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尽管艾米纳姆(Eminem，下文简称阿姆)表示新专辑《旧病复发》(Relapse)无意超越之前的成就，他对自己过往所取得的成绩已经挺高兴了。但这位“黑白两道通吃”的说唱天王几个月前还出版了他的回忆录《The Way I am》，该书的序言部分披露了他这些年来避开公众视线原因之一：他多年来的挚友、曾引导并鼓励他走向饶舌世界的说唱歌手Proof (Deshaun Holton)2006年4月死于一场枪击事件。“After he passed, it was a year before I could really do anything normally again.”“If Proof hadn’t gotten me into the rap game, I don’t know where I’d be.” 当Eminem听到噩耗的一刹那，他第一次在公众面前留下了眼泪……
Interviewer: I think everyone needs a 1)confidant in their life, and sometimes that can be a parent or a brother or a best friend, and in the case for you it was Proof. Someone who 2)came through and, you know, saw you. For whatever reason, your paths 3)collided, you know, and you met each other and you rapped at each other and your life has never been the same ever since; neither was his, you know, and, you know, for you he was just early on in that part of your career. He was your confidant, wasn’t he? He was the guy that just…he was the hand on your back, pushing you to go.
Eminem: Oh, yeah. You know, whenever I thought, like,…if ever there…you know, Proof was the kinda…was the kind of person that I would go and play somethin’ for and I would get, like, immediately get the … basically the criticism that I needed. You know what I mean? He would tell me, like, if somethin’ was 4)wack, he would make fun of me for it, but he wouldn’t do it in a mean way. He would, like, we’d joke about it, you know what I mean, ’cause that’s kind how our relationship was, but, you know, when I did hit somethin’, when I 5)was on to somethin’ he would tell me, and he’d be, like, really 6)adamant about it, you know what I mean? He would just be like, “Yo, people need to hear this!”
Interviewer: And then he took you down the Hip Hop Shop, Mo Malone’s, man, which was an important part of your life. I mean, I know there was a story in the book where you talk about your first 7)rhyme experience in front of a crowd, which everyone is gonna be terrible. You’re never gonna get out there and8)smash the crowd apart, you know, it’s never gonna happen, but you took a few years away from that and then Proof was, like, “Come on!” dragged you down to the Hip Hop Shop and got you on the mic again.
Eminem: Yeah, well he didn’t, like,physically drag me, but he told me…he basically said, “Come down here tomorrow.” He had called me and told me, you know, “Come down here tomorrow, try it out, there’s gonna be this 9)battle goin’ on,” or whatever, and somethin’ was goin’ on down there. I’m not sure if…I think it was a battle, and he was tellin’ me, basically, like, “Wait ’til most of the people 10)clear out, like after the battle, and rhyme, you know, just, you 11)ain’t gotta really battle nobody, just rhyme and let people hear you rhyme, and if you…if you don’t like it, you ain’t gotta do it again.” So, like, “alright, cool,” so I ended up calling work and tellin’ them I was gonna be a little late.
Interviewer: Were you working at the time? Were you…what were you doin’?
Eminen: Well, Gilbert’s Lodge, I was a…chef.
Interviewer: (laughing)
Eminem: … a 12)short order cook or whatever, you know, but I went down there and I got, just from the few people there, it was like I got this response, it was like, it was crazy.
Eminem: That was, like, a turning point in my life. That’s when I, like, really, really dug down and got serious with everything, you know, 13)metaphorically, lyrically, makin’… payin’ attention to everything I said, you know, making sure, like, everything was a 14)punch line because, you know, in…in rap, especially back then, everything was punch lines; metaphors, punch lines, and you would try to get “oohs” and “aahs” from whoever was there.
Interviewer: Something that’s missing to me now, I wish more rappers were coming out and actually…and actually ended their four 15)bars with some power, you know, as opposed to just like a connection to the next four.
主持人：我想每个人都需要知己，这个人可以是父母、兄弟或者好朋友。而你的知己是普鲁夫，他关照你，赏识你。你们的生活轨道因为某种契机而交汇——你们相遇，一起玩说唱，你的生活从此改变，他的也是。对于你来说，他就是你早期职业生涯中的一部分。他就是你的知己，不是吗？他就是你背后的推手，推动你前进。
阿姆：是的，每次当我想到……但凡……普鲁夫就是那种，让我乐意前去给他唱几段的人，然后基本上我就能立刻得到我需要的批评意见。你明白我说的吗？他会告诉我，如果作品很烂，他会笑我，但他不会用刻薄的语气。他会，我们会开玩笑地说，我俩的关系就是那样子的。但是，当我来神了，当我的想法有点意思，他会告诉我，他会给予肯定。他会说：“哟，人们该听听这段子！”
主持人：后来他还带你到蒙马隆那嘻哈唱片店，这是你生命中很重要的一段经历。我是说，我知道书中有个故事关于你第一次在人群面前表演说唱的经历，那么多人很让人怯场。你不可能一下子才华尽露，一夜成名，那是不可能的，但是过了几年，普鲁夫说一句“来吧！”就把你拉到嘻哈唱片店，让你重拾麦克风。
阿姆：是的，他没有真的把我拉到嘻哈唱片店，但是他告诉我……他只是说，“明天来这儿。”他打电话给我，告诉我：“明天来这儿，试一下，我们有个说唱比赛”什么的。总之是说明天那儿有点事。我不确定……我想那是个比赛。他大致告诉我：“等大多数人都走了，比如说等比赛之后，你来唱几句，你不是要和谁比赛，就是随便说唱几句，让人们听到你的说唱。如果你不喜欢，下次就不干了。”我觉得可以，所以最后我打电话说晚点去上班。
主持人：你那时候在工作？你做什么工作？
阿姆：在吉尔勃旅馆，我是……厨师。
主持人：（大笑）
阿姆：……快餐厨师什么的。我去到那儿，只剩为数不多的几个人，我得到的反应是，就像，真是疯狂。
阿姆：那是我生命中的一个转折点。我从那时开始真正投入生活，对每件事都认认真真。对歌词里的比喻、歌词本身，留意自己说的每一句话。确保歌词中处处都有双关义。在说唱音乐里面，尤其是在以前，所有歌词都带双关义。比喻啊，双关语啊，在场听到的人总会发出赞叹的声音。
主持人：我觉得现在这些东西都很少了，我希望更多的说唱人出来，实实在在地让曲子中的四小节结束时能更有力一点，而非只是平淡地过渡到下个四小节。
Interviewer: I think everyone needs a 1)confidant in their life, and sometimes that can be a parent or a brother or a best friend, and in the case for you it was Proof. Someone who 2)came through and, you know, saw you. For whatever reason, your paths 3)collided, you know, and you met each other and you rapped at each other and your life has never been the same ever since; neither was his, you know, and, you know, for you he was just early on in that part of your career. He was your confidant, wasn’t he? He was the guy that just…he was the hand on your back, pushing you to go.
Eminem: Oh, yeah. You know, whenever I thought, like,…if ever there…you know, Proof was the kinda…was the kind of person that I would go and play somethin’ for and I would get, like, immediately get the … basically the criticism that I needed. You know what I mean? He would tell me, like, if somethin’ was 4)wack, he would make fun of me for it, but he wouldn’t do it in a mean way. He would, like, we’d joke about it, you know what I mean, ’cause that’s kind how our relationship was, but, you know, when I did hit somethin’, when I 5)was on to somethin’ he would tell me, and he’d be, like, really 6)adamant about it, you know what I mean? He would just be like, “Yo, people need to hear this!”
Interviewer: And then he took you down the Hip Hop Shop, Mo Malone’s, man, which was an important part of your life. I mean, I know there was a story in the book where you talk about your first 7)rhyme experience in front of a crowd, which everyone is gonna be terrible. You’re never gonna get out there and8)smash the crowd apart, you know, it’s never gonna happen, but you took a few years away from that and then Proof was, like, “Come on!” dragged you down to the Hip Hop Shop and got you on the mic again.
Eminem: Yeah, well he didn’t, like,physically drag me, but he told me…he basically said, “Come down here tomorrow.” He had called me and told me, you know, “Come down here tomorrow, try it out, there’s gonna be this 9)battle goin’ on,” or whatever, and somethin’ was goin’ on down there. I’m not sure if…I think it was a battle, and he was tellin’ me, basically, like, “Wait ’til most of the people 10)clear out, like after the battle, and rhyme, you know, just, you 11)ain’t gotta really battle nobody, just rhyme and let people hear you rhyme, and if you…if you don’t like it, you ain’t gotta do it again.” So, like, “alright, cool,” so I ended up calling work and tellin’ them I was gonna be a little late.
Interviewer: Were you working at the time? Were you…what were you doin’?
Eminen: Well, Gilbert’s Lodge, I was a…chef.
Interviewer: (laughing)
Eminem: … a 12)short order cook or whatever, you know, but I went down there and I got, just from the few people there, it was like I got this response, it was like, it was crazy.
Eminem: That was, like, a turning point in my life. That’s when I, like, really, really dug down and got serious with everything, you know, 13)metaphorically, lyrically, makin’… payin’ attention to everything I said, you know, making sure, like, everything was a 14)punch line because, you know, in…in rap, especially back then, everything was punch lines; metaphors, punch lines, and you would try to get “oohs” and “aahs” from whoever was there.
Interviewer: Something that’s missing to me now, I wish more rappers were coming out and actually…and actually ended their four 15)bars with some power, you know, as opposed to just like a connection to the next four.
主持人：我想每个人都需要知己，这个人可以是父母、兄弟或者好朋友。而你的知己是普鲁夫，他关照你，赏识你。你们的生活轨道因为某种契机而交汇——你们相遇，一起玩说唱，你的生活从此改变，他的也是。对于你来说，他就是你早期职业生涯中的一部分。他就是你的知己，不是吗？他就是你背后的推手，推动你前进。
阿姆：是的，每次当我想到……但凡……普鲁夫就是那种，让我乐意前去给他唱几段的人，然后基本上我就能立刻得到我需要的批评意见。你明白我说的吗？他会告诉我，如果作品很烂，他会笑我，但他不会用刻薄的语气。他会，我们会开玩笑地说，我俩的关系就是那样子的。但是，当我来神了，当我的想法有点意思，他会告诉我，他会给予肯定。他会说：“哟，人们该听听这段子！”
主持人：后来他还带你到蒙马隆那嘻哈唱片店，这是你生命中很重要的一段经历。我是说，我知道书中有个故事关于你第一次在人群面前表演说唱的经历，那么多人很让人怯场。你不可能一下子才华尽露，一夜成名，那是不可能的，但是过了几年，普鲁夫说一句“来吧！”就把你拉到嘻哈唱片店，让你重拾麦克风。
阿姆：是的，他没有真的把我拉到嘻哈唱片店，但是他告诉我……他只是说，“明天来这儿。”他打电话给我，告诉我：“明天来这儿，试一下，我们有个说唱比赛”什么的。总之是说明天那儿有点事。我不确定……我想那是个比赛。他大致告诉我：“等大多数人都走了，比如说等比赛之后，你来唱几句，你不是要和谁比赛，就是随便说唱几句，让人们听到你的说唱。如果你不喜欢，下次就不干了。”我觉得可以，所以最后我打电话说晚点去上班。
主持人：你那时候在工作？你做什么工作？
阿姆：在吉尔勃旅馆，我是……厨师。
主持人：（大笑）
阿姆：……快餐厨师什么的。我去到那儿，只剩为数不多的几个人，我得到的反应是，就像，真是疯狂。
阿姆：那是我生命中的一个转折点。我从那时开始真正投入生活，对每件事都认认真真。对歌词里的比喻、歌词本身，留意自己说的每一句话。确保歌词中处处都有双关义。在说唱音乐里面，尤其是在以前，所有歌词都带双关义。比喻啊，双关语啊，在场听到的人总会发出赞叹的声音。
主持人：我觉得现在这些东西都很少了，我希望更多的说唱人出来，实实在在地让曲子中的四小节结束时能更有力一点，而非只是平淡地过渡到下个四小节。