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New York Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Inside Eminem's drug-'fueled' recording of 'Kim' 25 years ago
True to one of his biggest hits, Eminem lost himself in the music. That's what happened during the making of 'Kim,' the hip-hop icon's most shocking song on his blockbuster album 'The Marshall Mathers LP,' which came out 25 years ago on May 23, 2000. The twisted murder fantasy about killing his then wife Kim Mathers became a horrorcore classic, with Eminem voicing both sides of the fatal blowup in graphic, gruesome detail. 9 Eminem shed his Slim Shady alter ego and revealed his true self on 'The Marshall Mathers LP.' Redferns Advertisement 9 'The Marshall Mathers LP' is the second-best-selling rap album of all time, after 'The Eminem Show.' Amazon 'Now bleed, bitch, bleed! Bleed, bitch, bleed! Bleed!' spits the enraged rapper after slitting Kim's throat. Producer Jeff Bass said that Eminem was 'f–king pissed off' about Kim — who wasn't letting him see their daughter Hailie at that time in their tumultuous relationship — when he came into the studio for one of the drug-'fueled' sessions. Advertisement 'So I came up with this very dark track, and then he literally went into the booth and started rapping about what we hear now on that record,' Bass told The Post. 'He came up with that probably in an hour.' And the recording session turned into a therapy session. 'He was able to get s—t off his chest that really bothered him personally,' said Bass. 'Obviously, he didn't kill anybody, but … there's some truth in some of it.' As the first song written for 'The Marshall Mathers LP' — which took its title from Eminem's real name — 'Kim' revealed a more personal side of the rapper who had adopted an alter ego for his previous album, 1999's 'The Slim Shady LP.' And while there were bigger hits such as 'The Real Slim Shady,' 'The Way I Am' and 'Stan' that helped propel his third studio LP to over 11 million sales in the US, the rawness of 'Kim' cut deep. 'It was not a radio record, but it was one of the most powerful records on this particular album,' said Bass. '[He] got to show the world another side of who he is.' Advertisement 9 'We would work in the studios for, like, 20 hours a day,' said producer Jeff Bass of recording 'The Marshall Mathers LP' with Eminem. Jeff Bass/Instagram 9 Eminem was married to Kim Mathers from 1999 to 2001 and then again for a few months in 2006. Getty Images But the track — which was a prequel to ' '97 Bonnie & Clyde' on 'The Slim Shady LP,' where Eminem and daughter Hailie dispose of Kim's corpse — scared Eminem's own label. 'Interscope [Records] called for a meeting, and they were like, 'What are we going to do with this? Now you're pushing the envelope,'' recalled Bass. 'And we're like, 'Well, it's freedom of speech, so we're allowed to say anything we want to say, right?'' Advertisement But 'Kim' was deemed too graphic to even be featured on the 'clean' version of 'The Marshall Mathers LP' — no amount of censoring was going to get rid of its murderous narrative. So the song was replaced by the 'South Park'-sampling 'The Kids' on the 'clean' version, leading many to buy that in addition to the explicit version in the days before streaming. 9 Eminem and longtime producer Dr. Dre won Best Rap Video at the 2000 VMAs for 'Forget About Dre.' FilmMagic, Inc 'Which is why I think it was so successful,' said Bass. 'It was brilliant.' But later in 2000, Kim sued Eminem for defamation over the song's lyrics, and they reached a settlement. 'Kim' was the third song that Eminem recorded about his ex-wife, who he was married to from 1999 to 2001 and then again in 2006 for only a few months. The first of those tunes was 'Searchin' ' on the rapper's 1996 indie debut 'Infinite,' which Bass also produced along with his brother Mark after they discovered Eminem in their hometown of Detroit. By the time they got to 'The Marshall Mathers LP,' they were in a nonstop groove. 9 Eminem performed at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards at NYC's Radio City Music Hall. Getty Images 'We would work in the studios for, like, 20 hours a day, and we would just come up with song after song after song after song,' said Bass, who shared production duties with Dr. Dre, Mel-Man and the 45 King. 'We just would keep creating to see what flowed together well on an album.' Advertisement But in addition to losing themselves in the music, they were also losing themselves in drugs. 'We were doing lots of drugs,' said Bass. 'It fueled what we were coming up with … We hadn't admitted yet that we were drug addicts. So to us, this was normal, just getting high, going in the studio, writing all this music, recording the music. Opioids — that was the choice of drug.' 9 'In my mind, it's always a possibility,' said producer Jeff Bass of possibly working with Eminem again. Jeff Bass/Instagram Bass would continue to work with Em on 2002's 'The Eminem Show,' producing and co-writing the hits 'Without Me,' 'Cleanin' Out My Closet' and 'Superman.' Advertisement 'We still were doing drugs, we were still doing all kinds of stupid s–t, but, you know, had major success,' he said. Then Bass produced and co-wrote Eminem's No. 1 smash 'Lose Yourself,' from his movie '8 Mile,' which won an Oscar for Best Original Song. 9 Eminem joined the Dr. Dre-led halftime show at the 2022 Super Bowl. Getty Images 'It was the biggest thing that I probably ever wrote,' he said. 'For me, musically, that was my pinnacle.' Advertisement After Bass took a break from working with Eminem on 2004's 'Encore,' the pair reunited for 2009's 'Relapse,' which would be their last album together. 'We were high, and it felt like s–t was just falling apart, but that was the drugs,' said Bass. 'And we didn't have a falling-out or anything. It was just creative differences.' Eminem released 'The Marshall Mathers LP 2' in 2013, but like most sequels, it didn't quite live up to the original. Still, Bass said, 'there's real nice, shining moments on that album.' 9 Eminem performed 'Stan' with Elton John at the 2001 Grammy Awards, where he won three trophies. Getty Images Advertisement Although Bass hasn't talked to Eminem 'in probably 17 years,' he doesn't rule out working together again. 'In my mind, it's always a possibility,' he said. 'And the funny thing is, our studios here in [Ferndale] Michigan are literally across the street from each other.' But they will always share in the legacy of 'The Marshall Mathers LP,' which is the second-best-selling rap album of all time — after 'The Eminem Show' — and is widely considered to be the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer's greatest work. 'At the end of the day, you know, it's a piece of work that will just be here in perpetuity, forever,' said Bass. 'It's a piece of history, which is amazing to be a part of.'
Forbes
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Eminem Fans Push Several Of His Biggest Albums Back To The Charts
Eminem's music floods the U.K. charts, as Curtain Call climbs and The Eminem Show and The Marshall ... More Mathers LP return to the hip-hop tally. INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 13: Eminem performs during the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show at SoFi Stadium on February 13, 2022 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) Eminem sees three different albums return to charts in the United Kingdom this week. That's quite the performance from a hip-hop superstar who rarely needs to bounce back onto these lists. He is far and away one of the most successful rappers of all time across the globe, and his domination of the U.K. rankings is near-unparalleled. Following a busy frame, which was flush with Record Store Day offerings, multiple collections by the Grammy and Oscar winner find their way back — some, interestingly, to more than one tally. Eminem sees a pair of projects return to the Official Hip-Hop and R&B Albums chart. Coming up first is The Marshall Mathers LP, which reappears at No. 34. Just a few spots beneath that title, The Eminem Show returns at No. 37. Curtain Call: The Hits is also back, but on a different list. While The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show are only present on the Official Hip-Hop and R&B Albums chart, Curtain Call reenters the Official Album Downloads tally, landing at No. 96. Eminem's massively popular greatest hits set also appears on a trio of other tallies at the same time. Curtain Call maintains its placement at No. 23 on the Official Albums chart, the most competitive album ranking in the country. It dips a few slots on the Official Albums Streaming list, settling at No. 20, while rising five positions to No. 25 on the Official Hip-Hop and R&B Albums tally. In addition to this trio of charting efforts that reappear somewhere, Eminem also sees two other full-lengths appear on U.K. rankings this week. Curtain Call 2 dips on both the Official Albums chart and the Official Albums Streaming ranking. Meanwhile, his latest full-length, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), climbs on the Official Hip-Hop and R&B Albums chart. On that tally alone, Eminem occupies four spots, thanks to two comebacks and a pair of rising winners. All four of Eminem's collections that currently appear on the Official Hip-Hop and R&B Albums chart have hit No. 1 in the past, as have many of his other efforts. The Death of Slim Shady is the shortest-running winner of the bunch, with just 41 stays on the list so far — a number that's sure to grow as more time passes, since it's still relatively new – at least when compared to his earlier sets, which are still charting. The other Eminem efforts on the tally have spent more than a decade on the roster. The Eminem Show is now up to 661 weeks, while The Marshall Mathers LP has racked up 834 stays somewhere on the roster. Curtain Call stands as one of the greatest successes of all time, as it recently passed 900 appearances on this genre-specific ranking.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Eminem's former sound engineer charged with selling the rapper's unreleased music for Bitcoin
A former sound engineer for award-winning rapper Eminem—also known as Marshall Mathers—was charged on Wednesday with stealing the rapper's unreleased music and selling it for Bitcoin, according to federal prosecutors. Joseph Strange, 46, allegedly sold 25 of Eminem's unfinished songs to a Canadian man he met on the internet in exchange for $50,000 worth of Bitcoin, according to a criminal complaint filed in Michigan on Wednesday. Prosecutors allege that Strange stole the songs from Effigy, Eminem's music studio that is based in Michigan, and that Strange worked for Eminem between 2007 and 2021. 'It's important for people to understand that a criminal complaint is merely a set of allegations signed by a prosecutor and publicized by press release,' Wade Fink, a lawyer representing Strange, told Fortune. 'We haven't even been in a courtroom yet let alone had the allegations tested by a judge or jury. That's where these allegations belong.' In a statement provided to the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday, a spokesman for Eminem said: "The significant damage caused by a trusted employee to Eminem's artistic legacy and creative integrity cannot be overstated, let alone the enormous financial losses incurred by the many creators and collaborators that deserve protection for their decades of work.' A representative for Eminem did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fortune. Strange is being charged with criminal infringement of a copyright and interstate transportation of stolen goods for leaking the songs without Eminem's consent, according to the complaint. The charges come after employees at the rapper's music studio discovered that some of Eminem's unreleased music was available on online platforms including Youtube and Reddit, triggering an FBI investigation, according to court documents. Strange is allegedly 'heavily involved' with Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining, according to witnesses interviewed in the complaint, and would only accept payment for the music in cryptocurrency. Strange faces up to five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 if convicted on the charge of criminal copyright infringement. He faces a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison if convicted on the charge of interstate transportation of stolen goods. In 2002, a number of tracks on his 'The Eminem Show' album were being sold online and on the street by pirates before the intended release date, forcing the rapper to move up the album's release to minimize financial losses. This story was originally featured on
