Eminem hardly did any press before the release of his new album Revival (check out the first week sales projections here) but now that the album is in stores, he’s been doing a considerable amount of interviews with different outlets. During his “Fireside” chat on Shade 45 the other day, Eminem spoke on lack of Dr. Dre Beats and rap features on the album, different collaborations, Mr. Porter’s role in making of Revival and much more.
Em has now sat down with Vulture for a lengthy conversation where he’s addressing a lot of stuff like calling for an impeachment for Donald Trump, having lines ready if the President responds to his disses, his divided fan base wanting the old vs. new Eminem, how he watches movies (rents out entire theaters), dating (jokes that he looks for women on Tinder), his favorite young rappers & TV shows, his expectations from Revival and more.
Read a few highlights below and read the full interview here.
When you were talking about Trump on the Shade 45 radio show, you sounded almost annoyed that he didn’t respond to your freestyle about him. What do you want him to hear you say?
It’s not so much about him hearing something I have to say, because there’s nothing I’m saying about him on Revival that he doesn’t already know about himself. It’s more that I want him to answer me because I got ideas for all kinds of shit to say back to him if he does.
You’ve got the tweets pre-written?
I’m not going to give any away now, but I’ve got lines ready if he says something about me. I get almost flustered thinking about him — that’s how angry he makes me. The people that support him are the people he cares about the least and they don’t even realize it. At what point do you — a working-class citizen, someone who’s trying to make shit better for you and your family — think this guy who’s never known struggle his entire fucking life, who avoided the military because of bone spurs, who says he’s a billionaire, is really looking out for you? He’s got people brainwashed.
This interview will run after the album’s been out for a few days. In all likelihood, Revival will sell wellEminem is the highest-selling rapper of all time, with over 130 million units sold since 1996. All his albums since The Marshall Mathers LP have debuted on top of the Billboard 200. and have a pretty mixed critical reaction.
That’s what happens every album with me.
Okay, so if we know that’s going to happen, what other signs are you looking for that will make you feel encouraged or discouraged by the album’s reception?
I don’t know, I’ve always felt in touch with the people who listen to my music. I make it for them. Anybody else, fuck ‘em. It’s fine if critics or whoever keep thinking I’m not as good as I was. So what I’m looking for — whatever the response or the sales — is things I did right or things I could’ve improved musically. I’m critical of myself and I’m always trying to figure out how to do better. I certainly have not had a perfect career. I’ve put out bad albums.
Where does Eminem fit into the rap landscape now?
I don’t know what my place is. I just try to make the best songs that I can.
But isn’t “Walk on Water” all about the insecurity you feel about your place in music?
Yeah, look, obviously everybody wants to be relevant but it’s hard to tell if you are or not. I can’t sit on the Internet all day and read comments trying to figure it out. Rick RubinThe hip-hop architect, superstar producer, and Def Jam co-founder first worked with Eminem on the 2013 single (and Beastie Boys throwback) “Berzerk.” Eminem recently appeared on the inaugural episode of Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast Broken Record, and in the past, Rubin has called Eminem “a real, unbelievable student of hip-hop.” recently told me something that was profound. He said, “I don’t really consider myself smart enough to know what everyone’s going to think, so I just do what feels right to me.” That is super deep, and that’s what I try and do.
I totally get that, but I’m still eager to hear you wrestle a little more with the question: Where is the 45-year-old Eminem’s place in rap today?
As far as relevance, rap is definitely evolving — the flow patterns and beats. There’s a lot of trap beats that are half time and things like that that are new. Some of it I really like and some I don’t particularly care for but I can see why people like it. I’m probably more in tune with the state of hip-hop than a lot of people think, because listening to what’s great right now pumps me up to do my own thing. I think people look at me and believe I might be out of touch.
Which younger rappers have technical skills that you admire?
Joyner Lucas, Kendrick, J. Cole, Big Sean — they’re super complex but also digestible. One of the things that’s so interesting to me about Kendrick is the way he approaches a beat and the pockets he chooses. Tech N9ne is great at that too. They’ll both hit these weird fucking pockets.
When you’re not making music, what do you do for fun?
Aside from writing? Mostly I love writing, especially when it’s not pressure-writing for a release date or something. Yeah, writing is something I really enjoy. I’ll just start to think of rhymes and get lost doing that.
What’d you see lately that you liked?
The Tupac movie. I saw it twice.
No one bothers you at the theater?
I rent out the theater.
Oh, of course.
I’ve tried to go like normal and it hasn’t worked out too well.
What about TV and books?
I don’t know about books — I can’t process things I read except for my own writing. I have to go back and read the same pages over again all the time. As far as TV shows, Power is one of my favorites. Westworld. Breaking Bad. Sons of Anarchy. Godless. Have you seen that? Fucking incredible.
Do you date?
It’s tough. Since my divorce I’ve had a few dates and nothing’s panned out in a way that I wanted to make it public. Dating’s just not where I’m at lately.
When you were dating, how’d you meet people? Tinder?
I mean, yeah.
Are you being serious?
Yeah, Tinder.
Really?
[Laughs] And Grindr. I also used to go to strip clubs.
Have your feelings about making music changed over time? The conventional critical wisdom about your stuff is that it’s gotten emotionally and sonically harder and heavier at the expense of lightness and playfulness. Does that ring true?
It’s interesting you say that because one of the common themes I’ve noticed over the past few years is people saying they miss the old Eminem. So I’ll see something like that and I’ll give them the old Eminem. Then when I do, they say, “He’s too old to be rapping about that kind of shit. He needs to mature with his content.” Then I’ll mature with my content and they go, “Oh, man, I miss the old Eminem.” So what do you do? In the context of Revival, I tried to make something for people on both sides of that argument.
Also watch his “Sneaker Shopping” episode with Complex: