‘Everything right now is a step at a time,’ the MC tells ‘Billboard.’ By Jayson Rodriguez Eminem on the cover of Billboard Photo: Billboard Eminem graces the cover of the new issue of Billboard . In the accompanying interview, the Detroit rapper discusses his struggle to return to rap dominance after a five-year hiatus to combat his drug dependency. Last year he returned with Relapse , an uneven collection that at its best lucidly detailed the depths of his battle and at its worst came across as hackneyed. On the recently released Recovery , Eminem decided to return to to his earlier work for inspiration. “I would go back and listen to songs off The Marshall Mathers LP , The Eminem Show , and some of Encore and ask, ‘Why don’t my music feel like this anymore?’ ” Em said. “”‘The Way I Am,’ ‘Criminal’ and ‘Toy Soldiers’ were songs that meant something. I wanted there to be a reason why I was making each song, instead of making it just to make it.” During the recording of his two albums prior to Recovery , Em said, he was either in full-blown addiction mode ( Encore ) or so freshly sober ( Relapse ) that he was unable to focus correctly on the material he made. “I was like, ‘S—, man, trees are beautiful again,’ ” Em said, describing the way he viewed the world during the making of Relapse . “‘What a nice day it is.’ I don’t think I was paying attention to what the average listener might like or not like.” Em said that he now wants to focus on earning the praise of his peers and die-hard fans with Recovery . Then, he’ll focus on hitting the road. He’s set to appear at music festivals both abroad and in the United States this summer, and he’s playing shows with Jay-Z in Detroit and New York in September. But the superstar MC is cautious about returning to a major touring schedule. “I’ll do these shows and see how I feel afterward, then set up a couple more,” he said. “I’ve had to relearn to do shows sober, because there were so many years that I didn’t know how to do it. Alcohol, Valium — all these things were crutches for me so that I didn’t have to feel anything when I went onstage. Everything right now is a step at a time, a day at a time.” Are you going to see Eminem perform soon? Sound off in the comments below! Related Photos The Evolution Of: Eminem Related Artists Eminem
Read the rest here:
Eminem Talks ‘Recovery,’ Touring Sober
