Eminem’s ex-bodyguard still feels guilty about leaving Eminem, but apparently, things could have gone much worse when he came to Eminem’s home with a loaded gun to dispute his cancelled bonus.
Cam Capone News released another segment of Naz’s interview, where he talked about how his relationship with Eminem ended in a stand-off over money.
He said that he was much more for Marshall than just a bodyguard:
I was his personal driver. I was his personal assistant. I was the butler. I was his confidant. I was his friend. I wore about seven hats, man. When everybody was in New York and all the other parts of the world, it was always me and Eminem one-on-one. There was a time when Eminem, he would lose every fucking thing. His cell phone, his wallet, his credit card. He’d lose everything. If it wasn’t fucking attached to him, he’d lose it. So I’d carry his phones, carry his wallet, carry his ID, carry his credit card. Anytime he wanted to spend money, he had to have permission. At this time, this guy is triple platinum.
Naz then tells how he would pay for Eminem to get to a tanning salon and then get reimbursed later. However, it all came to a close. As a New Year present for 1999, Naz delivered the news that he was leaving his job.
On December 30th 1999, I told Em, “Hey, man, I’m resigning”. I said, “I got some more security in place for you, so you guys won’t be naked. You’ll have proper protection, retired police officers, military cast, I gave him the best!
There was something else that Naz gave Em.
I gave him an ultimatum. I said, “Hey, man, look. If you guys are not going to pay me, I’m going to resign. But this is what I want. I want $100,000 a year. I want $100,000 a year, I want to be able to have particular off-days”. Because here is the part that people don’t know about bodyguards. Bodyguards are people.
Naz then tells a sad story of how he had to miss his middle child’s christening because it happened the next day after he went on the road with Eminem. Naz calls for empathy, vocalising that he will never have this time with his son back. We know of a similar struggle between parenthood and show business; Eminem wrote some very personal songs about that. But he never blamed anybody else for the choices he made.
Anyway, after leaving Eminem on New Year’s eve, Naz discovered that Eminem’s team had cancelled his Christmas bonus check. The $6,000 check that Naz had spent already. And this is where the drama started.
He went all the way down to Detroit, armed. He also made some phone calls to Eminem and Paul Rosenberg that were threatening enough for Paul to show to his lawyer and for the lawyer to report them to the police. With a loaded gun, wearing a bulletproof vest, Naz knocked on Eminem’s door and terrified Kim answered a call holding Haylie.
Naz looks mildly proud relaying this story on camera:
You don’t play with our money, you don’t play with our family. I called Paul. Actually, I called Em first. We gotta try to argue over the phone. I said, “Yo, man, what the fuck! What y’all doing cancelling checks!” He was like, “Fuck that shit, man, you don’t work for us no more, we cancelled the motherfucking check!” He talked real tough on the phone. I said, “Dude, don’t talk to me like that. Because you’re talking to somebody who knows your every move. I know where you are at all times a day, what you do, who you’re thinking about, who you’re gonna see. Everything that you do. So don’t do that, man”. We had a big falling out. I called Paul. And I leave Paul Rosenberg a message. This is where I messed up. It wasn’t a threat! I said, “Hey, man, you didn’t get that fucking money back in my account — we got a problem. Y’all gonna get my wife fired. Y’all pull the money that I’ve already earned. So now you put me in a tight. I need the fucking money, man. Some shit gonna go down”.
Paul takes the voicemail, sends it to his attorney, his attorney sends it to the state police, the state police file a [Personal Protection Order].
I’m driving to Em’s house, the wire is going over the phone to the state police as I get to Em house. To find out what’s up with my money.
I get there. I knock on the door. Em is not there. Kim answers the door. The house is in complete fucking panic, “Oh my god, it’s Nasty! He’s coming to kill us! Aaaaaaaaahhhh!” No, that’s not why I was here. But! I did go over there with a bulletproof vest on, heavy artillery. Because you don’t know how this shit gonna go. I was hoping to talk, but I was prepared for war.
Naz left when Kim told him that Em was not there and begged him to leave. And that’s when Eminem entered the scene, also ready for war.
As I turned to walk away, Em’s pulling up the street, high speed. He was down at the block, watching. I’m walking down the stairs. I show him my [empty] hands. I said, “I need to talk to you”. He jumps out of the truck, he pulls his shirt up. He brandishes nickel plated 38. The same gun that I took him to go get registered. But what he didn’t know, I got my 40 cal in my coat pocket. I got a bulletproof vest on, I got two extra magazines. I said, “Look, man, we need to talk”. He was, “Fuck that! Get off my property, man!” No, I’m not going nowhere, man. I said, “You got to take that shirt down before I take it personally”. He flashed the gun! He showed that shit! We went back and forth. I said, “I need my money, dawg. I earned that shit”. He said, “Man, I ain’t giving you shit! You gonna leave me, man, with them motherfuckers Death Row out there to get me. You gonna leave me like that? That ain’t loyalty!” I said, “I’ve been more than loyal to you. I need mu money”.
At that point of time, when he kept flashing the gun, I slid my hands inside my coat pocket. But what he didn’t know, when I slid inside my right pocket, I already got one in the chamber. And I’m pulling. Because I don’t know what his intentions is! So he’s brandishing, I already got a jump on him, I already got one in the chamber. And I’m talking to him, but I’m pulling.
Eventually, Naz left without escalating the conflict to the exchange of fire. Otherwise, the story of Slim Shady might have been as short as Pop Smoke’s or many other rappers who are surrounded by people with loaded guns and short tempers.
Naz still believes that he, as he said, was “operating off integrity”. Em clearly did not feel that way and felt that a holiday bonus for a man leaving him in the middle of the war was unnecessary. Surely, Naz made much more from the book he wrote about his time with Eminem.
Watch the video below:
