Category: Latest Interviews

Westside Boogie talks fighting gambling problems for decades

For some, a casino visit is a chance to escape struggles or celebrate successes through a sea of games, bright lights and recklessness. But for Westside Boogie, a recent night of gambling saw him confronting nearly two decades of trauma — trauma that eight years of music and a couple of years of therapy haven’t quite fixed yet.

Boogie, 33, grew up in Compton, California, with his father largely absent from his life. His mom told him that she dumped him because of his debilitating gambling habits, and he later deserted his son’s life when he was 3 or 4 years old. And while Boogie has earned a career as one of the most insightful young rappers in the game, he can see the same flaws in himself as well.

“I’ve noticed I have similar gambling problems. The rush I get from it, or it’s been times I felt like that was a short way out,” he explained. “I found myself at the casino, betting money I shouldn’t have even been betting. I look up, and my father was just staring at me.”

He hadn’t seen his father in person since he was 7 years old, but here he was, exactly where his mother’s stories would have stated that he’d find him.

“I’m grateful for the lessons that the universe gives you,” he continued, adding that our phone conversation was the first time he’s shared this story. “You gotta be aware that it’s a lesson in that, and don’t ignore it.”

Through his intensely personal and vulnerable lyrics, Boogie is continuously working to process life’s lessons and make the most of them. The title of his latest album, “More Black Superheroes,” is a reference to what he feels is a litany of obstacles that Black men must hurdle on a regular basis.

“We go outside in the world and we survive situations, and we just look at it as a norm,” he said. “I think we need to start giving ourselves more credit, because we deserve it.”

For the full interview and photoshoot, visit HuffPost.

Hailie’s fiancé reveals he asked Eminem for blessing before proposing

During the latest episode of Hailie Jade’s “Just A Little Shady” podcast, Evan McClintock revealed that he asked Eminem for permission to ask Hailie to be his future wife. “You went through the whole thing, you went through the whole process. You asked for permission … at a family gathering.” Hailie recalled during the podcast.

On which Evan replied: “Yeah, it was over the holidays. I was just looking for an opportunity not to make it too obvious. I saw your dad go downstairs and I thought, ‘Alright. I got to do it right now or I am not doing it today. I am going to have to schedule some other time. So I just followed him downstairs and thankfully, he was just down there, grabbing your cake.”

Evan also revealed that Hailie’s sister Alaina Marie Mathers helped him out by suggesting him what kind of a ring he had to choose. “She pointed me in the right direction, ultimately.” He then went on to say he became a bit unsure of his ring choice once Hailie told him she had “no idea” what she was looking for in a ring — after he already ordered it. Clearly, everything worked out.

The latest Episode of “Just A Little Shady” podcast, which is titled “Introducing my FIANCÉ”, comes about couple of weeks after she announced their engagement with an Instagram post. It included gorgeous pictures of the sweet couple with a caption: “casual weekend recap…” she began with a crying and heart emoji.” 2.4.23 … i love you @evanmcclintock11.”

Eminem has previously talked a bit about Hailie’s relationship back in 2020 during Hot Boxin’ podcast with Mike Tyson. “No babies. She has a boyfriend, but she’s doing good. She made me proud for sure. … I have a niece that I have helped raise, too, that’s pretty much like a daughter to me, and she is 26, and I have a younger one that’s 17 now. So, when I think about my accomplishments, that’s probably the thing I am the most proud of is that — is being able to raise kids.”

You can watch the latest episode of “Just A Little Shady” podcast below:

Canibus recalls how Eminem mentally tortured him with his rhymes

Canibus has recently sat down with Math Hoffa on his My Expert Opinion podcast where the former king of the underground hip-hop recalled first time meeting Eminem at his video shoot and how the beef affected his personality.

“When I met Eminem for the first time, it was at my video shoot for “I Honor U.” Clef told me he was coming. I had heard of him. I heard a lot about him. I knew he rocked with The Outsidaz and stuff. I knew he got busy. I had no problems with meeting him. At that time, it was a newborn on the set. The label was spanking us. Two weeks before that to say this newborn in the video. When that newborn gets here, they are charging us with $400 over sag every minute for the baby being there so they spanked everybody prior to all that. When Eminem came out of the bench glitter wagon, he was with Jimmy Iovine and when he came out: “NEWBORN ON THE SET, YOU ALL KNOW WHAT TO DO” so I was already under that pressure. I remember that part.” said Canibues.

Then he continues: “Em pushed up like ‘Yo, Canibus I just wanna work with you. I wanna do something with you.’ I was told right before he got there, like five minutes before he got there, he ghostwrote The Ripper Strikes Back [LL Cool J’s diss song towards Canibus]. Back then, I didn’t know what was gong on. I had to rely on what I was being told. Especially if it came from the source that I trusted or I thought it was reliable. At the end of the day, it was not reliable source cause he didn’t write it. So my conversation with Em was like ‘Yo, why did you write that’ he said he was embarrassed and that he didn’t write it. But I had destroyed the opportunity to ever really work with him again because he really was genuine about how he felt was going on. In my mind I was like, ‘why would you do that, why would you want to work so bad with me and you ghostwrote that?!’ I didn’t know, so that destroyed everything.”

“And I wisened up. He get busy. At that time, I was in that lane getting busy on the mic. He also had this thing where the stuff that he was talking about everybody wanted to hear that. Everybody wanted to hear what he said, how he said. There is rhyme where he says, in ‘Square Dance,’ He said, ‘Two trailer park girls go round the outside, Round the outside, round the outside.’ That was the rhyme I had said from ‘Box Cutta’ Blade Runna’.  So he was doing things like that. Saying things in the rhyme that was driving me crazy. He was driving me nuts!”

“I was in Amsterdam, in the Red-light district and I was in the room with Shorty and she ran over the radio and as I’m listening to music and then I hear Em’s voice come on and I feel like he’s talking about me! [Everybody Laughs]. That song was award-winning song, for you and the rest of the world that song was incredible. Songwriting all that. Anyway, I don’t care what non of you say, that record was talking to me because that’s what happened when I was rude to him and then he took his style and his ability how he writes in his mind and he turned it into that. That’s what was driving me crazy. I created the monster. It was my fault. But at that time I was not looking at it like that. I was looking at it like ‘yo, my label needs to do more with me to push my s–t.’ I didn’t understand that there was an institution involved in that whole craze. It was a tsunami.”

“And that Stan record. I don’t care what you talking about. I brought him back to life. That was my way of writing back to say ‘hey look I shouldn’t said what I said but you know what? I brought Stan back to life, come on tour with me. That was my way of saying ‘yo, don’t kill Stan off.’ and whoever was listening they were mad that I was trying to bring him back to life.”

“I never talked to Em since then. A lot of people throw gas on it but the truth about it is that I tried to clean it up in different ways. It almost seemed like the public liked me better as an angry artist. Me saying angry things. They did not want to hear me when I did the song Channel Zero or these kind of stuff. So the truth about it is, I just really needed a hug, man.” – Canibus added.

You can watch Canibus’ interview below:

Bleu Davinci says he tried to sign Eminem before Dr. Dre deal

Bleu Davinci has recently sat down with Cam Capone News where Los Angeles, California rapper revealed that he was trying to get Eminem signed before his mega Dr. Dre deal.

“I brought Slim Shady tape to my mama. Anybody asked Jewish man Andrew Shaq, I brought that Eminem tape before Dr. Dre signed him. Me and Rass Kass finna go to New York and just came from Maritime Hall in the bay and I just watched Eminem performing for the first time. Blew my f–king mind.” – said Bleu Davinci.

Then he continues: “I took that tape back and took it straight to the head of AR Andrew Shaq. He was the ni–a who signed ni–as. He was just doing Rhyme Or Reason soundtracks. He was in the middle of making Rhyme Or Reason soundtrack when I brought him Eminem tape. You all look up the dates ni–a. See if the album Rhyme Or Reason came out the same year that Eminem got signed!”

“We were going to New York for three months. 90 days. And by the time we got back that ni–a Andrew Shaq called me to his office and he was like ‘you motherf–er, Dr. Dre just signed that kid and that tape is still in my deck you left here before you all went on the road. Dr. Dre signed him, why didn’t you tell me?!’ I said ‘I did tell you mothef–ker. He’s the hardest motherf–kin’ white boy I’ve ever seen rapping in my life that’s why I brought it in here.’ But I was 16. They were not respecting my gangster status. I was a kid. ‘This guy bring here a demo tape, get the f–k out of here. I’m doing big business. F–k outta here little 16-year old.’ That’s how they looked at me.” – Davinci added.

You can watch the interview below:

Todd Lieberman says Eminem was going to be Micky Ward in “Fighter” movie

In the latest episode of the Hollywood Gold podcast, Film and movie Todd Lieberman revealed that Eminem was initially producers’ top choice to star as boxer Micky Ward in 2010 movie The Fighter along with Christian Bale as his brother but it eventually went to Mark Wahlberg.

During the almost an hour interview, Todd said: “Many rewrites later, we started getting some direct attraction and Brad Weston, who is a formidable producer and studio executive and also kind of legend in the business, was at Paramount at that time and giant fan of the movie, the first person that we thought would star in this film, was Eminem. Eminem was going to be Micky Ward!”

“The first person that we thought would star in this film, was Eminem. Eminem was going to be Micky Ward!” – Todd Lieberman (Feb. 17, 2023)

“That was a moment in time where he had come off with 8 Mile movie and he was interested in making movies and he wanted to do a boxing movie and that was something we pursued from and there was real life in that for a minute” – He added.

You can listen to the interview below and also check the 7 incredible movies Eminem turned down a leading role.

Whoo Kid recalls Eminem shooting up his & Proof’s hotel rooms in Japan

We have heard this story before but in a recent interview, DJ Whoo Kid revisited the story of Eminem shooting up his hotel room while touring with D12 and G-Unit in Japan in 2003.

“We fall asleep and we were like two groupies. Japanese chicks does not speak English but I just DJed in front of Eminem so these girls were back there to f–k us. One fell asleep and and her friend was acting weird. Then she fall asleep on the couch. We don’t lock our doors cause Yakuza’s outside. But Eminem was like at 3 A.M. walking around hallways and he sees my door open and he kicks my door in and the girl that was on the couch wakes up. Eminem has a mask and he just starts shooting. The girl sees him and she faints. She thought she was gonna get killed or something. She wakes us up and she’s screaming. I was like, ‘yo he is not trying to kill us.” – says Whoo Kid.

Then he continues: “Then we called police and then police came and they just looking around and nothing happened after that. So day four, we are all in a mess hall, cause Eminem’s s–t is crazy, he has the video game room, when you tour with him it’s like  a playland. So no we are in the room to do a sound check and I’m telling everybody what happened but he’s just sitting there like whatever. He didn’t even respond to say that it was him that kicked the door in.”

“He also kicked Proof’s door in and he started shooting with the mask on.” – Whoo Kid

“And four days later, he didn’t even tell nobody that it was him while we were all scared a s–t. He’s Eminem. He’s joker, a wildest kid. He never told us it was him. We were like why you never told us so we could have no anxiety.” he added.

You can watch the interview below:

Lana Del Rey tells Billie Eilish she grew up on Eminem’s music

To promote her new single, Lana Del Rey has recently done a conversation with another pop superstar, Billie Eilish. During the interview Lana revealed that Eminem and Country music was the only thing she heard before moving in New York.

DEL REY: I will also say, in terms of everyone who’s paved the way for me, the way Cat Power delivered her songs in the ’90s and in the early 2000s, and even now—we’ve toured together and I’ve told her so many times, “I should be opening for you.” I was a high soprano, which you can kind of tell in the way that I talk, but her low tones, I would practice them the way she sang that song where she’s like, [sings] “Bay-be-doll.” I was like, “Oh my gosh, I could sing like that.” I realized I had a low register too. And when I learned that she played a big concert in New York with her back turned to the audience, that was when I realized I might have a chance. Then, I watched this documentary when I was 20 called The Devil and Daniel Johnston with my boyfriend at the time, Artie Levine, and seeing that Daniel was super different and he had a bit of a cult following, I realized there might be a chance here. I definitely had my muses, but it was so much later on in life because I didn’t move to New York until I was 18, and that was when I first heard anything other than Eminem, country, and NPR. All of a sudden, I got a f—ng crash course in music.

EILISH: Everything you’re saying is blowing my mind out of my skull. You will never understand how much of an impact that you have had on me in my life.

This is not the first time Lana Del Rey mentioned Eminem in a positive way. Back in 2012, the singer told RNB Junk in Milan that Slim Shady’s music changed her life: “He really changed my life because I didn’t know music could be intelligent. He was talking about his own life, and he wasn’t just rhyming over music for rhyme’s sake… That made me think I could talk about the way things were instead of just making stupid music.”

“Eminem really changed my life because I didn’t know music could be intelligent.”

– Lana Del Rey

That did not stop Eminem to play on Lana’s name in his 2014 Shady Records cypher: “Play nice? B–ch I’ll punch Lana Del Rey right in the face twice, like Ray Rice in broad daylight in the plain sight of the elevator surveillance/ ’Til her head is banging on the railing, then celebrate with the Ravens.”

As for Billie Eilish, in her 2019 interview with Noisey magazine, revealed that she was scared of Eminem when growing up. When asked to choose her favorite rapper between Eminem and Childish Gambino, she admitted: ”I have to say Childish Gambino, one billion percent. I was scared of Eminem my whole life. Terrified. That dude freaked the f–k out of me. Oh my god.”

Em kind of responded Billie in his 2020 song “Alfred’s Theme,” from Music To Be Murdered By album with the following lines: “I’m just fulfilling my wish of killing rhymes / Which is really childish and silly, but I’m really like this / I’m giving nightmares to Billie Eilish, I’m Diddy’s side b–ch.”

For the full conversation between Lana Del Rey and Billie Eilish, visit Interview Magazine. And listen to Lana’s new song below:

Longest underwater kiss record breaker Beth Neale says she listened Eminem’s song underwater

South African National Freediving Champion Beth Neale and her Canadian partner, Miles Cloutier has broken the The Guinness World Record for Longest Underwater Kiss in time for Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2023.

The successful world record attempt was carried out at LUX* Resort on Maldives South Ari Atoll, beating the 13-year record of 3 minutes 24 seconds, set by Italian couple Michele Fucarino and Elisa Lazzarini, by 42 seconds.

Breaking the world record for longest underwater kiss had been on the couple’s bucket list for three years, but planning had been previously interrupted when Neale discovered she was pregnant during filming of the duo’s TV series, Freediving Diaries, with their now 18-month-old baby daughter.

Neale and Cloutier spent two weeks training at home in preparation for the record. While the theme may be novel and romantic, breath-holding for more than 4 minutes is no mean feat, especially when officially attempting a Guinness World Record in front of a crowd with an adjudicator present.

“It was challenging getting in a relaxed position while staying together for the kiss and staying upright. You can feel each other’s diaphragmatic contractions, which is the body’s response to rising CO2 levels in the blood.

At the 3-minute mark, I also pressed play on my underwater audio to listen to Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ to keep my mind distracted.

– said Beth Neale in an interview.

Beth Neale also posted a video of herself under water, lip-syncing over “Lose Yourself.” In the caption, she wrote: “All the haters gonna say it’s fake. How many breaths did Eminem have to take?”

We have heard Eminem‘s music played everywhere, even in space when NASA astronauts revealed their playlist in 2020, which included “Till I Collapse,” featuring Nate Dogg. It was also reported that CIA often used Eminem’s “Kim” song to torture people they wanted to get information from.

For the full article about breaking the underwater kiss world record, visit Dive Magazine and revisit Eminem’s iconic Oscar and Grammy-winning, Billboard No.1 and critically acclaimed single “Lose Yourself” from 8 Mile movie below!

Jonah Hill defends Eminem’s Top 5 status in Netflix’s “You People” bonus clip

In the latest released bonus clip from Netflix’s Kenya Barris-directed romantic comedy movie “You People,” Ezra (played by Jonah Hill) and Mo (played by comic Sam Jay) discuss their Top 5 rappers dead or alive on their podcast called The Mo & E-Z Show.

Mo: “Alright bro, Top 5? dead or alive.”

Ezra: “1. JAY-Z, 2. Biggie, 3. 2Pac, 4. Nas, and 5. Eminem.

Mo: “That’s in order? — Eminem though?”

Ezra: “Yes, in order, that’s why I put numbers in front of every person… Why do I have to keep defending Shady? I mean, his sole purpose is to be on other people’s tracks and murder them. I mean, ‘Renegade’? ‘Dead Wrong’?”

Mo: “Dawg, he’s like, I don’t know the Larry Bird of rap. Hick from French Lick. You know what I mean? He’s not great. He’s great because he’s a white man in a Black man’s game.”

Ezra: That is so stupid. That might be the dumbest s–t you’ve ever said to me.

Billboard and Vibe magazine have recently rolled out the list of 50 Greatest Rappers Of All Time to celebrate Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary and their top picks were Jay-Z as number one, Kendrick Lamar as number two, Nas as number three, followed by Tupac and Eminem at no. 4 and no. 5 respectively.

Watch the bonus episode with Jonah Hill  and Sam Jay below:

Fredro Starr says Sticky Fingaz bodied Eminem on a track

During the conversation with Shaquille O’Neal on his new podcast called The Big Podcast, Jamal Crawford drew the parallel to hip-hop to rank his top five NBA players of all time and used Eminem and JAY-Z’s impact as an example and said: “In my top five, the dominance outweighs the number. You can not change the game and say this person has more points than me, he is better. It is beyond that. Jay-Z’s affect on hip-hop is bigger than any album sales Eminem will have. That is just how it goes.” It seems Don Canon does not agree.

Jamal Crawford’s statement sparked lots of discussions in social media and 50 Cent also weighed in. The Hip-Hop Wolf Instagram page posted Crawford’s interview and asked fans if they agree to the statement or not. Under the comment section, Fifty replied: “Ha, bulls–t.” with Sneezing Face emoji.

No Jumper podcast host Almighty Suspect also denied Crawford’s statement: “Bro, I can name like six Eminem clones right now. Hopsin, DAX, Logic, MGK, that white McDonald dude that white dude who’s is making If-I-Was-Black songs. Joyner Lucas is one of them too. That’s the six. I’m not naming rappers that look like Eminem. I’m naming rappers who are actual clones of Eminem. I just named six. Tell me, name me, six Jay-Z clones.”

Fredo Starr has recently visited VLAD where the two discussed about the same topic. You can check the conversation below.

“That right there is great debate because they both have very powerful impact on hip-hop and not just music. Other ventures, other ways they affected the culture, fashion, movies. They did different things. They are both impactful so Jamal Crawford is one of the illest ball-handlers in the game but his perspective is his perspective. Ask that to white kids in Detroit about Eminem and Jay-Z and you gonna see the answer you get. Everybody got their opinion. You like Mercedes-Benz or BMW better? Jay-Z and Eminem is same s–t. There is no debate on that. They both have powerful impact on hip-hop.” says Fredro Starr.

Then he continues: “For me, my perspective, I would say where I’m from, Jay-Z had bigger impact to me. Musically first, I gravitate to Jay-Z’s music more than I do Eminem. Eminem is great artist, always represent Onyx. He’s dope! No question but I’m Brooklyn ni–a so you see what I’mma like. But I can’t take Eminem’s impact away and say Jay-Z has bigger impact. I can’t say that. Eminem put “Last Days” in 8 Mile. I did that beat. So his impact to me, I’m feeling that s–t too. To me it’s even.”

“Sticky Fingaz has two joints with Eminem. “What If I Was White,” and “Remember Me.” People don’t know Sticky was about to get signed to Aftermath. He was living in LA for two months. He was in a bidding war with Universal. Dre had him working on some joints. That’s where the Eminem collaboration happened. Shout out to Dre and Eminem.” The Brooklyn rapper added.

From there, Fredro started talking about Billboard/Vibe magazines Top 50 rappers of all time list: “I don’t know who made that 50 best rappers list. I ain’t gotta be on the list but Sticky Fingaz not on the best rappers list is kinda like bugged out to me. Jadakiss was like 46?! WHO WROTE THAT S–T?! I’mma speak up! Sticky would burn half of the ni–as on the list. That’s why he’s on the records with Eminem. And I think he bodied Eminem on that particular record. That’s just my opinion and I’m not being biased. I think Eminem put that competitive thing inside Sticky and he came off with one of the illest verses ever. Eminem brought that out of him.”

50 Cent reveals how much he’s getting paid per show

50 Cent has not released a solo studio album since 2014, but that does not stop the New York legend from demanding large amount of money to perform live.

“I’m getting like $900,000, $1 million. The coolest thing we create in America is celebrities. If you see LeBron James fan base internationally, you’ll argue, ‘Why is he staying here?’ He’s that big internationally. For the most part, I can’t speak for everybody, but the international side of the game is different.” said 50 Cent.

Then he continues: “I get the attention that I want from music when I want it. I just went out and toured 45 countries, and everywhere was sold out. That made me want to offer new music that I could integrate into everything now. I’ve done what I wanted to do in the sales capacity. I’ve sold over 35 million records.”

In the interview, Fif also revealed that Eminem has recently sent him new records and is teaming up with Dr. Dre for his upcoming project. Additionally, Fiddy secured a feature on forthcoming King Disease IV album by Nas and Hit-Boy.

For the full interview, visit Billboard magazine here.

Logic describes meeting Eminem & Royce 5’9″ in Hawaii, details how “Homicide” came about

Logic has recently sat down with DJ WHOO KID on WHOO’s HOUSE podcast where the two talked about many things, including how the song “Homicide” came about and what was his first reaction when he first saw Royce 5’9″, Eminem and The Alchemist during their tour in Hawaii.

“I had that beat and I just started rapping…I was just like, man, that was good. Paul was president of Def Jam at that time and I was like ‘let’s pull some strings’. I sent him a record and he got it to Em and obviously I didn’t expect then I got the call saying ‘he likes the song he’s gonna do the song.’ and I was like ‘oh, my god, it’s crazy.'” said Logic.

Then he continues: “And then a week later, I got a call ‘yo, Em wants you to go open up for him in Hawaii at the stadium. I’m like ‘OH, S–T,’ so I got out there. I’m nervous. I’m like ‘oh my god.’ I’m so hyped. I’mma meet him! OH MY GOD. You don’t understand bro, my sister used to put Forgot About Dre from the radio to cassette on side A and she would put back and forth all the way outside A and all the way outside B and I was rapping over it. That is like the first real memory consuming hip-hop and it was him [Eminem] and Dre.”

From there, Logic continues talking about Hawaii tour: “So I get there, all the securities are there, guards, they all nice. I walk in and see Royce 5’9″ who is the hommie. Wearing his glasses and s–t. I see Alchemist. I dab them all and here comes the f–king Eminem with this beard that’s new at that time I’m like ‘woah this is crazy.’ He was so f–king cool bro. He was so humble! He’s the biggest rap nerd.”

“Em says, I got something and this motherf–ker pulls out the CD and his CD player and in the green room he plays the song and as he plays, I was like ‘Oh my god, is my verse on this?!’ And he KILLED IT. It was a dream come true and absolutely amazing.” Logic added.

You can watch the interview below:

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