The process of making Relapse
I remember when I first got sober all the s**t was out of my system. I remember just being really happy. Everything was f**king new to me again. It was the first album and the first time I had had fun recording in a long time. I started having fun with music again and I was re-learning how to rap. Took a long time for my brain to start working again…”Detroit Basketball” was the first thing I recorded and it was f**king weird because my brain was turning back on. I started going over the lines, thinking ‘wait, that’s not good.’ I don’t know which version was leaked but there were like twenty version of that s**t. For the Relapse album, I think “Must Be The Ganja” was the first song I recorded and made into the album. Dre was feeding me with beats and I think “My Mom” was second.
About “Beautiful”
Couple things come into play. One, I had just started watching bunch of serial killer documentaries and s**t and it started giving me ideas like I could if I tried to sound like a demented serial killer. ‘Beautiful’ came out earlier sessions when I was still f**ked up. It was probably only decent song I had made during that time. I didn’t want to put it on the album because it it didn’t fit the concept of everything else, accents and all that s**t.
His thoughts on Relapse album
I remember when we were in Hawaii, I was listening to some s**t from The Eminem Show. I remember some of my older s**t and going like ‘why don’t my s**t feel anything right now’ so when we did first recording session for Recovery I was in Hawaii with Dre. I don’t have problem with some of the rhymes and some of the verses as far as lyrically, it’s just accents. I felt like I sounded so demented in that s**t that I got cemented in that s**t. and I bent it back, b**ch and then I went to scratch itch. So listening to my older s**t I was like ‘I need to feel like this again’ and the first song that I did was ‘On Fire’
About scrapped Relapse 2 album
There are probably enough songs to make another Relapse album, not that hasn’t either leaked out or were used Relapse: Refill. There are lot of songs from Relapse that didn’t leak out but they are terrible songs. They didn’t even make into the album Relapse and if you know how I feel about Relapse album then that should say something. So there is no Relapse 2.
About Recovery album
At that time, I was looking at how Drake and Wayne changed the landscape. It pushed me and motivated me. Recovery was the first album with me back on a wordplay because I started getting away from Relapse. I was watching Wayne like ‘holly s**t wordplay is back’ and I was like ‘I can do that!’ I recorded songs for Recovery and I was done but then you [Paul Rosenberg] told me ‘I got one beat and chorus you need to hear.’ When I heard it, I got into a car and I wrote two verses on my way to home. And then I told you ‘Okay tough guy. I’m done with the record but now you need to put Rihanna on it.’ I remember we wanted to get her on any song. So there was actually an attempt to get her on something. It actually leaked, it was “Fly Away” song.
About “Rap God” song
I don’t remember exactly how it came about but I do remember that when I first recorded it, I was still playing CDs back then, I’m listening to it in the car and when it cuts off it says ‘six minutes’ and I was like ‘what the f**k that s**t’s exactly six minutes?! That’s crazy, so I want back and that’s were the intro comes from… For some reason, summa-lumma, dooma-lumma was stuck into my head and I just kept repeating the phrase. That rhymes with lots of s**t so I started rhyming. That part is kind of stunt in there. I remember when I wrote it I was thinking ‘when I go into the studio am I going to be able to say this s**t?’ Sometimes the s**t I write my mouth can’t say it.
Visiting Rick Rubin at his house
The first time I met Rick Rubin was with you. We went to his house and his house was still under construction. I went to use his bathroom and after I used bathroom, I gotta dry my hands and there was a paper towel in there, dried my hands but there was no garbage so I put the paper towel in toilet, hit flush and it started overflowing. [Laughs].
Then Eminem continues talking about Tinnitus, Hell: The Sequel and Revival. You can check the interview below: