by cocaine2011 » Jan 17th, '11, 22:30
"Well another problem with that album was that the main sample interpolated in "My Name Is" was originally written by (I was told) a gay activist who'd moved to South Africa, and he was not going to let us use the song unless we changed the line, "My English teacher wanted to fuck me in Junior High, only problem was my English Teacher was a guy." I ended up having to change it to "My English teacher wanted to fuck me in Junior High, thanks a lot, next semester I'll be 35," but I wasn't happy about it. At first Dre and I went back to the studio and tried to create a new beat so we wouldn't have to use the guy's song, but we couldn't do it. We were sure the song was going to be a hit, so we had to make it happen. We had to have that sample. I don't make a penny off of writing on "My Name Is." Nothing. That guy owns all of the publishing on that song. So yeah, I suppose a gay man had a hand in the explosion of Marshall Mathers. Yes! Act like you know, bros. Changing the lines and all that was rough. I just did not get it."
-Eminem