With news anchor Anderson Cooper in tow, Em took viewers on a tour of the Detroit neighborhood where he grew up, along the city's tough 8 Mile road, and opened up about his childhood, his lyrical process, his parenting strategies and the triumphant recovery from one of the lowest periods of his life.
Although the Grammy-winning, multiplatinum MC has captivated the ears of listeners around the world with his rhymes — breaking records and changing the face of hip-hop in the process — Em admitted that he was the target of schoolyard taunts as a kid.
"I would change schools two, three times a year and that was probably the roughest part," he confided about moving often due to an unstable childhood. "[I got] beat up in the bathroom, beat up in the hallways, shoved in the lockers, just, for the most part, being the new kid."
Later, he found solace in hip-hop and his ability to spit, despite his tough upbringing and status as the lone white kid in the underground rap haunts he once frequented.
"Hip-hop has always been about bragging and boasting and 'I'm better than you at this and I'm better than you at that,' " Em said."This kid over here, he may have more chicks or he may have better clothes or whatever but he can't do this like me. He can't write what I'm writing right now."
Em also talked about being two hours away from death when he overdosed years ago and revealed that his Detroit Home and Home Tour stop with Jay-Z was the first stadium show he ever played sober. He also admitted that the rush of being onstage and feeling the love from fans never gets old.
"An artist can say that they get used to it but I think that they're probably lying if they do," Em said. " 'Cause you gotta be wowed, you gotta be taken back by seeing this many people and their faces."
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