Eminem: I saw an episode of Obsessed on A&E where this dude would get up in the morning and go to the gym, and then again at lunch, and then again after work. But then on his way home he'd pass by another gym, and he'd have to go in that gym and do like 15 reps of everything, too! He couldn't pass by a gym without stopping in it. I saw that and was like, "I really got a fucking problem—I'm this guy." There was a point in time when I had to burn 1,000 calories; if I didn't burn 1,000 calories my day wasn't complete. But now it's like I can burn 275 calories and jump off the treadmill, or I can burn 550, and I'm OK with it. Have you seen The Machinist?
Yeah, why?
Eminem: For the "3 a.m." video, I was thinking they could make my spine look real crazy like in that movie. I started getting real skinny so my veins would pop out and I was trying to get that look, but it just didn't work. My body won't really let me get that low. I was running 17, 18 miles a day and it was like, "OK, this is not going to happen." But I still got pretty skinny, so after the "3 a.m." video I threw a pizza party at the studio and ate a bunch of fucking pizza. [Long pause.] Then I went and purged. [Laughs.] No, I'm kidding.
50 Cent talked about how you blew out your knee playing basketball with him. Do you still play?
Eminem: Yeah, I still play a lot.
Who do you compare your game to?
Eminem: Ummm...I would say a cross between LeBron and Jordan, basically. Maybe just a little bit higher level than those two, though. [Laughs.]
PR: His nickname on the court is Sweetness.
Eminem: Yeah, that's actually what they call me. You can call me Sweetness for the rest of this interview, actually.
[Laughs.] As long as we don't have to make eye contact when I say it, Sweetness. So you ball with 50 and Kanye West plays with Jonah Hill. Who'd win if you and 50 played two-on-two against them?
Eminem: That'd be very interesting. But I've never seen Kanye or Jonah Hill play.
Me neither, but Jonah says he's all hustle, and Kanye says his game is better than people would expect, that he plays for highlights.
Eminem: 50 is better than you would expect too, though. OK, you know what, I think we could get them. I'm just saying, I'm just putting it out there. [Laughs.]
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.
Wow. In the past, even though you were Mr. Just-Don't-Give-a-Fuck, when we talked about lists and what people thought or said about you or your work, you really, really did give a fuck. What's changed?
Eminem: I think it just has to do with not only being sober, but just being confident in who I am and my abilities or capabilities. Coming up as an MC, I took the frustrations of the underground and brought it with me into the mainstream. I know there was a certain complex I had in the beginning that was just a little paranoid or a little...sensitive.
OK, let's talk about other changes. You're wearing denim for the first time since...I don't know. How did that happen?
Eminem: Really, it was just friends telling me I needed to wear jeans. [Laughs.] They were like, "Yo, you can't come back wearing sweatpants." I think a lot of it had to do with being heavier. When you feel fat, you wear clothes that are bigger so you don't feel as big. I was wearing 3X—literally 3X—clothes, and as I got smaller I felt like, "OK, I think I can wear some jeans now and be OK with it." And instead of just T-shirts, sweaters, or a vest or whatever. But I'm certainly not a fucking fashion consultant. Don't call me if you want to know how to dress. I just rap. That's all I really know how to do.
When did you decide that you wanted to go back to your natural hair color?
Eminem: Once I got sober I was like, "What the fuck am I doing? I'm like 35 years old, am I going to keep dying my hair fucking blonde?" Also it was just about letting go. The hair reminded me of my addiction, and I hated myself when I was in my addiction. I hated myself worse than anyone could ever hate me.
That's pretty heavy. Well, on a lighter note, what do you do for recreation? Do you play video games?
Eminem: Yeah, I'm pretty nasty at Donkey Kong, B. You should go check my high-score. [Ed.—It says "1st 229,100 M-M" on the stand-up DK machine in his studio lounge.]
So you only play all the old-school games? No Xbox Live for you?
Eminem: Yeah, all the old-school games. I can't really fuck with some of the new ones, they're too complicated. I want to run and jump. That's it. [Laughs.]
What music do you listen to on Sunday afternoon, when you're cleaning the house?
Eminem: Sunday afternoon? I'm watching football on Sunday afternoon.
I don't mean Sunday specifically, but what do you listen to in your free time?
Eminem: Fabolous has got a great album. Jay-Z, obviously. Last year I was bumpin' T.I.'s Paper Trail for almost the whole summer. I had bought Lil Wayne's album, but I was so busy recording that it literally just sat in my CD case until like six months ago. There was the hype about him, but I didn't see what all the hype was about. I felt like he was good, certainly above average from his singles, but it was like, "Is he that dope?" Then I listened to the whole album and was like, "Wow! My man is that dope—Lil Wayne is fucking dope!" You've got to listen to a Lil Wayne song four, five, or six times to actually catch everything he's saying. We were at a video set a couple months ago and I'm bumping it in the trailer and I'm like, "Yo, Wayne is dope!" And Paul is like, "Really? You're just now figuring this out? Where the fuck have you been?" They think it's funny, but you know, being sober, my eyes have opened up to so much more shit that I was missing, that I should have been hip to.
Like what?
Eminem: Like The Wire! I slept on so much shit when I was in my addiction. Man, it was crazy. Now I've literally watched all five seasons of The Wire—I think I'm on my fifth time watching them all—and I'm about to sit and watch it all again because it's the best show ever. It's literally the best show ever. Oh man, what else did I sleep on? Entourage, I'm watching that now. My eyes were just fucking closed to everything. It was like I woke up.
Don't call me if you want to know how to dress. I just rap.
Eminem: Not really. Well, actually, '80s music. Like we'll be on the plane playing Uno and listening to '80s music and people will think that we're out of our fucking minds.
PR: Bumpin' Tommy Tutone!
Eminem: What the fuck is that?
PR: "867-5309"!
[Laughs.] What else have you discovered since you woke up?
Eminem: Oh God, Superbad could be the greatest movie of all time. There are so many things in it that when you walk away you don't even know what part to talk about. That's what happened to me. I watched that movie when I was first getting sober—I had a lot of free time—so I watched that movie, no lie, close to 200 times. I mean in the literal sense, I would just have that fucking movie on loop. There was one point in time I could give you the commentary on that up to about the fourth or fifth scene, line for line.
That's nuts. You obviously had the small part in Funny People, but if Judd Apatow had a starring vehicle for you, would you be into that?
Eminem: Hell, yeah! That would be crazy; that one little scene was a lot of fun. We just haven't found anything that's been the right thing at the right time. I have to be finished with this album and then I'll probably want to jump into something like that. I don't know if there's a movie where I'll want to be in every single scene again, but something, yeah....
I remember talking to you back in '98 and you were like, "I don't want to be a rapper when I'm 30," and the last time we talked—
Eminem: —It was, "I don't want to be a rapper when I'm 40," and the next time we talk it will be, "I don't want to be a rapper when I'm 50." Sixty is the cut-off. I can't be no 60-year-old rapper, son!
[Laughs.] Sounds like you've got your professional life mapped out, then. What's up with your romantic life? Do you date? What's your deal with chicks?
Eminem: I don't really have a deal with chicks right now. Honestly, I'm so focused on what I'm doing and obviously I just came out of a long relationship, so I'm just kind of coasting right now. I'm more focused on my sobriety, my work, and my kids right now. Making sure I get those aspects of my life right before I go into the world and do that again. So I think that Spankwire will be the alternative right now. [Laughs.] Spankwire it is. OK, so now how do I get on the Internet, buddy?
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