Eminem Covers Complex

Marshall graces the cover of Marc Ecko’s periodical this month. The feature’s already available to read, but here are some highlights:

On Relapse 2:

So the sequel won’t reflect your reaction to the first one and its reception?
Eminem: Well, when I finished Relapse, I had a whole album of material that didn’t make it that I wasn’t ready to throw away, so that was going to be Relapse 2. But then I got with Dre in Hawaii and started recording more, and now the new material has knocked out all the old songs. But yeah, the new material is definitely different. Making Relapse, I was still working the drugs out of my system, so there was a lot of…just jokey shit. It was a lot of punchline-y, funny, shock value—kind of going back to The Slim Shady LP. And that was cool, but I’ve kind of flipped the page. Now I’m going for songs instead of one-liners. I don’t want to make shit that you hear once and then the joke’s over; I want to make records that you could play a hundred times, a thousand times.

On “Forever”:

Speaking of being on your game, who had the second-best verse on “Forever”?
Eminem: Who had the second-best verse? [Laughs.] I don’t know, I like everybody’s verses—but I like Drake’s verse a lot. I wouldn’t say I had the best verse; everybody approached the beat different. Kanye was crazy, too, and Wayne. I just saw the beat differently than anybody else did; for some reason, I felt like the beat was a double-time beat, so I rapped faster.

On Sobriety:

So you’re stone-sober these days?
Eminem: Yeah, it’ll be 18 months on the 20th [of October]. I realized I can’t touch anything, and that’s why I’m clean right now and why I’m going to stay clean. My brain just doesn’t know when to shut off. When I do something I have to do it all the way—that goes for music, with a high-hat, a snare drum, a rhyme, everything. I have to push it to the extreme. That’s how I realized I have addictive behavior. Somebody told me this once, that the thing that makes me bad is the same thing that makes me good at other things.

On MTV’s Hottest MC’s List:

In case someone wants to put money on it. [Laughs.] Speaking of 50, he’s been venting about his placement on MTV’s “Hottest MCs” list. You were excluded.
Eminem: You know, when I heard that the other day, I didn’t really think too much of it. My only comment was, “That’s some peoples’ opinion.” It’s their opinion, and opinions can’t be wrong. As long as I’m comfortable with what I’m doing and I’m comfortable in my zone, then that’s that.