Words from Eminem and Kendrick Lamar

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I completely respect what Kendrick does and the fact that he’s in the same camp, that he’s on Aftermath, only made sense to me [to have him on the album]. He came to Detroit, we kicked it for a few minutes, you know, and I felt the vibe of what he’s like and everything, and you know, he’s a super cool and super humble dude. When we did that record, I think that was actually a week or two before he did the verse to “Control.“ […]

He seems like he’s got a really good head on his shoulders, man. He’s very smart and you can tell by the way he put his album together for one. He’s like a hip-hop head, man, he just loves hip-hop. And obviously the way that he did the “Control” verse, it was almost like if you get mad at him, then you might look foolish. He set it up so that you can’t really get mad at a lot of that shit he said because it was what every other MC is already thinking. Or you should be thinking.

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I was in Detroit and [Eminem] told me to come to the studio to do the hook. So I go in, do the hook, and he’s like, “I like the hook.” So I’m like, “All right, cool, I’m finna dip,” and he’s like, “Think you could do a verse?” I’m like, “Hell yeah, I could do a verse.”

The thing with Em that was crazy to me is he kicks everybody out of the studio—even himself—he gives you your space. I took it as him kicking everybody out to see if that’s really you writing the raps.

I don’t roll too deep, but I came with four [people]: I came with Sounwave, 2 Tees, my security, and probably Dave [Free]. I’m in the booth and [Em] starts walking in—then runs out, like he doesn’t want to hear it.