
to raise the young Marshall

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as a single parent.

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It proved to be a tough
task, and as a result,

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their relationship became
increasingly volatile.

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- Anyone who's heard
Eminem's, you know, music

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knows his relationship with
his mother is very volatile,

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very violent.

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- She described herself as
an overprotective mother.

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She described herself as
someone who smothered him a bit,

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but Molly coddled him a bit
and didn't allow him to grow

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and be a strong, powerful man

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and be what a male child wants really,

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which is going to the world and be a man.

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- Eminem has never painted
a pretty picture of his mom,

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Debbie Mathers.

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His called her a pill popper.

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He said she was unreliable,
that she was never around,

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that she dated the wrong kind of guys.

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It was clearly a very
difficult relationship

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that perhaps started out really nicely

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as when he was a kid,
because she nurtured him

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and he was able to discover music partly

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because his mom allowed him
access to that kinda stuff.

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- It's as if his mother overprotected him.

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Now, the thing about
maternal overprotection,

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people sometimes say,
oh, what a good mother.

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She you know, is always there for him,

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always protecting him,
always doing this, that,

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and the other.

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But overprotection is a form of neglect,

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every bit as neglectful
and more difficult to spot

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than a mother who overtly neglects a child

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and leaves a child
screaming in the corner.

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And what she deprived him of
really was his power as a boy

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and his power as a man
and his masculinity.

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And I think that that defined
so much of his later life.

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- But in the end, it just seemed
like she abandoned her kid,

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you know, as much as his dad abandoned him

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when he was six months old.

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(hip-hop music)

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- Marshall's exceptionally harsh childhood

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continued throughout his time at school

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where he was bullied and
beaten on a regular basis.

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- A white kid moving around
constantly from place to place

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in black schools, black
neighborhoods, you know.

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He was a victim of kind of reverse racism

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where he was the white kid.

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He was alienated from white kids

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because he wanted to be a rapper.

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He was alienated from black kids

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because he wanted to be a rapper.

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He was bullied at school.

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This is not a boy who grows
up with a strong sense

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of his own power, because
everybody wants to belong,

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and the person who's bullied
is being told physically

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and unemotionally, that
you don't belong here.

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And not only do you not belong here,

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we are going to punish you
simply for who and what you are.

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And that's what he had to put up with.

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He was punished and beaten
for who and what he was.

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A small, weak, white kid
in a black neighborhood

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trying to just survive and use
whatever he could to survive.

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And it reached the point
where in the famous song,

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he called "Brain Damage",
where he talks about the guy

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who literally put him in a coma.

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Five days he spent in a coma.

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It could have killed him.

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But the beatings didn't stop there.

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They just carried on.

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When he recovered from his
coma, it just carried on.

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It wasn't as if he was subject
to isolated act of bullying,

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it was sustained bullying
over an entire childhood,

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right through his teenage years.

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And that's difficult,

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almost crippling for anybody to live with.

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And let's give him credit
here for anybody who deal

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with what he had to deal
with and come out as he did,

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purely for surviving it,
nevermind what he did with it

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and what his creativity did with it,

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purely for surviving
it, he deserves a medal.

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(slow hip-hop music)

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- [Narrator] Life changed
drastically for Marshall in 1988

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when Kimberly Scott entered his life.

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Debbie Mathers had
always wanted a daughter,

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and she jumped at a chance to foster Kim.

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And Marshall was about to
enter into a relationship

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that would've a hugely
significant impact on his life.

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- When Eminem was 15, she adopted Kim,

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who was later to become Eminem's
wife, you know, and lover,

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and, you know, all about how
complex that relationship was.

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And among these warring women,

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because Kim and Eminem and Kim and Debbie,

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everybody was fighting.

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It was a very turbulent environment.

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Among all these women fighting,

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you've got this by Eminem's own admission,

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he described himself as a child,
he said, I was puny, timid.

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So you have this puny, timid child

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among these warring women.

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- [Narrator] Since Bruce Mathers
had walked out on Marshall

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when he was just a baby, his uncle Ronnie

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was now the only significant
male role model in his life.

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And it was Ronnie who
introduced Marshall to hip-hop.

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- Uncle Ronnie gave him a copy

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of Beastie Boys' "Licensed to Ill".

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You know, it's a very easy album

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for, you know, young white kids to access

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because it very much based in rock music,

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at least musically, and, you
know, it's very simple rhyme,

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very easy to understand.

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- He was also into like 2 Live Crew

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and, you know, some of the
rappers that were coming up

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in the late '80s and early '90s.

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And, you know, coming from an
urban environment of Detroit,

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I don't think people
really affiliated hip-hop

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with Detroit so much until
it exploded in the late '90s.

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But you could see that
the roots to that music

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were laid much, much earlier

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in the late '80s and early '90s.

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- But also very
revealingly, he later said,

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hip-hop, he said, is about manhood.

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It's about being macho.

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And somehow he could see
through entering that world,

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he could find his masculine
power, his male power,

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his power as a man.

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It was the only way he could
find it and express it.

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So not only was hip-hop

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and not only was his
music and his creativity,

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an outlet for him to express himself

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and to find a way to
express this crazy world

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in which he'd been born and grown up in,

249
00:11:52,001 --> 00:11:55,091
it was also his way to
find his identity as a man.

250
00:11:55,091 --> 00:11:57,370
- [Narrator] Marshall's high
school days were unproductive

251
00:11:57,370 --> 00:11:58,953
and unsuccessful.

252
00:11:58,953 --> 00:12:01,166
After repeating the ninth grade twice

253
00:12:01,166 --> 00:12:03,163
due to truancy and bad grades,

254
00:12:03,163 --> 00:12:05,758
Marshall dropped out of high school.

255
00:12:05,758 --> 00:12:08,112
He became a fast food
chef at Gilbert's Lodge

256
00:12:08,112 --> 00:12:10,486
at St. Clair's Shores in Detroit.

257
00:12:10,486 --> 00:12:13,096
Life in the Mathers' household was tough

258
00:12:13,096 --> 00:12:14,670
and his relationship with Kim

259
00:12:14,670 --> 00:12:17,517
was proving to be very unstable.

260
00:12:17,517 --> 00:12:20,850
Then in 1991, then in 1991 came the news

261
00:12:21,902 --> 00:12:25,953
that would turn Marshall's
world upside down.

262
00:12:25,953 --> 00:12:29,147
- [Man] Bud, this is Ron poking horn.

263
00:12:29,147 --> 00:12:30,958
- Life's hard bud.

264
00:12:30,958 --> 00:12:33,625
(hip-hop music)

265
00:12:37,842 --> 00:12:39,089
- The man who introduced him to rap,

266
00:12:39,089 --> 00:12:44,089
his beloved Uncle Ronnie,
took a gun and shot himself,

267
00:12:44,312 --> 00:12:47,065
and he shot himself
apparently after being jilted

268
00:12:47,065 --> 00:12:49,168
or dumped by a girlfriend.

269
00:12:49,168 --> 00:12:52,776
So again, you have two male
potential male role models.

270
00:12:52,776 --> 00:12:54,902
One who abandoned him when
he was only six months.

271
00:12:54,902 --> 00:12:56,917
Then his beloved Uncle Ronnie,

272
00:12:56,917 --> 00:12:58,829
who abandoned him by killing himself.

273
00:12:58,829 --> 00:13:01,672
And both of them, in
some way, shape or form,

274
00:13:01,672 --> 00:13:04,470
were led to abandon him
through troubled relationships

275
00:13:04,470 --> 00:13:05,363
with women.

276
00:13:05,363 --> 00:13:06,701
His father abandoned him

277
00:13:06,701 --> 00:13:09,036
because he couldn't get on
with his mother, Debbie.

278
00:13:09,036 --> 00:13:10,512
Uncle Ronnie abandoned him

279
00:13:10,512 --> 00:13:13,423
because he killed himself over a woman.

280
00:13:13,423 --> 00:13:17,572
And so you have a pattern
here, two significant males,

281
00:13:17,572 --> 00:13:19,362
father figures and paternal figures

282
00:13:19,362 --> 00:13:21,946
in Eminem's life disappear as
a result of their relationship

283
00:13:21,946 --> 00:13:23,323
with women and leave him alone.

284
00:13:23,323 --> 00:13:26,822
- [Ian] And he has an RIP
Ronnie tattoo on his arm,

285
00:13:26,822 --> 00:13:30,076
and he mentions Ronnie by
name in the song "Stan",

286
00:13:30,076 --> 00:13:32,879
as, you know, something that
his fans can really relate to.

287
00:13:32,879 --> 00:13:35,629
(hip-hop music)

288
00:13:39,121 --> 00:13:41,967
- You know, that's just a
harsh reality to deal with

289
00:13:41,967 --> 00:13:43,352
no matter who it is.

290
00:13:43,352 --> 00:13:46,256
But when it was someone so close to you,

291
00:13:46,256 --> 00:13:47,922
it could have really messed you up.

292
00:13:47,922 --> 00:13:50,034
And I think it really messed up Eminem.

293
00:13:50,034 --> 00:13:51,363
But at the same time,

294
00:13:51,363 --> 00:13:55,521
it also gave him something
to write about, you know,

295
00:13:55,521 --> 00:13:58,042
emotions that he needed
to get in touch with.

296
00:13:58,042 --> 00:14:00,968
And those feelings, I think, turned

297
00:14:00,968 --> 00:14:03,496
into, you know, some of the greatest raps

298
00:14:03,496 --> 00:14:04,519
that we've ever heard.

299
00:14:04,519 --> 00:14:06,634
- And that leaves him very
much at the mercy of the world.

300
00:14:06,634 --> 00:14:08,042
He has no male role model.

301
00:14:08,042 --> 00:14:11,066
And the men he grew up with,
the boys he grew up with,

302
00:14:11,066 --> 00:14:13,519
his peer group was not one
in which he could belong.

303
00:14:13,519 --> 00:14:15,555
He was a white kid in
a black neighborhood.

304
00:14:15,555 --> 00:14:17,706
He was a white kid who
wanted to be something

305
00:14:17,706 --> 00:14:20,999
that both whites and blacks
were telling him he couldn't be.

306
00:14:20,999 --> 00:14:22,921
So you've got nowhere for him to go.

307
00:14:22,921 --> 00:14:27,093
And once a boy loses his male role model,

308
00:14:27,093 --> 00:14:29,978
well, then the peer
group was the substitute.

309
00:14:29,978 --> 00:14:32,070
And what did his peer group do to him?

310
00:14:32,070 --> 00:14:34,633
Ostracized him, turned
him into an outcast.

311
00:14:34,633 --> 00:14:36,395
- Eminem was in a sort of situation

312
00:14:36,395 --> 00:14:37,914
where he was constantly struggling.

313
00:14:37,914 --> 00:14:41,185
He was struggling at school,
he was bullied tremendously.

314
00:14:41,185 --> 00:14:43,144
He was struggling to be heard at home.

315
00:14:43,144 --> 00:14:45,332
He was struggling to
be heard as an artist.

316
00:14:45,332 --> 00:14:46,880
People weren't accepting him

317
00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:49,824
as a sort of natural hip-hop rapper

318
00:14:49,824 --> 00:14:51,525
because he's a white guy.

319
00:14:51,525 --> 00:14:54,385
So all of those things came
to head in his teen years.

320
00:14:54,385 --> 00:14:57,448
- After he got introduced
to "Licensed to Ill" hip-hop

321
00:14:57,448 --> 00:15:00,098
just became a thing that he did,

322
00:15:00,098 --> 00:15:01,295
you know, he put his heart into,

323
00:15:01,295 --> 00:15:04,122
like that was his salvation.

324
00:15:04,122 --> 00:15:05,676
You know, maybe not necessarily seeing it

325
00:15:05,676 --> 00:15:07,308
as a way of getting out of Detroit,

326
00:15:07,308 --> 00:15:09,786
but, you know, just as a way of dealing

327
00:15:09,786 --> 00:15:11,054
with being in Detroit.

328
00:15:11,054 --> 00:15:12,814
- They were incredibly formative years

329
00:15:12,814 --> 00:15:16,833
because they helped create
the superstar rapper

330
00:15:16,833 --> 00:15:17,877
that we all know today,

331
00:15:17,877 --> 00:15:19,959
and that was all born of those years.

332
00:15:19,959 --> 00:15:23,360
But at the same time, it was
like it was a constant battle.

333
00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:25,020
It was a battle with his own inner demons.

334
00:15:25,020 --> 00:15:26,560
It was battle with people outside,

335
00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:30,456
and it was literally physical
fights with kids that he knew.

336
00:15:30,456 --> 00:15:33,028
So his teenage years
were, I would say, rough.

337
00:15:33,028 --> 00:15:35,778
(hip-hop music)

338
00:15:37,168 --> 00:15:38,227
- [Narrator] Throughout his teenage years

339
00:15:38,227 --> 00:15:40,971
and after the death of
his beloved Uncle Ronnie,

340
00:15:40,971 --> 00:15:44,096
Eminem continued to focus on hip-hop,

341
00:15:44,096 --> 00:15:46,404
a source of escapism that helped him deal

342
00:15:46,404 --> 00:15:47,999
with his troubled life.

343
00:15:47,999 --> 00:15:52,999
In 1996, Kim gave birth to a
baby girl, Hailie Jade Scott.

344
00:15:53,198 --> 00:15:55,633
And soon after the birth of his daughter,

345
00:15:55,633 --> 00:15:59,976
Eminem released his first
solo album, "Infinite".

346
00:15:59,976 --> 00:16:01,086
- As shown in "8 Mile",

347
00:16:01,086 --> 00:16:04,870
Eminem had really become a
battle tested, quite literally.

348
00:16:04,870 --> 00:16:06,118
He would be in battle raps

349
00:16:06,118 --> 00:16:09,971
and, you know, he would get a
little studio time in Detroit

350
00:16:09,971 --> 00:16:14,092
with labels that would just
fold about a year later.

351
00:16:14,092 --> 00:16:15,490
Nothing really ever came of it.

352
00:16:15,490 --> 00:16:18,009
But, you know, as time went on,

353
00:16:18,009 --> 00:16:20,848
he started to kind of develop
his own sort of style.

354
00:16:20,848 --> 00:16:24,102
It was still very much
based in the old, you know,

355
00:16:24,102 --> 00:16:27,502
very much based amongst rappers
like, you know, Nas or AZ.

356
00:16:27,502 --> 00:16:29,081
And then he had "Infinite".

357
00:16:29,081 --> 00:16:31,975
And that's really when
he started, you know...

358
00:16:31,975 --> 00:16:32,808
Even back then,

359
00:16:32,808 --> 00:16:36,967
he would just say that
was him finding his voice.

360
00:16:36,967 --> 00:16:39,691
If you listen to, you
know, "The Slim Shady LP"

361
00:16:39,691 --> 00:16:43,051
or like even things he
did with Royce da 5'9,

362
00:16:43,051 --> 00:16:45,818
it's completely different guy.

363
00:16:45,818 --> 00:16:47,755
But nonetheless, you can still get a sense

364
00:16:47,755 --> 00:16:51,424
of someone finding his artistic voice.

365
00:16:51,424 --> 00:16:52,889
- [Narrator] After the
release of "Infinite",

366
00:16:52,889 --> 00:16:55,034
Eminem's personal
struggles in abuse of drugs

367
00:16:55,034 --> 00:16:59,867
and alcohol culminated in an
unsuccessful suicide attempt.

368
00:17:00,775 --> 00:17:05,047
- After "Infinite" was
released and flopped,

369
00:17:05,047 --> 00:17:08,464
Eminem allegedly tried to commit suicide.

370
00:17:09,634 --> 00:17:11,410
And you can see the dynamics of this,

371
00:17:11,410 --> 00:17:12,924
pretty straightforward really.

372
00:17:12,924 --> 00:17:17,924
Here, you've got a kid who's
been deprived of everything

373
00:17:18,228 --> 00:17:21,102
a child needs to grow up and be strong.

374
00:17:21,102 --> 00:17:24,429
He's been deprived of a
nurturing and supportive family.

375
00:17:24,429 --> 00:17:28,509
He's been deprived of a peer
group to which he can belong.

376
00:17:28,509 --> 00:17:32,020
He's been deprived of a
home or a city or a town,

377
00:17:32,020 --> 00:17:33,551
which he feels like he can call his own.

378
00:17:33,551 --> 00:17:35,648
And suddenly he has this dream,

379
00:17:35,648 --> 00:17:39,059
which is Uncle Ronnie instilled
in him from when he was 11,

380
00:17:39,059 --> 00:17:42,703
I think, when Uncle Ronnie
introduced him to rap.

381
00:17:42,703 --> 00:17:46,542
He's had this dream of being a rap artist.

382
00:17:46,542 --> 00:17:49,370
And then he releases his
album and then it flops.

383
00:17:49,370 --> 00:17:51,150
He's used every resource,

384
00:17:51,150 --> 00:17:54,139
every available resource he's got left.

385
00:17:54,139 --> 00:17:57,155
This puny, timid, bullied
child has got to the point

386
00:17:57,155 --> 00:17:59,341
where he's lifted himself up

387
00:17:59,341 --> 00:18:03,358
and he's found a means to
express himself and it flops.

388
00:18:03,358 --> 00:18:06,768
At that point, his world
must have caved in.

389
00:18:06,768 --> 00:18:10,279
He must have felt as if wherever he did,

390
00:18:10,279 --> 00:18:13,139
there was no way out
for him from the prison

391
00:18:13,139 --> 00:18:14,205
that he felt he was in,

392
00:18:14,205 --> 00:18:17,736
the psychological prison
that he felt he was in,

393
00:18:17,736 --> 00:18:20,925
and the bars, if you
want, that his childhood

394
00:18:20,925 --> 00:18:22,705
and his youth had built around him.

395
00:18:22,705 --> 00:18:27,182
And at that point, he must
have hit absolute despair

396
00:18:27,182 --> 00:18:31,383
and thought there is absolutely
no way forward for me here.

397
00:18:31,383 --> 00:18:34,560
And mercifully, for him and for all of us,

398
00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:38,173
he didn't succeed 'cause
obviously he went on from there,

399
00:18:38,173 --> 00:18:39,951
pulled himself up again

400
00:18:39,951 --> 00:18:43,566
and produced some of the
best music of his generation.

401
00:18:43,566 --> 00:18:44,955
- [Narrator] After "Infinite" had flopped,

402
00:18:44,955 --> 00:18:47,054
Eminem continued to battle rap his way

403
00:18:47,054 --> 00:18:49,044
through the underground scene in Detroit.

404
00:18:49,044 --> 00:18:51,684
Slowly, he started to
make a name for himself

405
00:18:51,684 --> 00:18:54,900
and his volatile personality
was beginning to take over.

406
00:18:54,900 --> 00:18:58,650
- He had a reputation
and Riley so is on the,

407
00:19:00,198 --> 00:19:01,926
if you want, the
underground battle circuit

408
00:19:01,926 --> 00:19:04,494
where he was determined to
make a name for himself.

409
00:19:04,494 --> 00:19:06,020
You know, it has been
highly unpredictable.

410
00:19:06,020 --> 00:19:08,519
I mean, there were stories of him diving

411
00:19:08,519 --> 00:19:10,918
into the audience once
and starting a fight

412
00:19:10,918 --> 00:19:12,227
because somebody tried to hit him

413
00:19:12,227 --> 00:19:14,899
or somebody had insulted
him or whatever it was.

414
00:19:14,899 --> 00:19:18,405
It's as if he'd found this
vehicle to express himself

415
00:19:18,405 --> 00:19:21,329
and he'd found an outlet for
his emotions, for his rage,

416
00:19:21,329 --> 00:19:24,065
for his pain, and it lost his inhibition.

417
00:19:24,065 --> 00:19:26,650
He just was letting himself go.

418
00:19:26,650 --> 00:19:29,397
- Traditionally, that's
been a way for rappers

419
00:19:29,397 --> 00:19:32,250
to make a name for themselves in hip-hop

420
00:19:32,250 --> 00:19:34,474
because, you know, it's
one thing to be able

421
00:19:34,474 --> 00:19:37,794
to, you know, record in a studio

422
00:19:37,794 --> 00:19:40,311
and say interesting stuff
that you've written down.

423
00:19:40,311 --> 00:19:41,274
But a lot of people think

424
00:19:41,274 --> 00:19:44,042
that if you can really come
off the top of your head,

425
00:19:44,042 --> 00:19:46,471
can really perform before an audience,

426
00:19:46,471 --> 00:19:48,024
can make your opponent look bad,

427
00:19:48,024 --> 00:19:51,652
then you're a real bonafide rapper.

428
00:19:51,652 --> 00:19:54,292
- [Narrator] Eminem's underground
success let him on a path

429
00:19:54,292 --> 00:19:57,935
to the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles.

430
00:19:57,935 --> 00:20:01,192
His appearance at the Rap
Olympics would ultimately set him

431
00:20:01,192 --> 00:20:04,411
on his way to superstardom
and offer him a chance

432
00:20:04,411 --> 00:20:07,567
to collaborate with one of
the biggest names in hip-hop.

433
00:20:07,567 --> 00:20:08,400
(slow music)

434
00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,441
- And that was really sort
of like his breakout night,

435
00:20:11,441 --> 00:20:12,754
you know.

436
00:20:12,754 --> 00:20:15,544
From what I've read,
to see him perform live

437
00:20:15,544 --> 00:20:18,870
was just something that people
hadn't really experienced.

438
00:20:18,870 --> 00:20:20,431
Yes, there was vanilla ice

439
00:20:20,431 --> 00:20:22,818
and, you know, the whole
concept of a white rapper

440
00:20:22,818 --> 00:20:24,187
wasn't novel.

441
00:20:24,187 --> 00:20:27,551
- The battle that
launched him into stardom.

442
00:20:27,551 --> 00:20:29,299
You know, he was the only white kid.

443
00:20:29,299 --> 00:20:31,598
- A lot of people thought
he should have won

444
00:20:31,598 --> 00:20:32,543
and his friends did,

445
00:20:32,543 --> 00:20:34,911
but he ended up coming in second place.

446
00:20:34,911 --> 00:20:36,223
And some of his friends thought

447
00:20:36,223 --> 00:20:38,011
that was maybe 'cause he was white.

448
00:20:38,011 --> 00:20:40,589
- He was the only white rapper.

449
00:20:40,589 --> 00:20:43,325
But one of the black judges
was saying at the time,

450
00:20:43,325 --> 00:20:44,909
look, just give it this white kid.

451
00:20:44,909 --> 00:20:46,972
He's so much better than all the others.

452
00:20:46,972 --> 00:20:50,667
Give the award, give the
medal to the white kid.

453
00:20:50,667 --> 00:20:52,646
He's the winner by a country mile,

454
00:20:52,646 --> 00:20:56,222
because he just had this
incredible raw talent

455
00:20:56,222 --> 00:20:58,575
and he was head and
shoulders above his peers

456
00:20:58,575 --> 00:21:00,475
in terms of his artistic creativity.

457
00:21:00,475 --> 00:21:03,192
- There was a style, there was an urgency,

458
00:21:03,192 --> 00:21:06,621
there was like something
way deeper that came out

459
00:21:06,621 --> 00:21:09,274
on that night, which
got him his record deal.

460
00:21:09,274 --> 00:21:12,295
- It came to the attention of Jimmy Iovine

461
00:21:12,295 --> 00:21:13,723
at Interscope Records,

462
00:21:13,723 --> 00:21:16,981
a hugely influential figure in hip-hop.

463
00:21:16,981 --> 00:21:20,051
And Iovine requested a tape of Eminems.

464
00:21:20,051 --> 00:21:21,995
It made the rounds in the office.

465
00:21:21,995 --> 00:21:23,029
Iovine loved it.

466
00:21:23,029 --> 00:21:24,843
He played it for Dr. Dre.

467
00:21:24,843 --> 00:21:26,949
And Dr. Dre was not one

468
00:21:26,949 --> 00:21:30,244
to pick a tape up off
the slush pile usually.

469
00:21:30,244 --> 00:21:32,563
In fact, he said that Eminem's tape

470
00:21:32,563 --> 00:21:35,162
was the first time he'd ever
heard an unsolicited tape

471
00:21:35,162 --> 00:21:37,400
and said, this is the real deal.

472
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:39,544
I need this kid right now.

473
00:21:39,544 --> 00:21:44,008
- And this, if you want, was
his way to settle the scores

474
00:21:44,008 --> 00:21:47,225
from when the opposite
was true of him as a child

475
00:21:47,225 --> 00:21:49,794
when he was the underdog and
he couldn't match his peers,

476
00:21:49,794 --> 00:21:51,102
he was beaten.

477
00:21:51,102 --> 00:21:53,354
When he found his artistic voice,

478
00:21:53,354 --> 00:21:56,050
he then became the alpha male.

479
00:21:56,050 --> 00:21:59,277
That's the point at which
he became the dominant male.

480
00:21:59,277 --> 00:22:01,958
- [Narrator] Eminem and Dr.
Dre were about to embark

481
00:22:01,958 --> 00:22:05,621
on a collaborative journey that
would revolutionize hip-hop.

482
00:22:05,621 --> 00:22:07,990
- Once I met Dre, he was kind of like,

483
00:22:07,990 --> 00:22:10,614
I had a vision of where
I wanted to take it,

484
00:22:10,614 --> 00:22:13,776
and Dre just showed me
how to take it there.

485
00:22:13,776 --> 00:22:14,888
You know what I mean?

486
00:22:14,888 --> 00:22:19,888
It's kinda like we both had the
same like vision for myself,

487
00:22:20,071 --> 00:22:22,434
you know, where to take it and whatnot.

488
00:22:22,434 --> 00:22:24,469
And Dre just showed me how to execute it.

489
00:22:24,469 --> 00:22:25,302
- [Interviewer] When you first met,

490
00:22:25,302 --> 00:22:26,463
this is a question for both of you,

491
00:22:26,463 --> 00:22:30,364
what did you think of
each other, honestly?

492
00:22:30,364 --> 00:22:32,497
- I thought he was a fucking dick.

493
00:22:32,497 --> 00:22:35,465
(audience laughing)

494
00:22:35,465 --> 00:22:38,439
And he probably thought worse of me.

495
00:22:38,439 --> 00:22:39,272
- [Interviewer] Dre.

496
00:22:39,272 --> 00:22:41,017
- I thought he was Tweety bird.

497
00:22:41,017 --> 00:22:43,070
(audience laughing)

498
00:22:43,070 --> 00:22:46,455
No, 'cause he had this real bright

499
00:22:46,455 --> 00:22:48,893
fucking yellow sweatsuit on. (laughs)

500
00:22:48,893 --> 00:22:50,238
- Man, if I hear one more thing

501
00:22:50,238 --> 00:22:52,655
about that goddamn sweatsuit.

502
00:22:53,726 --> 00:22:57,100
I had this yellow outfit
on when I first met Dre.

503
00:22:57,100 --> 00:22:59,031
It was like this outfit

504
00:22:59,031 --> 00:23:00,902
that a clothing company had given me.

505
00:23:00,902 --> 00:23:05,902
And I didn't have money like
some people had at the time,

506
00:23:06,466 --> 00:23:09,947
you know, I was going
on a week wearing it,

507
00:23:09,947 --> 00:23:12,439
so it was actually turning kind of green.

508
00:23:12,439 --> 00:23:13,582
(audience laughing)

509
00:23:13,582 --> 00:23:15,775
But he called me a banana when he met me.

510
00:23:15,775 --> 00:23:17,775
So it was on from there.

511
00:23:18,758 --> 00:23:20,726
(slow hip-hop music)

512
00:23:20,726 --> 00:23:21,950
- [Narrator] Eminem had been working

513
00:23:21,950 --> 00:23:23,525
on creating an alter ego

514
00:23:23,525 --> 00:23:26,189
that would allow him to
express his dark side.

515
00:23:26,189 --> 00:23:28,994
And not long after he
teamed up with Dr. Dre,

516
00:23:28,994 --> 00:23:30,661
Slim Shady was born.

517
00:23:31,506 --> 00:23:33,571
- You know, the whole
concept of alter egos

518
00:23:33,571 --> 00:23:35,123
is not foreign to hip-hop

519
00:23:35,123 --> 00:23:38,500
and a lot of rappers have
taken on these other identities

520
00:23:38,500 --> 00:23:40,997
to basically say what
they really wanna say.

521
00:23:40,997 --> 00:23:41,830
- [Interviewer] You've talked before

522
00:23:41,830 --> 00:23:43,757
about having three different personas,

523
00:23:43,757 --> 00:23:46,308
Eminem, Slim Shady, Marshall Mathers.

524
00:23:46,308 --> 00:23:49,283
Could you briefly tell us where
one stops so the one begins

525
00:23:49,283 --> 00:23:51,549
and the difference between the
three different characters?

526
00:23:51,549 --> 00:23:55,115
- Marshall Mathers stops
when the Bacardi kicks in

527
00:23:55,115 --> 00:23:56,113
and then it's Slim Shady.

528
00:23:56,113 --> 00:23:58,227
(audience laughing)

529
00:23:58,227 --> 00:24:00,548
Eminem starts when I hate the stage.

530
00:24:00,548 --> 00:24:04,140
So it's the best way I
know how to answer that.

531
00:24:04,140 --> 00:24:07,840
- Through Slim Shady, he found a voice

532
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:11,834
through which he could express
anger and emotion and pain

533
00:24:11,834 --> 00:24:14,117
that was authentically his.

534
00:24:14,117 --> 00:24:15,699
- Slim Shady allowed Eminem

535
00:24:15,699 --> 00:24:19,219
to, I guess, kind of get
a little bit of distance

536
00:24:19,219 --> 00:24:20,644
and take more chances

537
00:24:20,644 --> 00:24:23,470
in terms of like what, you
know, his subject matter,

538
00:24:23,470 --> 00:24:26,658
in terms of talking about
what was going on in his life.

539
00:24:26,658 --> 00:24:29,057
Eminem really made an art out of it.

540
00:24:29,057 --> 00:24:31,974
He took feelings that were his own,

541
00:24:32,986 --> 00:24:36,745
put them into a caricature
and put them out to the world,

542
00:24:36,745 --> 00:24:39,234
so that if they infuriated you,

543
00:24:39,234 --> 00:24:41,501
you weren't necessarily
mad at Marshall Mathers.

544
00:24:41,501 --> 00:24:42,869
You are mad at Slim Shady.

545
00:24:42,869 --> 00:24:46,348
- I don't try to, you know,
polish up my shit for nobody.

546
00:24:46,348 --> 00:24:47,311
I don't, you know.

547
00:24:47,311 --> 00:24:48,144
I tell it like it is.

548
00:24:48,144 --> 00:24:50,651
And when you buy a "Slim Shady" album,

549
00:24:50,651 --> 00:24:51,750
you're gonna get Slim Shady,

550
00:24:51,750 --> 00:24:54,292
you're not gonna get birds and
bees and flowers and trees.

551
00:24:54,292 --> 00:24:56,559
- Every man, every woman at some point

552
00:24:56,559 --> 00:24:58,473
has violent fantasies.

553
00:24:58,473 --> 00:25:00,896
What people made the mistake with Eminem,

554
00:25:00,896 --> 00:25:03,313
when they listen to his voice

555
00:25:04,846 --> 00:25:06,388
as it's expressed through Slim Shady,

556
00:25:06,388 --> 00:25:08,903
they think he's saying
something that is literally true

557
00:25:08,903 --> 00:25:11,051
or that he's literally going to do.

558
00:25:11,051 --> 00:25:13,610
What he is doing there, it's a vehicle.

559
00:25:13,610 --> 00:25:16,298
Slim Shady is a vehicle for emotions

560
00:25:16,298 --> 00:25:19,027
that he feels he hasn't
been able to express

561
00:25:19,027 --> 00:25:21,808
and that there's no legitimate
way for him to express them.

562
00:25:21,808 --> 00:25:23,365
That's where his anger comes at.

563
00:25:23,365 --> 00:25:25,433
That's where his rage comes out.

564
00:25:25,433 --> 00:25:29,018
- Slim Shady just allowed
him to, I guess, play fast

565
00:25:29,018 --> 00:25:31,998
and loose with his own experience
as well as subject matter.

566
00:25:31,998 --> 00:25:34,822
- I believe the things that
I say are controversial.

567
00:25:34,822 --> 00:25:36,879
Me, it's just speaking my mind.

568
00:25:36,879 --> 00:25:39,200
So speaking my mind and
telling it like it is

569
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,604
makes me controversial then whatever.

570
00:25:41,604 --> 00:25:44,236
I say what's ever on my mind, you know.

571
00:25:44,236 --> 00:25:47,153
But I had a good teacher, you know.

572
00:25:48,338 --> 00:25:50,708
- And it was a very smart move I think

573
00:25:50,708 --> 00:25:51,879
just in terms of marketing,

574
00:25:51,879 --> 00:25:54,703
in terms of the criticism that
he probably inevitably knew

575
00:25:54,703 --> 00:25:55,880
would come his way

576
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:59,142
because it just gave him
that out, the alter ego out.

577
00:25:59,142 --> 00:26:01,717
That's kind of the way
I always saw Slim Shady

578
00:26:01,717 --> 00:26:05,196
as this caricature that Eminem invented.

579
00:26:05,196 --> 00:26:08,690
- This is a man who for
all the abuse he suffered

580
00:26:08,690 --> 00:26:12,140
at the hands of his family,
abuse of one sort or another,

581
00:26:12,140 --> 00:26:14,446
and certainly the violence
he suffered in bullying,

582
00:26:14,446 --> 00:26:16,423
he suffered at the sense of his peers,

583
00:26:16,423 --> 00:26:18,192
he didn't identify with the aggressor,

584
00:26:18,192 --> 00:26:20,161
he identified with the victim.

585
00:26:20,161 --> 00:26:22,821
He identified with those
people who were the underdogs.

586
00:26:22,821 --> 00:26:25,010
He identified with
those people who suffer.

587
00:26:25,010 --> 00:26:28,245
He identified with those
people who are in pain.

588
00:26:28,245 --> 00:26:29,824
And through his all alter egos,

589
00:26:29,824 --> 00:26:33,317
he's simply expressing
the impotent, unexpressed,

590
00:26:33,317 --> 00:26:35,567
rage and pain of the underdog.

591
00:26:35,567 --> 00:26:37,858
Not something he was
literally going to do.

592
00:26:37,858 --> 00:26:39,761
(hip-hop music)

593
00:26:39,761 --> 00:26:41,772
- [Narrator] "The Slim
Shady LP" was released

594
00:26:41,772 --> 00:26:45,734
on February 23rd, 1999
under Interscope Records

595
00:26:45,734 --> 00:26:48,494
in Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment.

596
00:26:48,494 --> 00:26:50,847
The majority of the
record's lyrical content

597
00:26:50,847 --> 00:26:53,796
was written from the perspective
of Eminem's alter ego,

598
00:26:53,796 --> 00:26:55,392
Slim Shady.

599
00:26:55,392 --> 00:26:58,064
The album was noted for
its over-the-top depictions

600
00:26:58,064 --> 00:27:01,361
of violence and heavy use of profanity.

601
00:27:01,361 --> 00:27:03,776
- "Slim Shady LP" sold 3 million copies

602
00:27:03,776 --> 00:27:05,581
by the time the year was out.

603
00:27:05,581 --> 00:27:06,929
It was a huge success,

604
00:27:06,929 --> 00:27:08,910
especially for a first full length album.

605
00:27:08,910 --> 00:27:11,489
- And it really defined Eminem

606
00:27:11,489 --> 00:27:12,786
as a force to be reckoned with

607
00:27:12,786 --> 00:27:17,203
in terms of introducing all
his crazy new characters,

608
00:27:18,197 --> 00:27:21,947
his crazy rhyme schemes,
his funny illusions,

609
00:27:23,686 --> 00:27:27,540
his pop culture references,
the stuff about his mother,

610
00:27:27,540 --> 00:27:29,244
his wife, Kim.

611
00:27:29,244 --> 00:27:31,532
It really defined who he was

612
00:27:31,532 --> 00:27:34,877
and it's an album that still holds up.

613
00:27:34,877 --> 00:27:38,087
The production from Dr. Dre
is really interesting and fun

614
00:27:38,087 --> 00:27:39,107
in a lot of ways.

615
00:27:39,107 --> 00:27:42,080
It doesn't sound like a
traditional hip-hop album.

616
00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:45,946
It sounds like something
that's more mainstream almost,

617
00:27:45,946 --> 00:27:48,400
something that crosses over to kids

618
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,055
who might not have grown
up with hard street rhymes.

619
00:27:51,055 --> 00:27:56,040
- You know, I remember hearing
it and thinking it was fun.

620
00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:59,221
Like it was dark, but it
had a sense of humor to it.

621
00:27:59,221 --> 00:28:01,060
It had like a sort of wink to it.

622
00:28:01,060 --> 00:28:02,757
- You know, just kind of a personal side.

623
00:28:02,757 --> 00:28:04,584
I remember, you know, watching MTV,

624
00:28:04,584 --> 00:28:06,787
it must have been like two
or three in the morning.

625
00:28:06,787 --> 00:28:11,286
I was home from college
and they showed the video

626
00:28:11,286 --> 00:28:14,982
for "My Name Is", and you
know, the first thing's like,

627
00:28:14,982 --> 00:28:16,108
okay what's this guy?

628
00:28:16,108 --> 00:28:17,190
This guy's name's Eminem.

629
00:28:17,190 --> 00:28:19,695
Okay, he's a white guy.

630
00:28:19,695 --> 00:28:22,061
Like Dr. Dre's in this video.

631
00:28:22,061 --> 00:28:23,716
Like it's just like one of those moments

632
00:28:23,716 --> 00:28:26,036
where you just remember
exactly where you were

633
00:28:26,036 --> 00:28:27,649
when you first see it.

634
00:28:27,649 --> 00:28:29,468
And I just remember
thinking to myself like,

635
00:28:29,468 --> 00:28:31,137
I don't know if I like this or not,

636
00:28:31,137 --> 00:28:33,887
but this guy is going to be huge.

637
00:28:34,799 --> 00:28:36,278
♪ Hi, my name is ♪

638
00:28:36,278 --> 00:28:37,111
♪ Huh ♪

639
00:28:37,111 --> 00:28:37,944
♪ My name is ♪

640
00:28:37,944 --> 00:28:38,902
♪ What ♪

641
00:28:38,902 --> 00:28:39,735
♪ My name is ♪

642
00:28:39,735 --> 00:28:40,622
♪ Chika-chika Slim Shady ♪

643
00:28:40,622 --> 00:28:41,976
♪ Hi, my name is ♪

644
00:28:41,976 --> 00:28:42,809
What?

645
00:28:42,809 --> 00:28:43,900
- Excuse me.

646
00:28:43,900 --> 00:28:44,733
♪ My name is ♪

647
00:28:44,733 --> 00:28:45,778
♪ Chika-chika Slim Shady ♪

648
00:28:45,778 --> 00:28:49,638
Can I have the attention of
the class for one second?

649
00:28:49,638 --> 00:28:50,471
♪ My name is ♪

650
00:28:50,471 --> 00:28:51,841
♪ Chika-chika Slim Shady ♪

651
00:28:51,841 --> 00:28:54,152
♪ Hi kids, do you like violence? ♪

652
00:28:54,152 --> 00:28:55,901
♪ Wanna see me stick nine inch nails ♪

653
00:28:55,901 --> 00:28:57,809
♪ Through each one of my eyelids ♪

654
00:28:57,809 --> 00:29:00,321
♪ Wanna copy me and do
exactly like I did ♪

655
00:29:00,321 --> 00:29:03,381
♪ Try acid and get fucked
up worse that my life is ♪

656
00:29:03,381 --> 00:29:06,114
♪ My brain's dead weight, I'm
tryin' to get my head straight ♪

657
00:29:06,114 --> 00:29:07,689
- Yeah, when my name has blew up,

658
00:29:07,689 --> 00:29:09,569
I didn't know exactly
what it was gonna do.

659
00:29:09,569 --> 00:29:12,080
I mean this was my first time, you know,

660
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:13,544
actually doing this or whatever.

661
00:29:13,544 --> 00:29:15,216
It was my first time exposed to the public

662
00:29:15,216 --> 00:29:17,701
and I never considered
myself anything more

663
00:29:17,701 --> 00:29:19,658
than an underground artist,
you know what I'm saying?

664
00:29:19,658 --> 00:29:21,491
Just because of the subject
matters I talk about

665
00:29:21,491 --> 00:29:22,568
and the way that I rap or whatever,

666
00:29:22,568 --> 00:29:25,868
the things that I talk
about, I thought, you know,

667
00:29:25,868 --> 00:29:27,555
I was surprised to be honest.

668
00:29:27,555 --> 00:29:29,344
- [Interviewer] Were you surprised?

669
00:29:29,344 --> 00:29:30,594
- [Dr. Dre] No.

670
00:29:31,543 --> 00:29:35,285
- Visually, musically, in any aspect

671
00:29:35,285 --> 00:29:38,023
unlike anything I had ever seen before.

672
00:29:38,023 --> 00:29:42,339
And, you know, that was
a perfect calling card

673
00:29:42,339 --> 00:29:43,349
'cause like, you know,

674
00:29:43,349 --> 00:29:46,177
when Dr. Dre's, you know,
discovered Snoop Dogg,

675
00:29:46,177 --> 00:29:48,885
Snoop's first single was "What's My Name?"

676
00:29:48,885 --> 00:29:51,720
So you kind of gotta
see the parallel there

677
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:53,442
where "My Name Is", you know,

678
00:29:53,442 --> 00:29:55,246
it's just a way of introducing himself.

679
00:29:55,246 --> 00:29:58,841
- And in "My Name Is", Eminem,
or Marshall, Slim Shady,

680
00:29:58,841 --> 00:30:00,333
whoever you want him to be,

681
00:30:00,333 --> 00:30:03,089
again, is playing with
the idea of his identity.

682
00:30:03,089 --> 00:30:04,428
Who is he?

683
00:30:04,428 --> 00:30:06,567
Who is the real Marshall Mathers?

684
00:30:06,567 --> 00:30:07,725
Who is the real Eminem?

685
00:30:07,725 --> 00:30:09,488
Who is the real Slim Shady?

686
00:30:09,488 --> 00:30:12,366
It's a provocation to people.

687
00:30:12,366 --> 00:30:17,265
He's provoking his audience and
saying, who do you say I am?

688
00:30:17,265 --> 00:30:20,031
And really, there's something
almost quite biblical

689
00:30:20,031 --> 00:30:22,405
about this, 'cause there's
a very famous scene

690
00:30:22,405 --> 00:30:25,123
in the New Testament where
Jesus says to his disciples,

691
00:30:25,123 --> 00:30:26,526
well, who do you say I am?

692
00:30:26,526 --> 00:30:29,287
And he's playing with the same
thing, who do you say I am?

693
00:30:29,287 --> 00:30:31,255
Who do you think I am?

694
00:30:31,255 --> 00:30:35,255
And he's provoking people
into really confessing

695
00:30:38,780 --> 00:30:41,810
and admitting something about themselves

696
00:30:41,810 --> 00:30:44,417
and challenging them to see themselves

697
00:30:44,417 --> 00:30:46,963
in the way that they see him.

698
00:30:46,963 --> 00:30:48,272
And it's a wonderful

699
00:30:48,272 --> 00:30:50,755
and only the greatest artist can do that.

700
00:30:50,755 --> 00:30:53,718
And Eminem plays the same game
and he does it to perfection.

701
00:30:53,718 --> 00:30:56,254
- Even though it spawn a
couple of huge hits, you know,

702
00:30:56,254 --> 00:30:59,223
"Guilty Conscience", well,
you know, in its own ways,

703
00:30:59,223 --> 00:31:01,060
a little bit as gimmicky as "My Name Is".

704
00:31:01,060 --> 00:31:05,507
But I also had "Role Model",
which I think was more in tune

705
00:31:05,507 --> 00:31:07,827
with the tone "Slim Shady LP" have.

706
00:31:07,827 --> 00:31:10,080
The one thing that struck
out me is how lonely it is.

707
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,492
Like Royce da 5'9 is pretty
much the only guest on that.

708
00:31:13,492 --> 00:31:14,978
This was just, you
know, for the most part,

709
00:31:14,978 --> 00:31:17,012
one or two or three guys producing,

710
00:31:17,012 --> 00:31:18,845
most notably, Dr. Dre.

711
00:31:19,817 --> 00:31:22,534
Like they put all their
chips on the table thinking

712
00:31:22,534 --> 00:31:26,044
that Eminem, in and of himself,
was going to be a star.

713
00:31:26,044 --> 00:31:27,024
And, of course, they were right.

714
00:31:27,024 --> 00:31:30,555
Sold about 5 million
copies incredibly quickly

715
00:31:30,555 --> 00:31:33,908
and, you know, got him
a Rolling Stone cover.

716
00:31:33,908 --> 00:31:36,379
And by the turn of the
century, you could argue

717
00:31:36,379 --> 00:31:39,236
that even before "Marshall Mathers LP",

718
00:31:39,236 --> 00:31:42,857
he was the, you know, not
only the biggest rapper

719
00:31:42,857 --> 00:31:46,574
but, you know, one of the upper
echelon of just musicians,

720
00:31:46,574 --> 00:31:48,141
like pop stars the whole.

721
00:31:48,141 --> 00:31:50,884
- And it made a huge impact
on music journalists.

722
00:31:50,884 --> 00:31:51,717
I remember that.

723
00:31:51,717 --> 00:31:54,801
It was sort of like
eye-opening, like, oh wait,

724
00:31:54,801 --> 00:31:57,985
there's a hip-hop culture and
scene coming out of Detroit

725
00:31:57,985 --> 00:32:00,249
that we should pay attention to, you know.

726
00:32:00,249 --> 00:32:02,942
It was sort of unexpected.

727
00:32:02,942 --> 00:32:05,206
It really came at a very unexpected time.

728
00:32:05,206 --> 00:32:06,864
Grunge was already in the past

729
00:32:06,864 --> 00:32:08,559
and I feel like the music industry

730
00:32:08,559 --> 00:32:12,824
was struggling to find a
voice for the millennium,

731
00:32:12,824 --> 00:32:15,453
which ended up being rap rock.

732
00:32:15,453 --> 00:32:17,327
Eminem is a huge part of that

733
00:32:17,327 --> 00:32:18,783
and the reason it became popular.

734
00:32:18,783 --> 00:32:21,700
(electronic music)

735
00:32:24,878 --> 00:32:26,311
- [Narrator] Just a year after the release

736
00:32:26,311 --> 00:32:28,122
of "The Slim Shady LP",

737
00:32:28,122 --> 00:32:30,970
Eminem released arguably
his greatest album,

738
00:32:30,970 --> 00:32:33,118
"The Marshall Mathers LP".

739
00:32:33,118 --> 00:32:36,036
The album featured more
introspective lyricism

740
00:32:36,036 --> 00:32:39,102
including Eminem's response
to his sudden rise to fame

741
00:32:39,102 --> 00:32:43,079
and the controversy
surrounding his lyrics.

742
00:32:43,079 --> 00:32:46,110
- [Interviewer] This is
a question for Eminem.

743
00:32:46,110 --> 00:32:48,651
I was just wondering which issue
has been the most important

744
00:32:48,651 --> 00:32:53,528
for you to address in the new
album and how did you do it?

745
00:32:53,528 --> 00:32:54,434
- Which issue?

746
00:32:54,434 --> 00:32:56,126
- [Interviewer] Yeah.

747
00:32:56,126 --> 00:33:00,709
- Critics would probably be
the most talked about issue

748
00:33:02,382 --> 00:33:04,898
that I'm discussing on
this album, you know,

749
00:33:04,898 --> 00:33:08,554
along with I say some things
about some boy/girl groups

750
00:33:08,554 --> 00:33:11,965
and some other things
about some other people,

751
00:33:11,965 --> 00:33:14,235
whether they deserved it or not, you know.

752
00:33:14,235 --> 00:33:16,382
In my book, they do if they're corny.

753
00:33:16,382 --> 00:33:20,464
So I brought it to a lot of
sissies basically on this album.

754
00:33:20,464 --> 00:33:22,027
And critics who had things to say about me

755
00:33:22,027 --> 00:33:25,530
and didn't quite understand
my lyrics last time around,

756
00:33:25,530 --> 00:33:28,448
you know, and took everything
that I said literally.

757
00:33:28,448 --> 00:33:31,443
So, you know, basically, I'm
addressing a lot of critics

758
00:33:31,443 --> 00:33:35,996
and I got like pretty personal
on this album too, you know,

759
00:33:35,996 --> 00:33:39,609
that's why the album's called
"The Marshall Mathers LP".

760
00:33:39,609 --> 00:33:40,636
- [Interviewer] How did you deal

761
00:33:40,636 --> 00:33:41,848
with the critics on the album?

762
00:33:41,848 --> 00:33:43,443
- How do I deal with the critics?

763
00:33:43,443 --> 00:33:46,281
You have to get the album and see.

764
00:33:46,281 --> 00:33:47,850
You might be mad.

765
00:33:47,850 --> 00:33:48,998
(interviewer laughing)

766
00:33:48,998 --> 00:33:50,003
- [Interviewer] Was that
always gonna be the concept

767
00:33:50,003 --> 00:33:51,392
of the record, "The Marshall Matters LP"?

768
00:33:51,392 --> 00:33:52,642
When you first laid down the first rhyme

769
00:33:52,642 --> 00:33:54,054
and did the first beat,

770
00:33:54,054 --> 00:33:55,664
was that always gonna be
what it was gonna be called

771
00:33:55,664 --> 00:33:56,871
and how it was gonna move?

772
00:33:56,871 --> 00:33:57,704
- Nah.

773
00:33:57,704 --> 00:33:59,989
Nah, I was juggling some titles around.

774
00:33:59,989 --> 00:34:03,338
At first, I was juggling
around a title called Amsterdam

775
00:34:03,338 --> 00:34:06,450
because I wrote like
four songs in two days

776
00:34:06,450 --> 00:34:08,450
when I was in Amsterdam.

777
00:34:09,463 --> 00:34:12,479
But basically, once I
started writing the songs

778
00:34:12,479 --> 00:34:16,052
and, you know, seeing which
direction the album was going,

779
00:34:16,052 --> 00:34:18,041
it just got more personal
and more personal

780
00:34:18,041 --> 00:34:20,273
and, you know, I love the media.

781
00:34:20,273 --> 00:34:21,461
I thank God for the media

782
00:34:21,461 --> 00:34:23,454
because you guys give
me shit to talk about.

783
00:34:23,454 --> 00:34:24,806
If it wasn't for y'all,

784
00:34:24,806 --> 00:34:28,470
I probably would've shit
left to talk about, you know?

785
00:34:28,470 --> 00:34:30,417
- Really rounded out Eminem's persona

786
00:34:30,417 --> 00:34:33,615
and sort of defined him
as a heavyweight rapper.

787
00:34:33,615 --> 00:34:36,517
It was the album, not
only did it sell well,

788
00:34:36,517 --> 00:34:39,874
not only was it popular
with average listeners,

789
00:34:39,874 --> 00:34:44,364
but it delved into some really
sort of deep, meaty issues.

790
00:34:44,364 --> 00:34:46,300
- You know, I consider
myself a perfectionist

791
00:34:46,300 --> 00:34:50,569
and I always wanna try to
top my last, not just album

792
00:34:50,569 --> 00:34:53,096
but try to top my last song that I did.

793
00:34:53,096 --> 00:34:56,952
So you might hear the
gradual buildup on this album

794
00:34:56,952 --> 00:34:59,349
from one song to the next, you know.

795
00:34:59,349 --> 00:35:02,805
Every time I sit down and
write a rhyme or a song,

796
00:35:02,805 --> 00:35:04,342
I want it to be completely different

797
00:35:04,342 --> 00:35:05,761
from the last song I wrote

798
00:35:05,761 --> 00:35:07,979
and I want the rhyme style
to be completely different,

799
00:35:07,979 --> 00:35:09,223
the beat to be different.

800
00:35:09,223 --> 00:35:12,680
So, you know, you might
hear that on this album.

801
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,874
- And the song that
comes to mind is "Stan",

802
00:35:15,874 --> 00:35:20,207
and it's a three part tragedy
that has a real climax

803
00:35:22,325 --> 00:35:24,046
and really defined Eminem

804
00:35:24,046 --> 00:35:26,827
as someone who could
tell interesting stories.

805
00:35:26,827 --> 00:35:28,881
And he wasn't just about jokes,

806
00:35:28,881 --> 00:35:32,525
he wasn't just about
making fun of his mom,

807
00:35:32,525 --> 00:35:34,892
he was a guy who had a lot of substance.

808
00:35:34,892 --> 00:35:38,209
- The song was not so
much about Stan, the fan,

809
00:35:38,209 --> 00:35:40,177
it's actually about Eminem

810
00:35:40,177 --> 00:35:43,181
and the complex world in
world in which he lives,

811
00:35:43,181 --> 00:35:45,918
in which people find their identities

812
00:35:45,918 --> 00:35:49,500
by transferring all sorts of
feelings and emotions onto him

813
00:35:49,500 --> 00:35:51,667
to try and make sense of their own lives.

814
00:35:51,667 --> 00:35:53,949
Just as then he is struggling with his

815
00:35:53,949 --> 00:35:56,581
and the sense that his
life is out of control

816
00:35:56,581 --> 00:35:59,124
'cause he can't control what
people are making of him.

817
00:35:59,124 --> 00:36:02,004
He can't control what
people are saying about him.

818
00:36:02,004 --> 00:36:06,490
He can't control what
people believe him to be.

819
00:36:06,490 --> 00:36:08,278
And that's what that message is.

820
00:36:08,278 --> 00:36:12,417
On the end of "Stan" where he
finally, you know, writes back

821
00:36:12,417 --> 00:36:13,883
to Stan and says, look, I'm sorry,

822
00:36:13,883 --> 00:36:15,488
I'm sorry I'm so late in writing back.

823
00:36:15,488 --> 00:36:16,558
But, of course, it's too late

824
00:36:16,558 --> 00:36:19,869
'cause at this point, Stan has
killed himself and his wife

825
00:36:19,869 --> 00:36:21,688
and his unborn child.

826
00:36:21,688 --> 00:36:24,771
It shows a kind of
desperation really from Eminem

827
00:36:24,771 --> 00:36:26,130
as if, you know, what can I do?

828
00:36:26,130 --> 00:36:29,474
You know, I can never ever give
these people what they want

829
00:36:29,474 --> 00:36:31,407
and they will make of me what they will.

830
00:36:31,407 --> 00:36:34,035
Am I responsible for that?

831
00:36:34,035 --> 00:36:38,900
It's a song of immense miracle
beauty, of musical beauty.

832
00:36:38,900 --> 00:36:41,343
Unworthy captures the essence,

833
00:36:41,343 --> 00:36:43,879
not just of what it is to be a celebrity

834
00:36:43,879 --> 00:36:46,746
but more particularly of
what it is to be Eminem

835
00:36:46,746 --> 00:36:49,123
and the complex world that he created

836
00:36:49,123 --> 00:36:50,629
and which he has to live with.

837
00:36:50,629 --> 00:36:53,929
- And, you know, he
took a lot of criticism

838
00:36:53,929 --> 00:36:57,623
for his homophobia, for
his violence in his songs,

839
00:36:57,623 --> 00:37:00,095
particularly against his wife

840
00:37:00,095 --> 00:37:02,602
and, you know, his threats to his mother.

841
00:37:02,602 --> 00:37:04,314
But at the end of the day,

842
00:37:04,314 --> 00:37:07,226
you got a sense that he was
really speaking from the heart

843
00:37:07,226 --> 00:37:08,635
on all these things,

844
00:37:08,635 --> 00:37:11,274
that these were things
that he was really feeling,

845
00:37:11,274 --> 00:37:14,642
that these experiences came
from a really deep place

846
00:37:14,642 --> 00:37:15,631
inside of him.

847
00:37:15,631 --> 00:37:18,784
And that the album was a type of therapy.

848
00:37:18,784 --> 00:37:20,954
- [Narrator] The album spawned many hits,

849
00:37:20,954 --> 00:37:24,475
but the lead single was
titled "The Real Slim Shady".

850
00:37:24,475 --> 00:37:26,643
The video features Eminem
performing the song

851
00:37:26,643 --> 00:37:29,989
in a psychiatric ward, a
local Detroit neighborhood,

852
00:37:29,989 --> 00:37:32,452
a fast food joint, the Grammy Awards,

853
00:37:32,452 --> 00:37:34,941
and even a factory with
multiple clones of the rapper

854
00:37:34,941 --> 00:37:35,782
are produced.

855
00:37:35,782 --> 00:37:36,809
(hip-hop music)

856
00:37:36,809 --> 00:37:39,923
♪ Will the real Slim
Shady please stand up ♪

857
00:37:39,923 --> 00:37:41,381
- We're gonna have a problem here,

858
00:37:41,381 --> 00:37:43,486
♪ Y'all act like you never
seen a white person before ♪

859
00:37:43,486 --> 00:37:44,871
♪ Jaws all on the floor like Pam, ♪

860
00:37:44,871 --> 00:37:46,203
♪ Like Tommy just burst in the door ♪

861
00:37:46,203 --> 00:37:47,955
♪ And started whoopin' her
ass worse than before ♪

862
00:37:47,955 --> 00:37:50,362
♪ They first were divorced,
throwin' her over furniture ♪

863
00:37:50,362 --> 00:37:52,994
♪ It's the return of the, oh,
wait, no way, you're kidding ♪

864
00:37:52,994 --> 00:37:55,383
♪ He didn't just say what
I think he did, did he ♪

865
00:37:55,383 --> 00:37:57,863
♪ And Dr. Dre said, nothing you idiots ♪

866
00:37:57,863 --> 00:38:00,063
♪ Dr. Dre's dead, he's
locked in my basement ♪

867
00:38:00,063 --> 00:38:01,630
♪ Feminist women love Eminem ♪

868
00:38:01,630 --> 00:38:03,974
♪ Chicka-chicka-chicka Slim
Shady, I'm sick of him ♪

869
00:38:03,974 --> 00:38:06,529
♪ Look at him, walkin' around,
grabbin' his you-know-what ♪

870
00:38:06,529 --> 00:38:08,401
- It's called "The Real Slim Shady".

871
00:38:08,401 --> 00:38:11,369
It's basically the chorus of scene

872
00:38:11,369 --> 00:38:13,138
with the real slim shady, please stand up.

873
00:38:13,138 --> 00:38:14,901
And basically, what the whole song,

874
00:38:14,901 --> 00:38:18,553
the concept of the whole
song was about was, you know,

875
00:38:18,553 --> 00:38:21,384
trying to say that there's
a slim shady in all of us,

876
00:38:21,384 --> 00:38:23,036
everybody has a shady side to 'em.

877
00:38:23,036 --> 00:38:25,799
So in the video I'm telling, I'm asking,

878
00:38:25,799 --> 00:38:27,688
will the real slim shady please stand up?

879
00:38:27,688 --> 00:38:29,017
And everybody's standing up in the video

880
00:38:29,017 --> 00:38:31,757
because everybody's got
a Slim Shady in them.

881
00:38:31,757 --> 00:38:33,227
I said that a long time ago

882
00:38:33,227 --> 00:38:35,128
when I came out with my first album,

883
00:38:35,128 --> 00:38:36,882
I feel like everybody
has a shady side to 'em

884
00:38:36,882 --> 00:38:41,411
and a side to 'em where they
can be an asshole, you know.

885
00:38:41,411 --> 00:38:43,382
And Slim Shady is that
asshole inside of me

886
00:38:43,382 --> 00:38:44,770
that comes out an awful lot.

887
00:38:44,770 --> 00:38:49,316
- "Marshall Mathers" came in
at 1.76 million in a week.

888
00:38:49,316 --> 00:38:51,992
I mean, those are like
astronomical figures.

889
00:38:51,992 --> 00:38:56,228
And if anyone had any
doubt as to his star power

890
00:38:56,228 --> 00:38:59,560
or where Eminem could
potentially go as an artist,

891
00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:02,116
"The Marshall Mathers LP"
kind of cemented the fact

892
00:39:02,116 --> 00:39:03,262
that he's here to stay.

893
00:39:03,262 --> 00:39:04,987
(soft hip-hop music)

894
00:39:04,987 --> 00:39:05,940
- [Narrator] At this point,

895
00:39:05,940 --> 00:39:09,031
Eminem has released two
groundbreaking albums.

896
00:39:09,031 --> 00:39:12,609
And along with the success
came an onslaught of criticism.

897
00:39:12,609 --> 00:39:15,692
(soft hip-hop music)

898
00:39:17,687 --> 00:39:20,380
- And you know, the obvious problem

899
00:39:20,380 --> 00:39:21,618
with "Marshal Mathers LP"

900
00:39:21,618 --> 00:39:25,548
is that it had some very
controversial things to say

901
00:39:25,548 --> 00:39:27,428
about the homosexual community.

902
00:39:27,428 --> 00:39:29,509
- He was courting a lot of controversy.

903
00:39:29,509 --> 00:39:32,709
People were, you know, claiming
that he was homophobic,

904
00:39:32,709 --> 00:39:36,804
that his lyrics were
misogynistic, you know,

905
00:39:36,804 --> 00:39:41,442
that he was really like a
blight on music, on pop music.

906
00:39:41,442 --> 00:39:44,718
And to sort of combat all that negativity,

907
00:39:44,718 --> 00:39:47,470
he did what people really
just did not expect,

908
00:39:47,470 --> 00:39:50,612
which is he performed with
Elton John on the Grammys.

909
00:39:50,612 --> 00:39:53,695
(soft hip-hop music)

910
00:39:56,003 --> 00:39:57,921
Now, he'd been like a Grammy favorite

911
00:39:57,921 --> 00:39:58,990
for a few years now.

912
00:39:58,990 --> 00:40:00,696
He's always up for Best Rap Album.

913
00:40:00,696 --> 00:40:02,478
He won almost every time.

914
00:40:02,478 --> 00:40:06,145
And this was like his
official sort of entry

915
00:40:07,657 --> 00:40:09,672
to mainstream music world.

916
00:40:09,672 --> 00:40:11,489
And at the end of the performance,

917
00:40:11,489 --> 00:40:16,489
which was, you know, Stan and
had Elton John on the piano,

918
00:40:16,531 --> 00:40:20,284
they hugged and it was written
that it was the hug felt

919
00:40:20,284 --> 00:40:21,355
around the world, you know.

920
00:40:21,355 --> 00:40:24,272
It was such a huge moment for music

921
00:40:26,005 --> 00:40:27,107
because it brought together

922
00:40:27,107 --> 00:40:30,364
these two completely disparate worlds.

923
00:40:30,364 --> 00:40:32,835
- [Narrator] 2002 would proved
to be another memorable year

924
00:40:32,835 --> 00:40:33,839
for Eminem.

925
00:40:33,839 --> 00:40:37,144
He released his third major
album, "The Eminem Show",

926
00:40:37,144 --> 00:40:41,526
and it soon became another
multi-platinum release.

927
00:40:41,526 --> 00:40:43,971
- "The Eminem Show" show
was another huge blockbuster

928
00:40:43,971 --> 00:40:47,789
for Eminem, and it sort
of got even further away

929
00:40:47,789 --> 00:40:51,242
from the traditional
hip-hop roots that he had.

930
00:40:51,242 --> 00:40:54,117
- You know, Eminem had been
pretty steadily releasing albums

931
00:40:54,117 --> 00:40:56,705
every 18 months, two years,

932
00:40:56,705 --> 00:40:59,366
and it was like every single
one was bigger than the last.

933
00:40:59,366 --> 00:41:02,093
And "The Eminem Show"
was just another example

934
00:41:02,093 --> 00:41:05,904
of how much of a force he
was in music at the time.

935
00:41:05,904 --> 00:41:08,163
It was the bestselling album of 2002.

936
00:41:08,163 --> 00:41:09,694
Nothing even came close.

937
00:41:09,694 --> 00:41:11,419
- [Ben] "Without Me" was another one

938
00:41:11,419 --> 00:41:13,242
of Eminem's kind of lead off,

939
00:41:13,242 --> 00:41:16,052
jokey, pop culture referencing singles.

940
00:41:16,052 --> 00:41:18,980
And it was also a really successful,

941
00:41:18,980 --> 00:41:22,500
and it sort of picked its
targets to make fun of,

942
00:41:22,500 --> 00:41:25,466
and it had another really infectious,

943
00:41:25,466 --> 00:41:27,425
bouncy pop, mainstream beat

944
00:41:27,425 --> 00:41:30,736
and it sort of set the
tone for "The Eminem Show".

945
00:41:30,736 --> 00:41:33,153
- There's line in the song
that that makes perfect sense,

946
00:41:33,153 --> 00:41:34,893
which is guess who's back, you know?

947
00:41:34,893 --> 00:41:39,893
It's like all he had to do was
at this time just come back

948
00:41:39,947 --> 00:41:41,947
and do what he does best

949
00:41:42,893 --> 00:41:45,478
without having to change up
the formula too much, you know.

950
00:41:45,478 --> 00:41:46,925
He didn't have to diverge.

951
00:41:46,925 --> 00:41:47,813
He didn't have to wow.

952
00:41:47,813 --> 00:41:49,244
He didn't have to even show

953
00:41:49,244 --> 00:41:51,048
that there was so much of an evolution.

954
00:41:51,048 --> 00:41:55,138
At the time, it was like
people wanted that Eminem,

955
00:41:55,138 --> 00:41:58,160
the Marshall Mathers Eminem,
"The Eminem Show" Eminem.

956
00:41:58,160 --> 00:42:00,801
He was giving people what
they want with this album,

957
00:42:00,801 --> 00:42:02,795
which I think is why it sold so well.

958
00:42:02,795 --> 00:42:04,340
(hip-hop music)

959
00:42:04,340 --> 00:42:05,583
- [Narrator] That same year,

960
00:42:05,583 --> 00:42:08,576
Eminem would transfer his
skills to the big screen.

961
00:42:08,576 --> 00:42:09,990
He starred in a Motion Picture

962
00:42:09,990 --> 00:42:12,571
that was loosely based on his own life.

963
00:42:12,571 --> 00:42:17,571
And it was an incredible acting
debut for the rap superstar.

964
00:42:18,705 --> 00:42:20,100
- We were talking about doing a movie

965
00:42:20,100 --> 00:42:23,921
about, you know, based
on my life or whatever,

966
00:42:23,921 --> 00:42:25,208
you know, something like that.

967
00:42:25,208 --> 00:42:29,125
- In that movie, you see
Eminem no holds barred

968
00:42:29,961 --> 00:42:32,909
expressing his feelings, his emotions

969
00:42:32,909 --> 00:42:35,153
in a world where so many celebrities

970
00:42:35,153 --> 00:42:37,685
try to whitewash themselves,

971
00:42:37,685 --> 00:42:40,795
they try to project an image to the world

972
00:42:40,795 --> 00:42:44,534
of something that's kind of
all America and all apple pie,

973
00:42:44,534 --> 00:42:45,898
all sweetness and light.

974
00:42:45,898 --> 00:42:48,735
This was a guy who stripped
his life to the bone

975
00:42:48,735 --> 00:42:51,563
and said to the world, this
is who I am, deal with it.

976
00:42:51,563 --> 00:42:52,619
He did it in his music.

977
00:42:52,619 --> 00:42:56,640
And in "8 Mile" he showed not
just his skill as an actor,

978
00:42:56,640 --> 00:43:00,030
but his ability as an
actor to get the guts

979
00:43:00,030 --> 00:43:03,578
of his personality out and
to express it on screen

980
00:43:03,578 --> 00:43:05,564
in a performance that any actor

981
00:43:05,564 --> 00:43:07,915
would've been proud to call their own.

982
00:43:07,915 --> 00:43:10,577
- I think what he did was prove

983
00:43:10,577 --> 00:43:13,792
that he couldn't be
put in a box, you know.

984
00:43:13,792 --> 00:43:16,242
As much as we could say, like,
oh, well, Eminem does this

985
00:43:16,242 --> 00:43:18,181
and he does it really well and he's funny

986
00:43:18,181 --> 00:43:20,042
and he's, you know, witty

987
00:43:20,042 --> 00:43:23,256
and, you know, he gets the
concept of music videos

988
00:43:23,256 --> 00:43:24,763
and he really draws people in.

989
00:43:24,763 --> 00:43:26,339
Well, this was another side of him

990
00:43:26,339 --> 00:43:28,735
that was much more nuanced,

991
00:43:28,735 --> 00:43:32,252
that took talent that people
didn't realize he had.

992
00:43:32,252 --> 00:43:35,439
It was just an amazing
experience, I think, for Eminem

993
00:43:35,439 --> 00:43:37,554
and for the viewers and for people at home

994
00:43:37,554 --> 00:43:40,508
who didn't have an appreciation
of all that he could do.

995
00:43:40,508 --> 00:43:43,037
"8 Mile" really, really stepped it up.

996
00:43:43,037 --> 00:43:44,073
- [Narrator] The film was accompanied

997
00:43:44,073 --> 00:43:46,784
by an award-winning soundtrack,

998
00:43:46,784 --> 00:43:49,348
which contained the
single that seen by many

999
00:43:49,348 --> 00:43:51,365
as the quintessential Eminem song.

1000
00:43:51,365 --> 00:43:54,696
- The enduring legacy of "8 Mile"

1001
00:43:54,696 --> 00:43:56,215
might be the song "Lose Yourself",

1002
00:43:56,215 --> 00:44:00,558
which ended up being the first
rap song to win an Oscar.

1003
00:44:00,558 --> 00:44:02,584
- [Narrator] The music
video was filmed in Detroit

1004
00:44:02,584 --> 00:44:05,195
and contains many scenes from the movie.

1005
00:44:05,195 --> 00:44:07,132
It also features Eminem rapping next

1006
00:44:07,132 --> 00:44:11,143
to the 8 Mile Mobile Court
sign that appears in the movie

1007
00:44:11,143 --> 00:44:13,415
and also on the cover
of the movie soundtrack.

1008
00:44:13,415 --> 00:44:14,248
(hip-hop music)

1009
00:44:14,248 --> 00:44:15,081
- Yow.

1010
00:44:15,081 --> 00:44:17,732
♪ His palms are sweaty,
knees weak, arms are heavy ♪

1011
00:44:17,732 --> 00:44:20,580
♪ There's vomit on his sweater
already, mom's spaghetti ♪

1012
00:44:20,580 --> 00:44:23,517
♪ He's nervous, but on the
surface he looks calm and ready ♪

1013
00:44:23,517 --> 00:44:26,077
♪ To drop bombs, but he
keeps on forgettin' ♪

1014
00:44:26,077 --> 00:44:29,016
♪ What he wrote down, the
whole crowd goes so loud ♪

1015
00:44:29,016 --> 00:44:31,645
♪ He opens his mouth, but
the words won't come out ♪

1016
00:44:31,645 --> 00:44:34,642
♪ He's chokin', how,
everybody's jokin' now ♪

1017
00:44:34,642 --> 00:44:37,502
♪ The clocks run out,
times up, over, blaow ♪

1018
00:44:37,502 --> 00:44:40,504
♪ Snap back to reality,
ope there goes gravity ♪

1019
00:44:40,504 --> 00:44:42,264
♪ Ope, there goes Rabbit, he choked ♪

1020
00:44:42,264 --> 00:44:43,212
♪ He's so mad ♪

1021
00:44:43,212 --> 00:44:46,990
- And in any case, "8 Mile"
really helped bring Eminem

1022
00:44:46,990 --> 00:44:48,499
to an even wider audience

1023
00:44:48,499 --> 00:44:51,406
because the film was
seen by lots of people

1024
00:44:51,406 --> 00:44:53,518
who don't necessarily listen to rap music,

1025
00:44:53,518 --> 00:44:56,583
but they got a chance
to get inside his story

1026
00:44:56,583 --> 00:44:59,208
and to learn what he was all about.

1027
00:44:59,208 --> 00:45:04,208
And it pretty much made him
bigger than he ever was.

1028
00:45:04,297 --> 00:45:06,284
- [Narrator] After "8
Mile" had grossed millions

1029
00:45:06,284 --> 00:45:09,164
at the box office, Eminem
was back in the studio

1030
00:45:09,164 --> 00:45:12,241
recording his fourth major studio album.

1031
00:45:12,241 --> 00:45:15,260
"Encore" was released in 2004.

1032
00:45:15,260 --> 00:45:18,671
The album proved to be
Eminem's least popular to date

1033
00:45:18,671 --> 00:45:21,279
with fans and critics
noting the subpar quality

1034
00:45:21,279 --> 00:45:25,046
of the lyrics compared to
previous Eminem albums.

1035
00:45:25,046 --> 00:45:26,698
- You know, the question
that was left unanswered

1036
00:45:26,698 --> 00:45:28,586
by "The Eminem Show" and even the "8 Mile"

1037
00:45:28,586 --> 00:45:29,608
to a large extent

1038
00:45:29,608 --> 00:45:33,802
was where was Eminem, the
rapper, going to take things?

1039
00:45:33,802 --> 00:45:36,683
And "Encore" is, I guess, where
people found out, you know.

1040
00:45:36,683 --> 00:45:39,095
"Encore" was the first record Eminem made

1041
00:45:39,095 --> 00:45:42,032
that didn't explicitly say who it was

1042
00:45:42,032 --> 00:45:43,397
from the perspective of.

1043
00:45:43,397 --> 00:45:45,446
- It started to feel like Eminem

1044
00:45:45,446 --> 00:45:47,582
was a caricature of himself.

1045
00:45:47,582 --> 00:45:50,665
You know, it was becoming repetitive.

1046
00:45:51,989 --> 00:45:53,887
It didn't seem novel anymore.

1047
00:45:53,887 --> 00:45:56,149
And his rhymes were really simplistic.

1048
00:45:56,149 --> 00:46:00,546
That was a big criticism that
a lot of music reviewers had.

1049
00:46:00,546 --> 00:46:03,162
So it's not like it's a terrible album

1050
00:46:03,162 --> 00:46:04,521
or the songs weren't that good,

1051
00:46:04,521 --> 00:46:08,341
it just felt a little bit
like a parody, like a cliche.

1052
00:46:08,341 --> 00:46:11,783
And Eminem, who was always
so ahead of the curve,

1053
00:46:11,783 --> 00:46:14,571
and so like out of left
field and forward thinking

1054
00:46:14,571 --> 00:46:17,320
and trailblazer in so many ways,

1055
00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:19,442
this felt like he was following himself.

1056
00:46:19,442 --> 00:46:22,070
- You know, the first single
Eminem released from that album

1057
00:46:22,070 --> 00:46:23,600
was "Just Lose It".

1058
00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:26,775
This one made a light of
Michael Jackson's problems,

1059
00:46:26,775 --> 00:46:30,044
you know, with, you know, child
molestation, legal troubles,

1060
00:46:30,044 --> 00:46:31,227
his health.

1061
00:46:31,227 --> 00:46:35,461
And that was oddly enough the
one time where people said

1062
00:46:35,461 --> 00:46:37,665
maybe Eminem went a little too far,

1063
00:46:37,665 --> 00:46:39,448
maybe not even in terms of controversy,

1064
00:46:39,448 --> 00:46:41,570
but just being in poor taste.

1065
00:46:41,570 --> 00:46:43,916
- The way it made fun of his,
you know, alleged pedophilia

1066
00:46:43,916 --> 00:46:45,184
and all that.

1067
00:46:45,184 --> 00:46:48,155
And "Encore" is also
known for the song "Mosh",

1068
00:46:48,155 --> 00:46:50,038
which got really political.

1069
00:46:50,038 --> 00:46:54,069
It was at the time when John
Kerry was facing George Bush

1070
00:46:54,069 --> 00:46:55,355
in the presidential election,

1071
00:46:55,355 --> 00:46:58,427
and it took a strong stance against Bush,

1072
00:46:58,427 --> 00:47:01,374
and encouraged his fans to vote.

1073
00:47:01,374 --> 00:47:03,508
And these were people
that might not necessarily

1074
00:47:03,508 --> 00:47:08,416
have been political, but,
you know, John Kerry lost,

1075
00:47:08,416 --> 00:47:09,450
the album didn't sell

1076
00:47:09,450 --> 00:47:12,060
as well as Eminem's
albums traditionally do.

1077
00:47:12,060 --> 00:47:15,459
And more than anything,
it was seen as creatively,

1078
00:47:15,459 --> 00:47:18,115
not quite up to par with his other stuff.

1079
00:47:18,115 --> 00:47:21,365
And he subsequently took a long hiatus.

1080
00:47:23,108 --> 00:47:26,296
- [Narrator] In 2005, many
industry insiders started

1081
00:47:26,296 --> 00:47:29,486
to speculate that Eminem
was considering ending

1082
00:47:29,486 --> 00:47:31,868
his rap career after six years

1083
00:47:31,868 --> 00:47:34,591
and several multi-platinum albums.

1084
00:47:34,591 --> 00:47:35,986
- Because when "Encore" came out

1085
00:47:35,986 --> 00:47:37,651
and it wasn't received so well

1086
00:47:37,651 --> 00:47:41,032
and it felt like almost
like recycled music,

1087
00:47:41,032 --> 00:47:44,353
I think Eminem maybe realized
that he needed to step back

1088
00:47:44,353 --> 00:47:46,192
and he needed to take some time off.

1089
00:47:46,192 --> 00:47:49,640
At the same time, he was also
struggling with addiction.

1090
00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:51,882
- As you would expect,

1091
00:47:51,882 --> 00:47:53,544
not just for somebody in Eminem's world

1092
00:47:53,544 --> 00:47:57,660
but for somebody with
Eminem's personal history,

1093
00:47:57,660 --> 00:47:59,605
that at some point along the line,

1094
00:47:59,605 --> 00:48:03,116
addiction to something would come into it.

1095
00:48:03,116 --> 00:48:05,613
Alcohol was present.

1096
00:48:05,613 --> 00:48:09,915
Allegedly, all sorts of
illegal drugs were present.

1097
00:48:09,915 --> 00:48:13,051
And most famously, prescription
drugs were present.

1098
00:48:13,051 --> 00:48:15,187
But what's important to remember

1099
00:48:15,187 --> 00:48:19,398
is that most addictions start
from feelings of abandonment,

1100
00:48:19,398 --> 00:48:21,859
feelings of rage, feelings of shame,

1101
00:48:21,859 --> 00:48:24,004
and that's the root of those addictions.

1102
00:48:24,004 --> 00:48:27,536
The particular ways that those
addictions find expression,

1103
00:48:27,536 --> 00:48:30,372
the particular drug of
choice, if you want,

1104
00:48:30,372 --> 00:48:32,641
well, that's just down to chance

1105
00:48:32,641 --> 00:48:34,492
and circumstance most of the time.

1106
00:48:34,492 --> 00:48:36,425
And with him, he chose prescription drugs,

1107
00:48:36,425 --> 00:48:38,277
but it could just as easily
have been anything else.

1108
00:48:38,277 --> 00:48:39,787
- [Shirley] And he was
having trouble sleeping

1109
00:48:39,787 --> 00:48:41,843
and he was having trouble functioning.

1110
00:48:41,843 --> 00:48:44,281
He actually had to cancel
an entire European tour

1111
00:48:44,281 --> 00:48:47,624
during this hiatus between 2005 and 2008.

1112
00:48:47,624 --> 00:48:50,625
- He said that he was at a
really low personal point.

1113
00:48:50,625 --> 00:48:52,462
There were a lot of things
going on in his personal life

1114
00:48:52,462 --> 00:48:54,430
that he didn't really talk about.

1115
00:48:54,430 --> 00:48:56,680
He remarried his wife, Kim,

1116
00:48:58,223 --> 00:49:00,918
and then divorced her within a year.

1117
00:49:00,918 --> 00:49:04,888
And he also saw the death
of his best friend, Proof.

1118
00:49:04,888 --> 00:49:08,767
And that had this huge
impact on him as as well.

1119
00:49:08,767 --> 00:49:12,299
And kind of coming out of drug addiction

1120
00:49:12,299 --> 00:49:13,486
made it even harder.

1121
00:49:13,486 --> 00:49:17,056
- But I think it was a time
to sort of reassess his life,

1122
00:49:17,056 --> 00:49:19,421
where he'd come and where he could go.

1123
00:49:19,421 --> 00:49:21,941
And I also think it was a very
important time for family.

1124
00:49:21,941 --> 00:49:25,624
- So he went to rehab, he sobered up.

1125
00:49:25,624 --> 00:49:28,711
And the way he describes it is
that he poured all his energy

1126
00:49:28,711 --> 00:49:32,134
into hip-hop and rapping
became his new drug

1127
00:49:32,134 --> 00:49:33,907
and helped him get through it.

1128
00:49:33,907 --> 00:49:36,732
- And I think that maybe he
had to reconcile a little bit

1129
00:49:36,732 --> 00:49:39,521
of where he came from and
where he was, you know,

1130
00:49:39,521 --> 00:49:40,354
at the moment.

1131
00:49:40,354 --> 00:49:42,306
But I will give him props.

1132
00:49:42,306 --> 00:49:44,998
You know, Eminem could have moved to LA.

1133
00:49:44,998 --> 00:49:46,753
He could have just like,
you know, been hanging out

1134
00:49:46,753 --> 00:49:49,601
with Dre every day, but
he stayed in Michigan,

1135
00:49:49,601 --> 00:49:51,271
which I think was really important

1136
00:49:51,271 --> 00:49:53,078
to sort of keep him grounded,

1137
00:49:53,078 --> 00:49:57,903
but literally keep him grounded
'cause he was flying high

1138
00:49:57,903 --> 00:49:59,832
between, you know, the boasting

1139
00:49:59,832 --> 00:50:03,255
and the people kissing your
ass and the drug addiction.

1140
00:50:03,255 --> 00:50:06,767
You know, he was living in
a reality that wasn't real.

1141
00:50:06,767 --> 00:50:10,118
So I think that that's
what that three year hiatus

1142
00:50:10,118 --> 00:50:10,951
really did.

1143
00:50:10,951 --> 00:50:13,706
I think it sobered him up in every way.

1144
00:50:13,706 --> 00:50:16,373
(upbeat music)

1145
00:50:21,902 --> 00:50:25,326
- [Narrator] In 2007, Eminem
purchased the Effigy Studio

1146
00:50:25,326 --> 00:50:28,221
in Michigan and started the
initial recording process

1147
00:50:28,221 --> 00:50:31,107
of his next album, "Relapse".

1148
00:50:31,107 --> 00:50:34,538
Once again, Eminem
worked alongside Dr. Dre.

1149
00:50:34,538 --> 00:50:36,680
And after two years of Studio time,

1150
00:50:36,680 --> 00:50:39,938
the album was ready for release in 2009.

1151
00:50:39,938 --> 00:50:43,854
- You know, 2009 was the
first legitimate Eminem record

1152
00:50:43,854 --> 00:50:47,301
we heard since, you know, "Encore".

1153
00:50:47,301 --> 00:50:51,301
And it was a kind of
shocking to hear, you know,

1154
00:50:52,264 --> 00:50:53,994
where Eminem was at that point,

1155
00:50:53,994 --> 00:50:57,778
because his hiatus was really
shutted in mystery, you know.

1156
00:50:57,778 --> 00:51:00,495
Obviously, rumors spread
about drug addiction

1157
00:51:00,495 --> 00:51:02,219
and lord knows what else.

1158
00:51:02,219 --> 00:51:04,837
And "Relapse" was an
album that just went ahead

1159
00:51:04,837 --> 00:51:07,978
and took that stuff, you know, head first.

1160
00:51:07,978 --> 00:51:10,607
It was, you know, arguably more shocking

1161
00:51:10,607 --> 00:51:14,438
than anything he did on "The
Slim Shady LP" 10 years prior,

1162
00:51:14,438 --> 00:51:18,739
because the world had changed
a lot, you know, in 2009.

1163
00:51:18,739 --> 00:51:21,762
People would become a lot more
desensitized shock, you know,

1164
00:51:21,762 --> 00:51:24,860
the shock tactics and, you know,
hip-hop pushing boundaries.

1165
00:51:24,860 --> 00:51:27,633
And I mean "Relapse", you know, show

1166
00:51:27,633 --> 00:51:29,373
he was, you know, taking pills

1167
00:51:29,373 --> 00:51:32,224
like, you know, once again
killing people on record.

1168
00:51:32,224 --> 00:51:35,689
Christopher Reeve again, you
know, going at Mariah Carey,

1169
00:51:35,689 --> 00:51:37,439
going at Nick Cannon.

1170
00:51:38,609 --> 00:51:39,845
Whether it's up for debate,

1171
00:51:39,845 --> 00:51:43,256
whether it was as good
as his earlier work,

1172
00:51:43,256 --> 00:51:45,858
nonetheless, you know, the
public, you know, welcomed him

1173
00:51:45,858 --> 00:51:46,719
with open arms.

1174
00:51:46,719 --> 00:51:49,137
It's all incredibly well.

1175
00:51:49,137 --> 00:51:50,713
Mixed reviews I'd say.

1176
00:51:50,713 --> 00:51:53,338
But nonetheless, you
know, people were happy

1177
00:51:53,338 --> 00:51:56,380
to hear Eminem doing that kind
of Slim Shady sort of thing

1178
00:51:56,380 --> 00:51:59,513
instead of, you know,
the kind of stone sober

1179
00:51:59,513 --> 00:52:00,608
like political stuff

1180
00:52:00,608 --> 00:52:02,814
that he was kinda hinting
towards on "Encore".

1181
00:52:02,814 --> 00:52:05,219
- [Narrator] "Relapse" was
considered a successful comeback

1182
00:52:05,219 --> 00:52:07,281
for Eminem, but it
wasn't until the release

1183
00:52:07,281 --> 00:52:10,579
of his next album, "Recovery",
that fans and critics

1184
00:52:10,579 --> 00:52:13,524
saw Eminem back to his free flowing best.

1185
00:52:13,524 --> 00:52:17,677
- And in fact, "Recovery" was
the bestselling album of 2010

1186
00:52:17,677 --> 00:52:18,760
in any genre.

1187
00:52:19,628 --> 00:52:22,731
And it really resonated with people

1188
00:52:22,731 --> 00:52:25,139
because I think Eminem
did what he does well

1189
00:52:25,139 --> 00:52:27,203
and it was speaking from the heart

1190
00:52:27,203 --> 00:52:30,646
and sort of talking about
where he really was in his life

1191
00:52:30,646 --> 00:52:33,814
at that moment and not
trying to put on airs

1192
00:52:33,814 --> 00:52:35,938
or try to be something that he wasn't.

1193
00:52:35,938 --> 00:52:39,097
- "Not Afraid", it's a recovery song

1194
00:52:39,097 --> 00:52:40,451
like more than anything.

1195
00:52:40,451 --> 00:52:42,726
It's the call of somebody

1196
00:52:42,726 --> 00:52:45,590
who has just survived substance abuse

1197
00:52:45,590 --> 00:52:48,888
and probably could have died
or may have killed himself,

1198
00:52:48,888 --> 00:52:52,457
and "Not Afraid" is about
tackling all those things.

1199
00:52:52,457 --> 00:52:56,790
It's about facing it head
on and getting through it.

1200
00:52:57,650 --> 00:52:59,773
♪ You can try and read my
lyrics off of this paper ♪

1201
00:52:59,773 --> 00:53:00,962
♪ Before I lay 'em ♪

1202
00:53:00,962 --> 00:53:02,643
♪ But you won't take the
sting out these words ♪

1203
00:53:02,643 --> 00:53:03,740
♪ Before I say 'em ♪

1204
00:53:03,740 --> 00:53:05,328
♪ 'Cause ain't no way
I'ma let you stop me ♪

1205
00:53:05,328 --> 00:53:06,304
♪ From causin' mayhem ♪

1206
00:53:06,304 --> 00:53:08,210
♪ When I say I'm a do somethin', I do it ♪

1207
00:53:08,210 --> 00:53:10,087
♪ I don't give a damn what you think ♪

1208
00:53:10,087 --> 00:53:12,451
♪ I'm doin' this for me, so
fuck the world, feed it beans ♪

1209
00:53:12,451 --> 00:53:14,775
♪ It's gassed up, if it
thinks it's stoppin' me ♪

1210
00:53:14,775 --> 00:53:17,748
♪ I'ma be what I set out to be,
without a doubt, undoubtedly ♪

1211
00:53:17,748 --> 00:53:19,053
♪ And all those who look down on me ♪

1212
00:53:19,053 --> 00:53:20,632
♪ I'm tearin' down your balcony ♪

1213
00:53:20,632 --> 00:53:21,535
♪ No if, ands or buts ♪

1214
00:53:21,535 --> 00:53:23,324
♪ Don't try to ask him why or how can he ♪

1215
00:53:23,324 --> 00:53:25,613
♪ From "Infinite" down to
the last "Relapse" album ♪

1216
00:53:25,613 --> 00:53:26,551
♪ He's still shittin' ♪

1217
00:53:26,551 --> 00:53:27,581
♪ Whether he's on salary ♪

1218
00:53:27,581 --> 00:53:29,719
- The video was really powerful too

1219
00:53:29,719 --> 00:53:32,515
because it didn't rely on gimmicks.

1220
00:53:32,515 --> 00:53:35,247
It was just Eminem singing,

1221
00:53:35,247 --> 00:53:38,070
not even rapping so
much, singing, you know.

1222
00:53:38,070 --> 00:53:43,070
Something that felt so true and
so honest and so vulnerable.

1223
00:53:43,598 --> 00:53:46,692
That's how I see "Not Afraid"
as a very like vulnerable

1224
00:53:46,692 --> 00:53:48,254
but at the same time strong song.

1225
00:53:48,254 --> 00:53:52,505
- "Love the Way You Lie",
it was kind of a bold move

1226
00:53:52,505 --> 00:53:55,541
because Rihanna was on that song as well

1227
00:53:55,541 --> 00:53:57,683
and Rihanna had gone
through her her own thing

1228
00:53:57,683 --> 00:53:59,981
with a very abusive relationship.

1229
00:53:59,981 --> 00:54:01,404
You know, you could
kinda see the parallels

1230
00:54:01,404 --> 00:54:02,931
between Rihanna and Chris Brown

1231
00:54:02,931 --> 00:54:06,606
as well as Eminem and
Kim Mathers, you know.

1232
00:54:06,606 --> 00:54:11,418
Both very high profile,
lots of violence, you know,

1233
00:54:11,418 --> 00:54:13,034
lots of dirty laundry being aired.

1234
00:54:13,034 --> 00:54:14,990
And I guess by coming together,

1235
00:54:14,990 --> 00:54:17,280
those two kinda showed
a little bit of kinship.

1236
00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:18,113
♪ Who's that dude ♪

1237
00:54:18,113 --> 00:54:19,385
♪ I don't even know his name. ♪

1238
00:54:19,385 --> 00:54:20,694
♪ I laid hands on her ♪

1239
00:54:20,694 --> 00:54:22,225
♪ I'll never stoop so low again ♪

1240
00:54:22,225 --> 00:54:23,900
♪ I guess I don't know my own strength ♪

1241
00:54:23,900 --> 00:54:28,900
♪ Just gonna stand there
and watch me burn ♪

1242
00:54:28,961 --> 00:54:33,961
♪ Well, that's alright, because
I like the way it hurts ♪

1243
00:54:34,784 --> 00:54:39,784
♪ Just gonna stand
there and hear me cry? ♪

1244
00:54:39,893 --> 00:54:44,893
♪ Well, that's alright, because
I love the way you lie ♪

1245
00:54:45,457 --> 00:54:47,417
♪ I love the way you lie ♪

1246
00:54:47,417 --> 00:54:51,074
- The video for "Love The Way
You Lie" features Megan Fox

1247
00:54:51,074 --> 00:54:55,768
and a lot of people thought
that it was a very realistic,

1248
00:54:55,768 --> 00:54:59,543
almost film cinematic quality to it.

1249
00:54:59,543 --> 00:55:01,763
And it features a young couple

1250
00:55:01,763 --> 00:55:04,113
who are in this really
abusive relationship,

1251
00:55:04,113 --> 00:55:06,381
but they clearly love each other

1252
00:55:06,381 --> 00:55:08,863
and it ends with the
house going up in flames,

1253
00:55:08,863 --> 00:55:12,169
and people thought it was
an artistic step forward

1254
00:55:12,169 --> 00:55:13,134
for Eminem.

1255
00:55:13,134 --> 00:55:15,669
- [Narrator] With "Recovery",
Eminem achieved the record

1256
00:55:15,669 --> 00:55:19,738
for most successive US number
one albums by a solo artist.

1257
00:55:19,738 --> 00:55:21,501
It was an incredible feat

1258
00:55:21,501 --> 00:55:25,403
and proved that his troubled
times were behind him.

1259
00:55:25,403 --> 00:55:28,169
He was once again ready to regain his tag

1260
00:55:28,169 --> 00:55:30,086
as the King of Hip-Hop.

1261
00:55:38,381 --> 00:55:39,881
On May 24th, 2012,

1262
00:55:40,718 --> 00:55:44,496
Eminem revealed that he'd begun
working on his next album.

1263
00:55:44,496 --> 00:55:48,042
Shady Records' president,
Paul Rosenberg, told Billboard

1264
00:55:48,042 --> 00:55:50,190
that Eminem's eighth studio album

1265
00:55:50,190 --> 00:55:53,871
would be released after Memorial Day 2013.

1266
00:55:53,871 --> 00:55:57,071
Rumors were circulating regarding
the name of the new album.

1267
00:55:57,071 --> 00:56:00,590
And in mid-2013, it was
announced that the album

1268
00:56:00,590 --> 00:56:04,257
would be titled "The
Marshall Mathers LP 2".

1269
00:56:05,176 --> 00:56:08,164
The album was already one of
the most anticipated albums

1270
00:56:08,164 --> 00:56:10,759
of the year, but when
the title was released,

1271
00:56:10,759 --> 00:56:14,068
the anticipation grew even further.

1272
00:56:14,068 --> 00:56:16,855
The lead single from the
album was titled "Berzerk"

1273
00:56:16,855 --> 00:56:20,580
and was released on August 27th, 2013.

1274
00:56:20,580 --> 00:56:23,306
The music video was filmed
in Brooklyn, New York.

1275
00:56:23,306 --> 00:56:26,342
It features cameo appearances
by fellow rappers,

1276
00:56:26,342 --> 00:56:29,372
Kendrick Lamar and Kid Rock.

1277
00:56:29,372 --> 00:56:31,561
The video also features Eminem rapping

1278
00:56:31,561 --> 00:56:33,807
in front of a huge cassette tape player,

1279
00:56:33,807 --> 00:56:36,688
as well as short clips of
the official music video

1280
00:56:36,688 --> 00:56:38,658
of Billy Squier's "The Stroke",

1281
00:56:38,658 --> 00:56:41,741
which is heavily sampled in the song.

1282
00:56:42,682 --> 00:56:45,040
(static buzzing)

1283
00:56:45,040 --> 00:56:47,326
♪ Now this shit's about to kick
off, this party looks wack ♪

1284
00:56:47,326 --> 00:56:48,866
♪ Let's take it back to straight hip-hop ♪

1285
00:56:48,866 --> 00:56:50,099
♪ And start it from scratch ♪

1286
00:56:50,099 --> 00:56:52,560
♪ I'm 'bout to bloody this
track up, everybody get back ♪

1287
00:56:52,560 --> 00:56:55,585
♪ That's why my pen needs a pad
'cause my rhymes on the rag ♪

1288
00:56:55,585 --> 00:56:58,137
♪ Just like I did with
addiction I'm 'bout to kick it ♪

1289
00:56:58,137 --> 00:57:00,698
♪ Like a magician, critics
I turn to crickets ♪

1290
00:57:00,698 --> 00:57:03,212
♪ Got 'em still on the
fence whether to pick it ♪

1291
00:57:03,212 --> 00:57:05,574
♪ But quick to get impaled
when I tell 'em, stick it ♪

1292
00:57:05,574 --> 00:57:08,258
♪ So sick, I'm looking pale,
well that's my pigment ♪

1293
00:57:08,258 --> 00:57:10,860
♪ 'Bout to go ham, ya bish,
shout out to Kendrick ♪

1294
00:57:10,860 --> 00:57:12,572
♪ Let's bring it back ♪

1295
00:57:12,572 --> 00:57:14,900
The album received
generally positive reviews

1296
00:57:14,900 --> 00:57:16,859
from music critics with praise

1297
00:57:16,859 --> 00:57:19,330
going to Eminem's technical rapping skills

1298
00:57:19,330 --> 00:57:21,745
and production choices.

1299
00:57:21,745 --> 00:57:25,221
It debuted at number one
on the US Billboard 200

1300
00:57:25,221 --> 00:57:29,014
and had the second highest
album sales of 2013.

1301
00:57:29,014 --> 00:57:32,447
That year, Eminem also went
on to win Artist of the Year

1302
00:57:32,447 --> 00:57:33,925
at the YouTube Awards.

1303
00:57:33,925 --> 00:57:34,758
(audience cheering)

1304
00:57:34,758 --> 00:57:36,333
- Yeah, man, I just wanna
say real quick, man,

1305
00:57:36,333 --> 00:57:38,903
thank you to all the
fans, everybody who voted.

1306
00:57:38,903 --> 00:57:40,188
Thanks to YouTube.

1307
00:57:40,188 --> 00:57:42,031
Thanks everybody for coming out, man.

1308
00:57:42,031 --> 00:57:42,864
I'm out.

1309
00:57:42,864 --> 00:57:44,322
(hip-hop music)

1310
00:57:44,322 --> 00:57:46,491
- [Narrator] One of the few
rappers to balance style

1311
00:57:46,491 --> 00:57:50,154
with substance in 20 years
and 15 in the spotlight

1312
00:57:50,154 --> 00:57:51,498
is Eminem.

1313
00:57:51,498 --> 00:57:53,861
Over the years, Marshall
Mathers has developed

1314
00:57:53,861 --> 00:57:56,872
so many unique skills that make MCs great,

1315
00:57:56,872 --> 00:58:00,212
especially in the eyes of
specialized pocket of fans.

1316
00:58:00,212 --> 00:58:04,149
Using innovative songwriting
and top industry resources,

1317
00:58:04,149 --> 00:58:06,029
Eminem reminded some fans

1318
00:58:06,029 --> 00:58:09,003
that rap can still be unpredictable.

1319
00:58:09,003 --> 00:58:10,421
Others considered Eminem

1320
00:58:10,421 --> 00:58:13,314
to be the epitome of a music video star.

1321
00:58:13,314 --> 00:58:17,212
"Stan" and "My Name Is"
were executed brilliantly.

1322
00:58:17,212 --> 00:58:20,208
It was Walkman era rap at its finest.

1323
00:58:20,208 --> 00:58:24,655
Presumably, Eminem was
many fan's first grade MC.

1324
00:58:24,655 --> 00:58:27,714
He rapped and raps amazingly on platforms

1325
00:58:27,714 --> 00:58:30,200
where skills are not often celebrated.

1326
00:58:30,200 --> 00:58:32,628
More than that, through his real hits,

1327
00:58:32,628 --> 00:58:35,209
his high profile circumstances and feuds

1328
00:58:35,209 --> 00:58:37,186
and his first person narrative,

1329
00:58:37,186 --> 00:58:40,817
Eminem is an artist so many
people feel like they know.

1330
00:58:40,817 --> 00:58:42,959
And he's still recording, arguably,

1331
00:58:42,959 --> 00:58:45,701
as well as he has in the last decade.

1332
00:58:45,701 --> 00:58:50,077
- Eminem's legacy, what people
will remember Eminem for

1333
00:58:50,077 --> 00:58:53,981
is what it's possible for people to create

1334
00:58:53,981 --> 00:58:56,603
and for someone to create

1335
00:58:56,603 --> 00:59:00,241
irrespective of their circumstance.

1336
00:59:00,241 --> 00:59:03,230
If they're prepared to look at their lives

1337
00:59:03,230 --> 00:59:07,897
with an honesty and a rawness
and prepared to work hard.

1338
00:59:08,858 --> 00:59:10,823
- [Ian] When you talk about all time,

1339
00:59:10,823 --> 00:59:13,296
he's definitely one of
the best rappers ever.

1340
00:59:13,296 --> 00:59:15,108
One of the biggest rappers ever.

1341
00:59:15,108 --> 00:59:16,518
- But above all,

1342
00:59:16,518 --> 00:59:20,218
people will remember him
for his artistic genius.

1343
00:59:20,218 --> 00:59:22,673
And genius is not a
word I use lightly here.

1344
00:59:22,673 --> 00:59:25,460
- I mean, in the simplest
way to look at it,

1345
00:59:25,460 --> 00:59:28,971
he made being a white rapper okay.

1346
00:59:28,971 --> 00:59:30,283
It's impossible to copy.

1347
00:59:30,283 --> 00:59:32,011
You can't clone that guy.

1348
00:59:32,011 --> 00:59:34,310
You can't be a derivative white rapper.

1349
00:59:34,310 --> 00:59:36,378
No one can even touch the guy,

1350
00:59:36,378 --> 00:59:38,875
and that's what's most impressive.

1351
00:59:38,875 --> 00:59:40,587
Yes, he sold millions of albums.

1352
00:59:40,587 --> 00:59:42,313
Yes, he's incredibly well known

1353
00:59:42,313 --> 00:59:43,842
and he can't walk down the street.

1354
00:59:43,842 --> 00:59:45,346
You know, people are
constantly coming up to him

1355
00:59:45,346 --> 00:59:46,247
for autographs and stuff,

1356
00:59:46,247 --> 00:59:50,183
but beyond that, he
actually touched a chord.

1357
00:59:50,183 --> 00:59:53,346
You know, he's incredibly
inspirational in that sense.

1358
00:59:53,346 --> 00:59:58,230
- In a world of manufactured
pop and manufactured rock,

1359
00:59:58,230 --> 01:00:00,854
this was a true artist

1360
01:00:00,854 --> 01:00:03,018
and that's what he will be remembered for.

1361
01:00:03,018 --> 01:00:05,992
- [Ben] I think if Eminem
were to retire at this point,

1362
01:00:05,992 --> 01:00:10,098
he would be in a shortlist
for the greatest rappers ever.

1363
01:00:10,098 --> 01:00:11,361
- And the thing about true artists

1364
01:00:11,361 --> 01:00:14,691
is they don't lose their creativity.

1365
01:00:14,691 --> 01:00:17,490
They simply morph as they get older.

1366
01:00:17,490 --> 01:00:21,267
The older he gets, the more his talent

1367
01:00:21,267 --> 01:00:24,718
and his artistic creativity
will ripe and mature

1368
01:00:24,718 --> 01:00:27,198
and change and morph into something else.

1369
01:00:27,198 --> 01:00:29,923
- I think that really culturally,

1370
01:00:29,923 --> 01:00:34,323
he changed hip-hop in ways
that are even more significant.

1371
01:00:34,323 --> 01:00:37,188
He sort of opened it up
not just for white rappers,

1372
01:00:37,188 --> 01:00:40,198
but for a whole sort of demographic

1373
01:00:40,198 --> 01:00:43,146
that hadn't necessarily been
interested in hip-hop before.

1374
01:00:43,146 --> 01:00:45,443
- One thing you can be sure of,

1375
01:00:45,443 --> 01:00:47,367
we will be hearing about Eminem

1376
01:00:47,367 --> 01:00:49,943
and he will be creating
until the day he dies.

1377
01:00:49,943 --> 01:00:53,600
And what he creates will
always be worth listening to.

1378
01:00:53,600 --> 01:00:57,261
always be worth watching, and
always be worth talking about.

1379
01:00:57,261 --> 01:00:58,094
(hip-hop music)

1380
01:00:58,094 --> 01:00:58,927
♪ Eyes on the king ♪

1381
01:00:58,927 --> 01:00:59,860
♪ All the way up ♪

1382
01:00:59,860 --> 01:01:01,922
♪ We've been going here
for a minute, yeah ♪

1383
01:01:01,922 --> 01:01:04,102
♪ We've been going here for a minute ♪

1384
01:01:04,102 --> 01:01:06,406
♪ We've been going here
for a minute, yeah ♪

1385
01:01:06,406 --> 01:01:07,890
♪ We've been going here for a minute ♪

1386
01:01:07,890 --> 01:01:10,086
♪ I know I'm not entitled to nothing ♪

1387
01:01:10,086 --> 01:01:10,919
♪ No, no ♪

1388
01:01:10,919 --> 01:01:12,271
♪ If I think I am, then I'm blocking ♪

1389
01:01:12,271 --> 01:01:13,104
♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

1390
01:01:13,104 --> 01:01:14,446
♪ I'm not entitled to nothing ♪

1391
01:01:14,446 --> 01:01:15,279
♪ No, no ♪

1392
01:01:15,279 --> 01:01:16,695
♪ If I think I am, then I'm blocking ♪

1393
01:01:16,695 --> 01:01:17,528
♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

1394
01:01:17,528 --> 01:01:18,438
♪ Eyes on the king ♪

1395
01:01:18,438 --> 01:01:19,495
♪ All the way up ♪

1396
01:01:19,495 --> 01:01:20,726
♪ Eyes on the king ♪

1397
01:01:20,726 --> 01:01:21,746
♪ All the way up ♪

1398
01:01:21,746 --> 01:01:22,911
♪ Eyes on the king ♪

1399
01:01:22,911 --> 01:01:24,063
♪ All the way up ♪

1400
01:01:24,063 --> 01:01:25,064
♪ Eyes on the king ♪

1401
01:01:25,064 --> 01:01:26,240
♪ All the way up ♪

1402
01:01:26,240 --> 01:01:27,687
♪ I'm not entitled to nothing ♪

1403
01:01:27,687 --> 01:01:28,520
♪ No, no ♪

1404
01:01:28,520 --> 01:01:30,798
♪ If I think I am ♪