During Shade 45’s 20th-anniversary special, Eminem opened up about his intricate writing process, revealing the depths of his creativity and dedication to the craft.
Eminem gave fans a rare glimpse into his writing process during Shade45’s 20th-anniversary broadcast with DJ Whoo Kid and Paul Rosenberg. Known for his meticulous attention to detail, Eminem shared how his approach to lyrics has evolved over the years, fuelдed by inspiration and stacks of notebooks filled with ideas. Eminem explained:
Every punchline you can think of, every set of wordplay — anything — has already been done. Every time I listen to a new rapper, some of the up-and-comers, if they say the same kind of punchline like I had, I’m like, well, scratch that one out of my book.
Marshall revealed that he now keeps several notebooks to preserve his ideas, a habit he attributes to a story Alchemist once told him about hip hop legend KRS-One.
Twenty years ago, he told me this story. He was like, “Yo, you should have seen KRS-One. He was just picking up a book and reading raps off the paper!” I was like, how does he have that many books? Now I have that many books. I save every book. I used to not. I used to just take a piece of paper if it was sitting on the table, write on it, and stick it in my pocket. Now I keep them in books, so I have bags full of books now. Like KRS-One probably has. Now, KRS-One probably has twice as many books than I have because he had twice as many back then. No one will ever understand what is in my book because it’s just scribble scrabble. Nothing’s really connected, there’s no rhyme or reason to it. It’s just me writing the thought down as soon as I get it so I don’t forget it. It just looks like a bunch of scribble scrabble.
Paul Rosenberg confirmed the chaotic yet methodical nature of Eminem’s writing, comparing it to the organised chaos of “A Beautiful Mind”. “Those are like works of art”, Rosenberg said, referencing the lyric pages featured in Eminem’s book “The Way I Am”.
Eminem admitted he regrets sharing those pages. “I don’t know why I did that. I should have never done that”, he said. But Rosenberg disagreed, calling them fascinating insights into his creative genius.
Despite the seemingly haphazard nature of his notebooks, Eminem revealed that he has an uncanny ability to locate specific rhymes or ideas, even years later:
I know where it’s on the paper. I can’t memorise everything I write, but I’ll remember if it’s six books ago that I was writing in. I’ll remember which side of the page this little rhyme scheme was that I was working on one day. Because sometimes I’ll make rhyme schemes, and I’ll be like, I’ll never use it. And then sometimes I’ll be like, oh, shit, a couple of years ago, I remember this thing I was thinking of. Let me go find that. Then I got to go back five books, and it takes half a day to go back and remember what I was talking about on that day. But I’ll be like, I remember I had something. Oh, shit, I could use that! But it’s really hard to find.
Eminem’s passion for his craft and relentless pursuit of perfection continue to set him apart, offering fans a behind-the-scenes look at the mind of one of hip hop’s greatest wordsmiths.
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