But he acknowledged that stasis, too, could be dangerous. He insisted not much had changed since his days as a hip-hop insurgent, including his sense of humor and competitive spirit. In conversation, Eminem was focused to the point of seeming solemn but also uncertain about his future, oscillating between intense eye contact and staring at the floor. (In support of the project, which will be released on Shady Records the same day as the film, he has also been featured as a guest on Apple’s new “Beats 1” radio and showed up to sing Bob Seger songs with Stephen Colbert on a Michigan public access station.)Ĭonveniently, the “Southpaw” comeback narrative allowed Eminem to address some of his own anxieties about life as an aging rapper with an uneven latter career - “You’re moving onto the next, but is the respect gone?” he raps on “Kings Never Die.” Still hoping to be involved with “Southpaw,” Eminem corralled some longtime friends and collaborators - 50 Cent, Slaughterhouse, Busta Rhymes - for an assault of guitar-heavy, underdog pump-up songs, including “Phenomenal,” his own montage-driving single. But when it came time to commit to the film, he chose to finish and promote his album instead. The role of the fighter, as conceived five years ago by the screenwriter Kurt Sutter (“Sons of Anarchy”) and the director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”), was originally meant for Eminem, who has only cameoed as himself in comedies since starring in the semi-autobiographical “8 Mile” more than a decade ago.
Rather than rush a follow-up, he has re-emerged this summer as the executive producer and lead artist on the soundtrack for “Southpaw,” out next Friday, the redemption story of a beaten-down boxer played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Yet when he pops up, people listen: “The Marshall Mathers LP 2,” his dense 2013 album, has sold more than two million copies in the United States. In the era of Drake and Kanye West, he exists on a separate plane of rap celebrity - rarely photographed, without a personal online presence - removed in sound and style from hip-hop’s current sphere of influence. It’s just the exercise.”Īt 42, with tens of millions of albums sold, 15 Grammys (including two won in 2015) and an Academy Award for best original song (“Lose Yourself” in 2002), Eminem knows he can pick his spots. “I write a lot of things down, and sometimes I never use them. “I have a thinking job,” he said, settling onto a black leather couch and turning down the TV. At work in the unmarked, gray suburban building, the rapper born Marshall Mathers held a pen and a tattered Detroit Lions composition book, writing in solitude for no project in particular.
highlights - not music - filled the silence. DETROIT - There were more arcade games than people inside Eminem’s studio on a recent summer afternoon, and the crunch of N.F.L.