Akon has recently sat down on Impaulsive podcast with Logan Paul where he talked about how he met Eminem and how they ended up making the “Smack That” hit song.
“Eminem would definitely do an interview with you. Have you guys reached out to him? Em would definitely do that show. I’mma reach out to him. This is the type of s–t, Em would love this s–t. I honestly believe Em will do this show. Without a doubt.” said Akon.
Then he continued: “Working with Eminem was amazing. I got to Em through Obie Trice actually. Real name, no gimmicks. I reached out Paul Rosenberg first, his manager. And Rosenberg was like ‘no problem, we make it happen.’ Everybody knows Rosenberg, he’s like bulletproof vest, you gotta go through him to get to Eminem. I said ‘yo, I need this s–t fast.’ So I called Obie and said Obie where you at? He said I’m in Detroit. I said where is Em. He said, he’s probably in the studio. I said I need to make an introduction for me. He said ‘yeah, when you coming down?’ I said I’m gonna book my flight right now.”
“So I get there. Obie picks me up at the airport and takes me to this strip club. We had an amazing time. The morning before he takes to to studio. I said what time we have to get there. He said be ready at 08:30. I’m like that’s early as f–k. He said bro trust me, if you ain’t there at 08:30…Just be there. So we get into the studio around 09:00. Em is in the studio. I’m ready to walk in and Obie is like ‘wait, he’s working on something.’ So I wait. Then Em comes out. Yo yo what’s up what’s up. Obie says ‘peace, I’m out’ and he goes.”
“I played Em some records. Then I said to play me some stuff. He said, I produce. He said I got beats. So he played me beats and I’m sitting here listening to his beats and I’m like all this s–t sound like Eminem beats. If he rapped any one of these beats, the s–t would be a hit without a doubt. Then he played Smack That beat. And I’m like ‘THIS IS IT!’ In my mind I’m like, this would be even doper if he produced the record, so I’m like this gotta be Eminem record, I just want to be a feature on this motherf–cka.”
“He goes to lunch. By the time he comes back, the song was done. He heard it and he’s like ‘oh f–k, this is a hit.’ I said, it would be bigger if you jumped on it. He said you are right. Alright cool, I see you tomorrow.”
“He leaves. He comes back next day. He has a verse on it. That motherf–cka. And I’m thinking, whose record this gonna be, is it gonna be mine or his? So he plays me the verse and I’m like this is the best s–t you ever do. I said we should put it on your album. He said, nah, I thought it was for your album. This is your s–t. I said, cool, and in my mind I’m celebrating.”
“We did three records that day. That was the record that he ended up jumping on. The other two, to this day, I still got them. I still got those two records I have not released them yet. Eminem is not on them yet. It’s Eminem-produced beats. And in my mind I’m like ‘okay, I wait to further down the line maybe album number four or five and then I come back to him and replay this records for him so he not gonna forget about it. I gotta go back to Detroit and remind him those records. Those three records was out of here!” Akon added.
Watch the interview with Akon below: