Its crazy whenever i have gigs in towns im not from. When im
on the road im with my entourage which usually consists of two of my friends an
my cousin who i share the stage with. Then there’s always my uncle who manages
my events, an if anyone from my social circle or family want to come along then
we take upto three of ‘em. We have our own silver ford minibus thats got tinted
windows which seats up to 8 so the journeys are always great fun.
When the stage is bein all set up with the lighting it gets
me really geared up. I’ll walk around it, get a feel for what im workin with.
The stages i perform on aren’t huge but there’s enough space to jump around.
Once the stage is
done there’s the sound, safety and light checks which give us an opportunity to
clown around, especially with the mic checks, we’ll all end up goofin off, but
there’s times you gotta concentrate, everything must be perfect. Sound check’s
quick, just to see if the mics are workin for when we speak to the crowd, i
mime the Eminem songs but the tracks we perform aren’t the studio recorded
versions you hearin the albums, they are the live versions so it sounds and
looks legit. After all that's over an done with we’ll use up the rest of our day,
grab somethin to eat, look around an find somethin to do.
Around or just before the hour the shows due to commence we
go back to the venue an go over, run shit through one final time. Doors usually
get opened to the public 30 minutes before the performance is scheduled to
begin, so whilst people are gettin seated or placed im slippin into my outfit.
The best bit comes when you ready and you can hear all the audience
talkin over the interval music. Sometimes i’ll catch a sneaky peak in the
wings, i’ll mostly always see girls chatting, messing with their hair, see
little kids runnin about, parents tellin them to calm down. One time whilst i
were lookin i stood just in sight of the front row and everyone started
squealing and pointing, but before i got to wave security told me to move out
of eyesight.
All my shows are the same, have been for years, so we know
everythin down to a T. The lights go down 10 minutes before my entrance, if the
venue has the equipment we run footage on the back wall of the stage with clips
of Eminem’s music videos but if the place don’t have a projector we play his music.
The audience cheer, whistle an go mental straight away when they see Eminem’s footage.
When the video snippets end my cousin Drew opens the show up by jumping out
onto stage, he warms the crowd up with the line “When i say Slim... You say
Shady!” he’ll do that three times, then my two group mates Big D and Tic will
speak the intro of Business “Hurry, hurry step right up” ect. As im coming up
the steps i’ll rap the first couple words out of sight and as soon as i walk
onto stage they go insane crazy!
I’ll walk past my
group and low five them until im at the opposite end of the stage. Whilst im
rapping i’ll always check out the front row to pick out the most hyped up fan
to pick on when im interacting with the crowd. It’s usually a female because
guys are to laid back to jump to the front row but if there’s a dude there
rapping along with me i’ll aim more at them because females always get the most
attention.
As soon as Business finishes that's our first opportunity to
interact with the audience. We wait for the noise to die down and then Drew
will comment on how good the crowd looks, Big D and Tic will do a few funny
comments to people who are wearing Eminem T-shirts or clothing, sayin shit like
“Yall know this aint a real concert right?” Which makes them all laugh. Whilst
they doin that im slowly walking about, putting my left hand over my eyes to
look to the back, I’ll say “Yo, what about yall at the back, make some noise!”
including the back is important to me because i kinda imagine them feelin left
out, but they’re the ones who really go for it to get noticed.
I’ll introduce my next track being Stan and that's when it
all kicks off. The energy flow you gets indescribable and it gets your heart
beating ten times to the dozen. Once
Stan’s done we go into Loose Yourself, then Mocking bird, My name is and then
Just Lose it. After we finish the last song we have an 20 minute intermission
which i use to freshen up and change my outfit. By this time im buzzing, we all
are and we always be doing somethin, moving shit about in the room, pull pranks
but most importantly we hydrate to get back out onto the stage, with the spotlights
it gets boilin.
To kick of the second half again the lights go down and the
sound of the wind on the introduction of Superman will play and all the girls
begin to create. It’s one of my favourites to perform because i get a fan on
stage, not a Stan, one that blows air.
Anyways i walk to the right side of the stage which is all
dark. I’ll stand with my legs spread, my hands joined infront of me holding the
mic an looking down at the floor. Then when i say “You high baby” the spotlight
above me beam’s down whilst im looking to the left hand area of the stage. For
Dena Ray’s part i have a lady named Jodie who comes on from the left wings and that's
when all the lighting effects kick in, she walks up to me whilst doing her
spoke part and then i’ll step away from her an rap in the direction to the audience,
she has the easy part of standing in the breeze of the fan, posing.
If you’ve ever watched the Eminem anger management tour our performance
mimics that until i reach pre chorus. I’ll step down one step when i rap the
line “But i do know one thing though” everyone starts getting hyped when they
know im coming down to them. As i step down again and rap the next line “Bitches
they come they go” then third step i rap the third line and then i walk down
the rest of the steps. As soon as i reach the floor women at the front go
hysterical, they all hold their hands out, and i try to look them all in the
eyes whilst doing the chorus which makes them make higher pitched screeches. I’ll
walk the full length of the stage an then i’ll go back up the other set of
steps on that side whilst beginning the second verse. Me and Jodie will then interact
between each other from a distance until we finish the last verse. When i then
rap for the last time “i know you want me baby, i think i want you to” i point
to her and she begins to walk up to me and that's when the crowd hypes up to
see the intimacy. She’ll stroke down my chest and the girls start screaming, i’ll
stroke down the side of her torso and everyone’s whistling and cheering and we’ll
bump and grind for a few minutes. That song gets the most reactions from the audience
and its crazy.
When Superman finishes we banter with the crowd and kick
into Im a Soldier then the big finale we do Cleaning out My Closet.
If the venue has the space, for example a big foyer or separate
hall we’ll do photo opportunities. When i come off stage Drew, Big D and Tic
will all stay up and entertain them for the five minutes i can grab to get
refreshed. I’ll get seated down at a desk and the venues security will control the
audience. I’ll sit and wait for a few minutes and then you hear all the hyped
up people coming towards the doors. We sell big flyers people can get for a
quid and event advertisers sell merchandise they can buy and believe it or not
people want me to sign a lot of things.
Parents who take their
young kids tell them i am Eminem so they love it when i put my arm around them
and smile into the camera with them. That's why i love doing what i do, i know
that kid until he grows up a little wiser will think he's met Eminem which is
huge, so for them to take that feeling with them energizes me. The praise i get
from parents i appreciate a lot too, they appreciate you for making their kids
happy and i also respect the dudes who come up to me and shake my hand, tellin
me how i did Em proud, that gives me a massive boost. But then there’s the fan
girls and knowin how to handle them. Most of them are too nervous to really say
much, but a few times they’ve embarrassed me by asking me stupid questions.
Once i had a girl saying how she’d love to shag me in the toilets, if it was in
private id probably of just laughed but the people waiting in line were all
different ages, just stupid shit like that can piss me off, i want to tell them
to shut their mouths but i just let them wrap their arms around me and bare it.
If you get to perform on stage it’ll be the best moments
during your life. Its a buzz you cant really explain. Knowing people come out
of their way to watch you’s mad, im always thankful. When you get people
singing with you and wanting your attention makes you feel huge, its kinda
insane. I can honestly say i’ve never once been relaxed or used to performing,
each time you perform comes a different experience and a new high, it never
becomes predictable an you never adapt to it. As long as i keep doing shows for
my idol i know i’ll be happy.
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