In mid-January, when Eminem was filming scenes outside Detroit's Fox Theatre for his much buzzed-about ad for the Chrysler 200, it dawned upon him and manager Paul Rosenberg that the hip-hop artist was going to appear in two commercials during the Super Bowl broadcast.
Em had already lined up a spot with Lipton Brisk Iced Tea, and had been working with a creative team for months when details for the Chrysler ad were finalized.
"It really was coincidental. It wasn't like we said, 'Let's go out there and find some Super Bowl ads,'" Rosenberg said Monday, on the phone from his New York office.
"To go from really ever doing one commercial before" — a 2005 iTunes ad for Em's greatest hits collection "Curtain Call" — "to having two in one night was sort of a big thing," he said. "It was two things that came along that were really just the right thing at the right time."
And for Eminem, the time has perhaps never been more right than it is right now. His album "Recovery" was the best-selling album of 2010, and spawned several massive hits in the single "Not Afraid" and his duet with Rihanna, "Love the Way You Lie." Eminem leads all contenders going into this weekend's Grammy ceremony, and barring a huge upset, he will win the Album of the Year Grammy, becoming only the third hip-hop artist to achieve that honor.
Making a Super Bowl splash
Meanwhile, people are still buzzing about that stirring Chrysler ad, which racked up more than 1.6 million views on YouTube by Monday evening. The clip, directed by music video whiz Sam Bayer, was first offered to Eminem around Thanksgiving and was initially presented only as a request to use his song "Lose Yourself" in the spot.
As talks continued, it was suggested that Eminem should appear in the ad. His own story of recovery mirrored that of the city and the auto companies, and Em was receptive to the idea.
"We knew that it was going to be something positive for the city," Rosenberg said. "(Em) and I have been saying for a long time, look, it's enough about the car companies and the bad things executives did and all the negative press. We've got real people living here, we grew up here, and we know the world needs to start thinking differently about this place. So this was such an opportunity do that, he felt like he couldn't say no."
Filming took place on a weeknight in mid-January, around 9 or 9:30 at night. "It was pretty low-key," Rosenberg said, noting Eminem's scenes were filmed in one day.
For Rosenberg, the response to the Chrysler clip is still sinking in. "I thought people were going to be behind it and enjoy it, but I had no idea it was going to be this powerful of a reaction," he said.
Meanwhile, Em was approached to lend his claymation likeness to the Lipton spot in October. The company was reviving a series of ads from several years ago — previous clay-mated subjects included James Brown and Elvis Presley — and wanted Eminem's involvement in the new campaign. "We thought about it and said maybe we'll be interested, but how much control are we going to have over the ad?" Rosenberg said. "And they said, 'You know what? Why don't you guys write it.'"Rosenberg and Em sat down with a commercial copywriter and came up with the idea for the spot, in which Eminem explains all the reasons he doesn't participate in commercials. The anti-ad, as it's called by Lipton, was made by the same creative team that did 2009's "Coraline." It features Eminem rapping bleeped-out lyrics, and at one point shoving an executive-type off of a high rise building. "They told us, 'We want you guys to push things in terms of controversy,' so we did. We said, 'Let's see how far we can push this.'" Lipton had some objections to the spot, and several trims had to be made. An extended version of the clip will premiere online later this week, Rosenberg said.
Looking to the future
And that's not all that Eminem has in the pipeline. His duet with Dr. Dre, "I Need a Doctor," debuted online last week and is set for a big debut on this week's Billboard Hot 100 chart. A video for the clip is set to premiere next week, Rosenberg said.
In addition to his Grammy nominations, Em is set to perform at the show. Rosenberg is mum on details, other than to say Eminem will be performing a medley of songs. He wouldn't say whether Em will perform "I Need a Doctor" with Dre on the show, as has been rumored.
Eminem is releasing one more single from "Recovery," "Space Bound," before laying the project to bed, Rosenberg said. As far as live dates, "There's gonna be some stuff here and there," Rosenberg says. "There's no tour, but we're gonna have some dates where people will be able to see Em perform later this year." As for any local concerts, "We're gonna have to wait on that," he says.
And then the focus is turning to rebuilding Eminem's Shady Records, which recently signed rap group Slaughterhouse (featuring Detroiter Royce da 5'9") and Alabama rapper Yelawolf to its ranks. In the meantime, there's still some time to soak up the good vibes from the Chrysler ad.
"It's just one of those really authentic, powerful, emotional things that sometimes just connects with people," Rosenberg said. "Eminem's story, combined with that familiar great feeling people get from 'Lose Yourself,' when you put that together with something meaningful like the comeback of the city, it's just hard to beat."
http://detnews.com/article/20110208/ENT ... l%E2%80%99
I can honestly say I am extremely excited.
didnt expect one tho, hopefully he does a spot date show in England.
