After killing you loudly with his rhymes, Eminem wants you to know one thing: he can feel, dammit.
That's the territory the MC is planning on conquering with his third LP � which he predicts will be a "real emotional album" � certain to be influenced by personal turmoil, his pending sentencing after pleading guilty to weapons possession, and trying to be a good father as his little girl grows older.
Following last month's explosive Grammy Awards ceremony, the rapper sat down exclusively with MTV News' Kurt Loder and revealed his plans for a new record that's heavy on emotion and long on songs ... song songs, in his own inimitable words.
The MC also talked openly about his possible prison stay, why he's just having fun with D12, and why he's shielding his new music from his daughter.
Kurt Loder: Have you done any new stuff with Dre yet? The new stuff you're writing � have you gotten together with him?
Eminem: He did three tracks on the D12 album, which is something to hear. But other than that, we ain't really got together. D12 has been my main priority right now. It's getting this album out, and then after that, I don't know. Bizarre [of D12] is a character. I think that after this record comes out, some people might even believe that he's worse than me. [laughs] He's out there with the things he talks about. It's humorous, but to some people it might not be. [There are] whole songs out there that might piss some people
off.
Loder: The same people that were pissed off about [your] last record?
Eminem: Yeah. Maybe some new people, too. But the album is finished. When I come back from Europe we're mixing it down, so we'll have our 14 songs.
Loder: So you're with us before you know it. Is the video done?
Eminem: Not yet. The video concepts we've got in our head, but the video is not done until we finish the single.
Loder: Is [the D12 album] going to be very different from...
Eminem: I'm just having fun with that record.
Loder: Is it going to be anything like The Marshall Mathers LP � that angry?
Eminem: Yeah, the D12 record is definitely coming out along the lines of The Marshall Mathers LP. As far as my own solo record, my next record, it's probably going to capture a lot of emotion. I think I want to make this next record, my next record, more of a feel record, where every song is different. There's emotion in every song. With the D12 record that's coming out, we have fun in the studio, and I think that's going to show. We like to clown around a lot. It's kind of my less serious side. But as far as my next record ... every song I do, I want there to be a purpose behind it, and a message. I want there to be a certain feel to it that captures whatever I'm feeling at that time. ... I think I've proven my rap skills; now I want to show that I can write whole songs, and song-songs.
Loder: Like verse/bridge/chorus?
Eminem: I want to show � I want to be able to capture emotion. Especially at a time like this, when I'm going through what I'm going through.
Loder: Does the upcoming sentencing hang over your head in a major way?
Eminem: Yeah, it does, it does. It's definitely something that would be, I think, depicted in my songs on my next album. That's why I said the next album is gonna be a real emotional album. It's f---ed to have something that hangs over your head no matter how successful you are, no matter how far you think you've come. ... Puffy will tell you that. No matter how successful or how powerful a businessman you become, you f--- up, you're in the system. Once you're in the system, and you're f---ed. Once they've got you, you're f---ed. It's "Yes sir, no sir."
Loder: Do you think back to that and think, "If I could just control my temper more..." I mean, a lot of people, when they're young, have a really bad temper, but they sort of mellow out of it.
Eminem: It's definitely something I regret, being in the position that I'm in. It was definitely stupid. In the heat of the moment, what can you really do? You do something and you wish you could take it back, but it's done. What can you do?
Loder: You've gotta be thinking [about] if something happens with the sentencing thing, if you have to go away or something ... it must be an awful feeling, right? You've got a little daughter.
Eminem: The biggest thing hanging over my head is if I do go to jail, what to say to her? What do I really say? "Daddy was bad, I'm sorry, I'm going away for a little while?" I'm sure she's used to me being gone, but not a longtime stretch. Like a year or two years, something like that, I'm sure she's not used to that. It's a week or two weeks here and there and I always end up back home.
Loder: Does your daughter Hailie know who you are, in the full sense of it?
Eminem: Oh, yeah. She does now, she definitely does. She's five years old now, and she's really smart for her age. And my niece lives with us too, and she's eight, and Hailie learns a lot from my niece ... they just feed off each other. It's kind of scary, how smart a little girl can get so quick. She has sleepovers and their friends run around the house, like, "Is that your uncle?" They say, "Hailie, is that your dad? You're so lucky." [They're] getting autographs before I leave, and asking me to come upstairs and rap for them. People used to ask me, "Do you let your daughter listen to your music?" And it used to be � when she couldn't pick up on it � "Yeah, I do." When she didn't understand all the words. But now she's starting to understand all the words, and � especially [with] my new stuff � I can't really play it around her. She picks up on it, and I don't want her to get the wrong idea, because she's not going to know how to take it.
Loder: What words do you not want her to hear?
Eminem: Not just the words: the anger in my voice. I don't bring that around her. That's one thing I don't want her to see or to have to experience. Being this little, the only thing I want her to worry about is playing � What's she going to play with today? Is she going to play with dolls, is she going to color today?
Loder: Are there words or concepts you don't want her to hear either? Or just are there songs you prefer to keep away from her, not just because the anger in them, but because of the things that you are saying?
Eminem: Yeah, it's a combination of things, but I think � mostly with my new material � I think it's the anger in my voice even more so than the words.
Loder: The stuff you're writing now?
Eminem: I used to play my music when � If I was working on something and checking out a mix, I used to play it around her. But now, it's like, I don't even want to do that anymore. The more adult I'm becoming, the more I'm realizing that this might have an affect on her, or it might scare her, or she might hear a word or a sentence that she doesn't know how to take. I'd just rather not even play it around her.
