“I’m a high school dropout man, with a hip-hop education, and these were my teachers”. Eminem gives a lesson in how to stay humble accepting a high award.
The night of November 5 will go down in history as the one to remember. Marshall Mathers was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Having played an iconic set marking his induction, Eminem took the mic to accept the award and to say his speech. He used the time he had to pay respect to the artists who influenced him and the culture. His entire speech is a litany of names he knows and treasures. And wants the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to pay more attention to.
Here is the full speech:
I’m never gonna fucking remember it so I had to write it on paper and shit, but it’s from the heart. What a privilege it is to do the music that I love, the music that basically saved my life. The man who saved my life, ladies and gentlemen, is Dr. motherfucking Dre.
I was not supposed to be here tonight because of a couple of reasons. One of them is that I’m a rapper. And only a few of us right now have been inducted in already. Secondly, I almost died of an overdose in 2007. Which kind of sucked because… Hailie, plug your ears! Because drugs were fucking delicious. And although we had a good thing going, I had to go and fuck it all of them, take too many. Goddamn. And finally, I had found my way to break into this music. And I’m so honoured and I’m grateful that I’m even able to be up here, doing hip hop music. Because I love it so much. They say you won’t work a day if you love your job.
My musical influences are many, and they say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, it took a whole genre and culture to raise me. They say success has many fathers, and that’s definitely true for me. So whatever my impact has been on hip-hop music, I never would have or could have done this shit without some of the groundbreaking artists that I’m about to mention right now. And this is the list I put together yesterday. And I kept adding to this shit and adding to this shit. And if I didn’t get anybody – I apologise. But these are my teachers right here.
I’ll start with 2 Live Crew, 2Pac, 3rd Bass, Alliance, Apache, Audio Two (Milk Dee, whaddup?!), Awesome Dre, Beastie Boys, Big Daddy Kane, Big Pun, Big L, Biz Markie, The Notorious B.I.G of course, Black Moon, the Boogie Monsters, Brand Nubian, Brother J from X-Clan, Buckshot, Casual from Hieroglyphics, Chill Rob G., Chubb Rock, Chuck D and Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, D-Nice, Dana Dane, De La Soul, Def Jef, Del the Funky Homosapien, DJ Quick, Dr. Dre, Dres of Black Sheep, Ed O.G., EPMD, Fat Boys, Fat Joe, FU-Schnickens, Gang Starr, Geto Boys, Heavy D, House of Pain, Ice Cube, ICE-T, Intelligent Hoodlum, J.J. Fad, Jaz-O, Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, Just-Ice, K-Solo, Kid ‘N Play, King Sun, King Tee, Kool G Rap, Kool Moe Dee, KRS-One, Kwame, Lakim Shabazz, Large Professor, Leaders of the New School, LL Cool J, Lord Finesse, Lords of the Underground, Mantronix, Masta Ace, MC Breed, MC Lyte, MC Shan, Melly Mel, Mobb Deep, Monie Love, Nas, Newcleus, Onyx, Organised Konfusion, Outkast, Andre 3000, Paris, The Pharcyde, Queen Latifah, Rakim, Redhead Kingpin, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Redman, Roxanne Shante, Run-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh, Snoop Dogg, Souls of Mischief, Special Ed, Stetsasonic, Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud, The D.O.C., The Roots, Black Thought, The Skinny Boys, Too $hort, Treach of Naghty By Nature, A Tribe Called Quest, U.T.F.O., Whodini, Wise Intelligent & Poor Righteous Teachers, Wu-Tang Clan, YZ.
Those are just a few of the names that I hope to be considered in future inductions. Because without them a lot of us wouldn’t be here.
That’s all I had to say. I know this induction is supposed to be me talking about myself and shit, but fuck that. I would not be here without them. I’m a high school dropout with a hip-hop education, and these were my teachers. And it’s their night just as much as it is mine. So thank you.
LL Cool J’s media Rock the Bells shared the entire speech:
.@Eminem paying homage to the culture and artists that influenced him is the content we’re here for 💐🏆 #HipHopWins
🎥: @BelowTheHipHop pic.twitter.com/IjWirNhCrC
— Rock The Bells (@RockTheBells) November 7, 2022
