M-Eighty, a rapper-turned-A&R executive known for his work with Eminem, Canibus, Chino XL, the Wu-Tang Clan, and DMX, shares the story of meeting Eminem for the first time and A&Ring the track “I Will” featuring Slaughterhouse on Music To Be Murdered By. He also recalls hilarious behind-the-scenes moments in the studio with Eminem that fans have never heard before.
“We did ‘I Will’ song in 2014 and Music To Be Murdered By came out in 2020. But the song was new to the listener. I was not in the room when Eminem was recording. I don’t think Eminem recorded anything that day but here is a crazy thing: I saw an article yesterday about how Eminem has a score that it ranked him as top 10 Donkey Kong player in the world. While we where in the studio, my friend Sia was playing Donkey Kong and the top scores are MBM, MBM, MBM, (Marshall Bruce Mathers). Sia beat Eminem’s top 4 and then Em came out and saw it, stopped recording for like an hour, literally stopped working in the studio with Crooked I until he regained the top 4.” – said M-Eighty.
“What was my interaction with Em? Crooked I gave me a list of instructions: Don’t speak unless you are spoken to. Definitely don’t talk about Canibus, It would just upset him, he does not even know if Canibus is still alive. And don’t tell him you are the original Eminem because my initials are M and M.” M-Eighty added.
Then he continued: “Throughout the course of day, I just get more comfortable being there. I’m playing video games. I’m talking to Shady Records staff. Taking photos in the studio with my phone and Eminem’s behind me, I didn’t realize he was behind me, and he’s like ‘yo, how did you just do that?’ I turned around and I’m like ‘do what?’ He was like ‘the photo’s black and white, how did you do that?’ I was like ‘it’s a filter,’ I took the photo and I hit the buttons and I made them black and white and he was like ‘that’s crazy! where are all those things?’ I’m like ‘they are apps’. I thought he was f–king with me first but Crooked told me no. At that time he didn’t even have a cell phone. And then Crook told me the story like, when Em signed Slaughterhouse and Yelawolf, he had a phone but the guys never got the opportunity to call him but on the third or fourth day Yelawolf called him on phone like 3-4 in the morning, all wasted, like ‘I love you white dawg, you changed my life…’ You know Em’s sober and answers the call mid sleep and then calls Paul next morning like ‘Yo, shut this phone off.'”
You can watch the interview below:
