Eminem Talks Relapse 2, Michael Jackson, Hair Dye & Lil Wayne

Posted by Mitch Michaels on 12.02.2009

Em says he can relate to Michael Jackson...

Eminem opened up to Complex in an interview recently.

He said that Relapse 2 is still moving forward, even as Relapse: Refill is set to hit stores later this month. He also talked about why 2 was delayed.

"When I finished Relapse, I had a whole album of material that didn't make it that I wasn't ready to throw away, so that was going to be Relapse 2. But then I got with Dre in Hawaii and started recording more, and now the new material has knocked out all the old songs," Eminem says. "Making Relapse, I was still working the drugs out of my system, so there was a lot of…just jokey shit. It was a lot of punchline-y, funny, shock value — kind of going back to The Slim Shady LP. And that was cool, but I've kind of flipped the page. Now I'm going for songs instead of one-liners."

Eminem also says he can relate with Michael Jackson's drug problems.. "I definitely can relate, and it's a shame if he didn't have anybody there to just say, ‘Michael, you're an addict, you need help,'" says Em. "It's one of the pitfalls of fame."

Em also spoke on changing up his image. "Once I got sober I was like, ‘What the fuck am I doing? I'm like 35 years old, am I going to keep dying my hair fucking blond?' Also it was just about letting go," Em admits. "The hair reminded me of my addiction, and I hated myself when I was in my addiction. I hated myself worse than anyone could ever hate me. I could just say, ‘Yo, I need this and this and this,' and they're going to give me whatever I want."

Finally, Eminem gave his thoughts on Lil Wayne. "There was the hype about him, but I didn't see what all the hype was about," Em said. "I felt like he was good, certainly above average from his singles, but it was like, ‘Is he that dope?' Then I listened to the whole album and was like, ‘Wow! My man is that dope — Lil Wayne is fucking dope!' You've got to listen to a Lil Wayne song four, five, or six times to actually catch everything he's saying."

Credit: RollingStone