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March 28, 2024

Interview: Eminem Talks Music, Jay-Z and More with Complex

Eminem sat down with Complex for a rare interview talking about very personal issues. Now that his Revival album is finally available here, he talks about his love for music and how he feels about making music in this day and age. He also touches on Donald Trump plus much more. You can read the full interview over at Complex and watch the clip below.

Complex: On the album cover, you seem a little disappointed in the country. Is that an accurate portrayal?

Eminem: I would say that’s probably an accurate portrayal, but I do feel like we live in the greatest country in the world, but I know that we’ve got a lot of shit to work on.

Complex: What are some things that, in general, bother you about America right now?

Eminem: Obviously Trump. I’m not sure how to answer. This is what happens when I start talking about Trump: I get too flustered in my head and the shit that I want to say; there’s too many things I want to say at once, so sometimes I start talking and I’m not able to convey the message the right way, because I just get flustered and frustrated with all the things I want to say. I actually had to turn the news off a couple of weeks ago, because I always start coming to the studio and start talking to people about it and be like, “Oh, shit. I just wasted two hours. I gotta get shit done.” There are just too many things, man.

Complex: Is it strange to get criticism from rappers publicly; like Vince Staples for example…

Eminem: The reason I don’t trip off that is because I feel like regardless of whether you rap or you don’t, or you’re in the game or you’re not, I feel like everybody’s entitled to their opinion. I don’t really trip off people critiquing what I do. In some cases, I feel like there are peers that don’t really listen to my music anyways and they’re not fans, so I’m not making my music for them. I’m making my music for me first, obviously, so I can be happy with something. At the same time, try to give the people that do appreciate my music, give them something to listen to basically and try to meet whatever expectations are placed. I figured it out a long time ago. It doesn’t matter what I do, what I say, what album I come with, it just doesn’t matter because…

Complex: What is success to you?

Eminem: To me, success is getting the ear of people, and to me success is when I’m able to perform a show, perform at a show and look in the crowd and you see pretty much every ethnicity there is. That to me is super-powerful, because I’m not the only one who can do that. Music, I feel like it brings people together. I don’t know if there’s anything that brings people together like music and sports.