'That's exactly what used to happen to me,' he says of stories of the late Michael Jackson's alleged pill addiction.
By Jayson Rodriguez

Eminem made his triumphant return earlier this year with Relapse, but has yet to rest on his laurels, putting all of his energy into the soon-to-be-released follow-up, Relapse 2.

In the December/January issue of Complex magazine, the iconic rapper looks back on the splash his comeback created, from the buzz he's built for the Relapse sequel to, more seriously, comparisons to Michael Jackson's ills.

Em, in a moment of reflection, opened up about his battle with addiction, comparing it to Jackson's struggle with pills — although he cautioned it's hard to decipher what reports about the Gloved One were true, much like his own life.

"Oh, 100 percent," Em said when asked about parallels between Jackson's demise and his own hard times. "When you read things about Michael Jackson it's hard to decipher what the f--- is true, but there's the story of how he woke up at whatever time and he needed something to go back to sleep because he has this or that and it didn't work — that's exactly what used to happen to me," Em continued. "I would take a couple of pills and I would be up an hour later and I'd want more.

"It's one of the pitfalls of fame," he added. "I could just say, 'Yo, I need this and this and this,' and they're going to give me whatever I want."

Since Eminem has been sober for the past 20 months, he's said his addiction has been channeled away from drugs into things like jogging (hence the weight loss) and studio time (hence the quick follow-up album). Just Blaze is helping Slim Shady out on Relapse 2, Dr. Dre recently joined Em in the lab to work on new material.

He's aiming to make a better-rounded album with the Relapse sequel, he explained.

"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," Em offered. "But then I got with Dre in Hawaii and started recording more, and now the new material has knocked out all the old songs. But yeah, the new material is definitely different.

"Making Relapse, I was still working the drugs out of my system, so there was a lot of ... just jokey sh--," he explained. "It was a lot of punch line-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. I don't want to make sh-- that you hear once and then the joke's over — I want to make records that you could play a hundred times, a thousand times."

Poor him, I'm devastated

I'm a fan of eminem , i'm sure i'm in the Minority here

babybugz said:

You sure are.

Timmy84 said:

I don't need a hug , it's fine with me

babybugz said:

Do you need one of these then:

Timmy84 said:

Nah it's all good I don't like Marvin gaye like that but I'm cool with you ....

babybugz said:

Uh-uh just for that you get one of these:



So it ain't all good. If you say you don't like Al Green, I'll deliver some grits.
[Edited 12/1/09 16:24pm]

And I don't even remember u saying u didn't like Marvin but I think u lying:



You're making me nWo u on purpose girl.

babybugz said:

i like his older music but i don't like him as a person anymore

you'd think michael died from popping pills, not his doctor injecting him with anesthesia...michael didn't have anything other than what his doctor injected him with that night/morning.

mimi07 said:

IKR because if he died from popping pills, you think pills be all up on his system... and not the drugs that were in him when he did die.

You know I just pretty much stay quiet now with the addiction thing with michael ...lol gives me a headache i'm telling you

babybugz said:

It keeps on being brought up, it's hard to escape it. smh I actually don't even believe that he was addicted at the time of his death. Maybe in other eras he was.

Timmy84 said:

exactly

Timmy84 said:

yeah, i know he had a problem in the early 90's and maybe late 90's and def something was up 2001-2003 but i believe he was clean at the time of his death

Timmy84 said:

But that's the thing if you addicted once you will still be label that .. recovering addict etc but whatever .I think he (em)was comparing as far as not being able to sleep you do what you have to do to get the sleep.Either way you say it Propofol is not normal to be using it for a sleeping aide.But anyway we had this convo before timmy I said addict or not it doesn't change my opinion of him

Harlepolis said:

Boo fucking hoo for him.

babybugz said:

And it doesn't but I'm just saying lol Told you it keeps on popping up lol

babybugz said:

I'm a fan too but fuck his bullshit hard luck story.

Vendetta1 said:

I agree with you

Vendetta1 said:

He keeps on selling it as if people won't eventually get tired of it

Timmy84 said:

lol but well we don't know what michael was doing so I'll stay quiet ..lol

babybugz said:

We don't know what most celebrities were doing at the times of deaths.

Timmy84 said:

Exactly so shut up

Timmy84 said:

I'm tired of his ass walking around like he mad all the damn time, too. Ain't nobody done nothin' to his punk ass.

Vendetta1 said:

You know?! That was one thing (besides him always saying the 'f' word in his songs and him basically mocking MJ in that video) that disturbed and pissed me off about him.

Vendetta1 said:

Wouldn't it be crazy if it was revealed that it was all fake?

We find out he was a middle class kid with both parents and money to have fun with?

Harlepolis said:

bboy87 said:

It would be a trip! He wasn't even born in Detroit, he was born in Kansas.