It creeps me out sometimes to think of the person I was. I was a terrible person. I was mean to people.
— Eminem
Touring is hard on the body.
I don't think I've ever read poetry, ever.
My overall look on things is a lot more mature than it used to be.
I want to keep making records as long as I can, but I don't know how long you can be taken seriously in rap.
If people take anything from my music, it should be motivation to know that anything is possible as long as you keep working at it and don't back down.
Guns are bad, I tell you.
Dealing with backstabbers, there was one thing I learned. They're only powerful when you got your back turned.
I think my first album opened a lot of doors for me to push the freedom of speech to the limit.
I am whatever you say I am; if I wasn't, then why would you say I am.
My father? I never knew him. Never even seen a picture of him.
I don't hate women - they just sometimes make me mad.
Sometimes I feel like rap music is almost the key to stopping racism.
My thing is this; if I'm sick enough to think it, then I'm sick enough to say it.
I'd go to, like, six different schools in one year. We were on welfare, and my mom never ever worked.
I need drama in my life to keep making music.
I always wished for this, but it's almost turning into more of a nightmare than a dream.
A lot of the problems I had with fame I was bringing on myself. A lot of self-loathing, a lot of woe-is-me. Now I'm learning to see the positive side of things, instead of, like, 'I can't go to Kmart. I can't take my kids to the haunted house.'
I try to treat all the money I'm making like it's the last time I'm going to make it.
Rap was my drug.
Anything I've ever said, I certainly was feeling at the time.
I was a smart kid, but I hated school.
Honestly, I'd love to be remembered as one of the best to ever pick up a mic, but if I'm doing my part to lessen some racial tension I feel good about what I'm doing.
There was a while when I was feeling like, 'Damn, if I'd just been born black, I would not have to go through all this'.
The truth is you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.
Anybody with a sense of humor is going to put on my album and laugh from beginning to end.
I'm stupid, I'm ugly, I'm dumb, I smell. Did I mention I'm stupid?
These times are so hard, and they're getting even harder.
Yeah, I did see where the people dissing me were coming from. But, it's like, anything that happened in the past between black and white, I can't really speak on it, because I wasn't there. I don't feel like me being born the color I am makes me any less of a person.
Say there's a white kid who lives in a nice home, goes to an all-white school, and is pretty much having everything handed to him on a platter - for him to pick up a rap tape is incredible to me, because what that's saying is that he's living a fantasy life of rebellion.
My only scheme was to be a rapper.
I was poor white trash, no glitter, no glamour, but I'm not ashamed of anything.
I come from Detroit where it's rough and I'm not a smooth talker.
Fame hit me like a ton of bricks.
It feels good to have your work respected again.
I'm not really book-smart.
Now that I understand that I'm an addict, I definitely have compassion for my mother. I get it.
The album requires a certain focus of mine that I can't really explain - let's just say it's all I can really do while I'm doing it.
I didn't have nothin' going for me... school, home... until I found something I loved, which was music, and that changed everything.
Ultimately, who you choose to be in a relationship with and what you do in your bedroom is your business.
To the people I forgot, you weren't on my mind for some reason and you probably don't deserve any thanks anyway.
If there's not drama and negativity in my life, all my songs will be really wack and boring or something.
Somewhere deep down there's a decent man in me, he just can't be found.
I might talk about killing people, but that doesn't mean I do it.
A lot of truth is said in jest.
When you're a little kid, you don't see color, and the fact that my friends were black never crossed my mind. It never became an issue until I was a teenager and started trying to rap.
Personally, I just think rap music is the best thing out there, period. If you look at my deck in my car radio, you're always going to find a hip-hop tape; that's all I buy, that's all I live, that's all I listen to, that's all I love.
It sometimes feels like a strange movie, you know, it's all so weird that sometimes I wonder if it is really happening.
I want to solidify as an artist and show that as I grow as a person and make mistakes and learn from them, I'm going to grow artistically.
I am who I am and I say what I think. I'm not putting a face on for the record.
