Shady Bizzness: Life as Eminem's Bodyguard in an Industry of Paper Gangsters

by Williams, Byron

  Slim was mad as hell. He was pacing, drawing attention to himself, saying, “Man, these guys are gonna come up and shoot us right here on the spot!” I mean, he was really freakin’ out, and I was trying to calm him down. “If a paparazzi sees this and doesn’t know what is going on, they could make it a bigger issue than it is. It’s big right now, but don’t get the media involved. When the limo finally arrives, let’s just get in the limo, then wave at your fans, and let’s bounce, man. Let’s get the fuck out of here! When the limo pulls up, we’ll all jump in. ” Proof got in the limo and said, “Yo, Naz man, you was right about those vests, man. ” Now everyone agreed with me—afterward—that we should have gotten those bulletproof vests for the 1999 Source Awards out in LA. It felt so good to get in that limo and pull out alive. When you’re on someone else’s turf, you don’t really know what’s going down, you don’t really know how folks are laying. I was just out there doing a job. I had no knowledge of what we were dealing with.

  That was the first confrontation we had with Death Row Records. I must say, that was a unforgettable moment. I didn’t know what was going to happen next. The only thing that kept playing through my mind was the shooting of Biggie Smalls in California, then the shooting of Tupac Shakur in Vegas. You never know how things are going to turn out. I have to say that made me real nervous, but it me made smarter.

  I quickly learned about LA, California, and the dress code.You hear about things on the news, you hear a lot of hearsay, you hear a lot of stuff on people’s records, and, from what I understand, the red means Bloods and the blue means Crips. Being from Detroit, none of that shit really registers with me. I don’t follow none of that, but when you are in their territory you have to respect it; it’s real and you got to respect it. I changed my wardrobe during my two-month stay in LA—there was no red, and there was no blue. I always found myself wearing a lot of gray, a lot of black, and a lot of beige. It’s a damn shame it has to be like that but that’s how it is when you go out to Cali! You have to pack accordingly, especially in the field of work that I’m in. I’m around a lot of those gangstas all the time. Whatever their affiliation was, I respected that. Being from Detroit, we don’t get off into gang banging.

  After the Source Awards, we went to the studio; Slim wanted to do some recording. He tried to do some recording, but he couldn’t really focus. Slim was shaken up from the Death Row situation. First thing I did when we got back to the studio usually was read a book. I had some downtime when we were at the studio, and I usually read during that period. I felt very ignorant about what was going on, and nobody in the business out there really wanted to talk about the history of Death Row, plus the history of the gang life. I took the initiative to find out, because you can’t really be out there and not know what’s going on. I was basically already sitting in California naked, meaning with no guns and no vest. I was basically out there with my wits and the Lord’s Prayer. That’s what kept me alive—the Lord! I was reading my Bible and working my wits.

  I have plenty of street smarts.You can’t go out there and disrespect their culture, because if you do you are definitely going to have some problems. I had a sleepless night, spent trying to figure out what was going on and what was going to happen, and grasping the fact that I was in the middle of some bullshit that I didn’t really know anything about. Regardless, I was in the middle of it and had to deal with it. The next morning, I got up bright and early, went and had some breakfast, and found a bookstore and bought this book called Have Gun Will Travel by Ronin Ro. Basically, this book was built on interviews from Death Row members, members of Interscope, and people from Loud Records and tells of their encounters with Death Row. It tells about the rise and fall of Death Row Records, about Bad Boy, and also about the killing of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. It tells about the good times and the bad times. Basically, it covers about ten years of hip-hop, and tells how Death Row was formed, how Suge used to help out artists who were getting screwed over, and how he went in and straightened everything out. It mentioned a lot of good things and a lot of bad things, and it answered every question I had and made things a lot clearer to me. What I realized was, OK, this is why Interscope acts like this with this group of guys, and this is why this guy is in the studio doing this and so on and so forth. I felt like I wasn’t completely in the dark anymore, but I knew I had a lot to learn. It took me about a week to read this book, and I read a lot of chapters over and over to get a feel for how these Death Row guys think. Being from Detroit, there’s a different way of thinking.You have to respect their mentality out there.You might not like it or agree with it, but you are going to respect it. You must abide if you are going to survive.

  I did some research on California gangsters. I studied their approach. I don’t know if this is factual, but from what I’ve read and what I’ve seen, they always approach a person with some conversation first, to see where your head is at and to see where your heart is. And the next time they are on some intimidation shit, and if you aren’t feeling what they are saying, then God help you. And I can honestly say staying in my Bible and staying focused helped me through it. No disrespect to Death Row, I am just explaining the situation that I went through with them. If I got beef with anybody, it’s with Paul and Slim for paying me $185 a day to be dealing with that shit, plus doing extra work that I wasn’t supposed to be doing. Now you tell me if $185 is worth all that—hell no—not in anybody’s life. Being certified and qualified at that time, I said,Yo, it’s time for me to act a little bit quicker to get some more things under my belt, making things happen. So, at this point in time, we were a little shook up, and we were nervous because we had to stay out in LA. I brought the situation to the table to Jimmy Iovine and told him what was going on, but he blew the whole thing off like, “Oh, those guys, they’re always doing that. They’re just fucking with you guys, they’re just trying to intimidate you. Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to them. I’ll tell Suge to tell those guys to stop fucking with you because Suge is not sending those guys to do that. ” I said, “Even if he’s not, the point is they are from Death Row Records, and they are fucking with us. I mean damn, man, how are we supposed to take that? We’re just out here so Slim can finish his album. ” I was just trying to get this man back to his daughter and his wife safely, that was my whole task.

  I just kept getting frustrated because everybody kept blowing it off like, “Aw, man, don’t worry about it. It isn’t no big deal, they do this shit all the time. ” I’m like, “Yo, I’m not about to take no chances like that, man! I can’t afford to take no chances without knowing what’s going on. ” So shortly after that we went home for about a week or so to kind of let things cool off out there, and Slim did some recording here at home. I was home and really looking at this situation and I’m like, Yo, man, this situation is really getting crazy man, this shit is getting crazy! I don’t want to be involved in something this crazy. I’m just trying to make some money; I’m just trying to get my label on. I was trying to get the Wadsquad out by doing something independent myself. I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be to get that done.

  More Stress During our stay in California, I decided to go to school. I figured with all the drama building, I better be prepared for the worst. Every morning, from 8:00 a. m. to 1:00 p. m. , I attended a law enforcement academy that certified me in executive protection. This process took two months to complete. This was done on my own out of loyalty to Slim. This certification would allow me to carry a concealed weapon legally throughout the US. I was certified to kill, but only if my life or my client’s life were in endangered. I was granted arrest powers, as well. In doing this, I felt that my stock should go up and requested a raise. Paul took the liberty to thank me for my efforts in protecting Slim and then denied the raise. They even denied reimbursement for my certification. I just continued to roll with the punches. My job went beyond being his bodyguard. I was his part-time assistant, part-time accountant, chauffeur, mentor, main supporter, and frie
nd. I went beyond the call of duty. I was the only one that had some control over his negative impulses. However, as he blew up, so did his head. Paul did his best to keep up the confusion between Slim and

  I. I was partially used as Paul’s fall guy until I wised up. There were times in California where I would spend my own money on Slim, because Paul and Slim’s accountant didn’t want him to have money. And when Slim did have money, he would lose it all. He’d lose his head if it wasn’t attached. Over a period of time, Slim lost about $1, 200, three cell phones, and a few verses to songs—and it usually fell back on me to do the searching. Overall, Slim was a decent guy at times. He would try to sign every autograph until everyone was satisfied. There were times when he seemed human. For example, he wanted to watch Ice-T perform from the crowd, even though he was on the same tour. I made it happen. He was like little kid at a concert for the first time. Nobody bothered him. There were difficult times, like when I refused to take part in his drug activities. I never liked him using the drugs, because I didn’t want the responsibility of notifying the next of kin if he OD’d. A few years ago, I was a drug treatment counselor and, from my analysis, Slim had all the symptoms of an abuser. It’s no secret. I can recall one day during the Warp Tour where he took fourteen different drugs. It started with Ecstasy, then liquor, Vicodin, Valium, shrooms, marijuana,Tylenol 3,Whip-Its, and a host of other over-the-counter drugs. He was scared to go to sleep that night. Then there were times when he would be selective and claim he was cutting back. “Today I’m only doing Ecstasy! ”Slim would say. That would last for twelve hours. I’ve always seen Slim as an unloved little boy who throws tantrums. He has to have his way or everyone will be miserable. One time we were running late for a flight, and he had to have a vegetarian Whopper from Burger King. We missed the flight! Needless to say, Paul wasn’t happy.

  Slim can be very bold at times, like when were in San Diego. There was this mother and two teenage kids who claimed they were his stepfamily from his dad. They made it known that they didn’t want anything from him, they just wanted to be acknowledged. This family had pictures of Slim’s dad and themselves. The photos had a very strong resemblance to Marshall. I was given the honor to present this to Slim to see if he was interested in meeting them. He glanced at the photos and said he didn’t want anything to do with his dad. He then turned and threw the photos out the bus window where the family was waiting. The crew tried to convince him to at least hear their story, but he refused. It was sad because that might have been his only chance to learn about his dad. But in retrospect his father might have set the whole thing up. Who knows?

  4

  TROUBLE IN PARADISE Death Row at the Dr. Dre Break Up to Make Up Reunion, September 24, 1999. My wife and I were out, as kind of a make-up thing for me having to miss her birthday due to touring. My wife, the whole Shady Tours crew, and I were loaded up to go to Hawaii, a six-hour flight from LA. It was a beautiful flight going out, and everybody was having fun talking about what they were going to do: this, that, and the other. That changed very quickly because as soon as the plane doors opened, airport security and Honolulu police were there to escort us from our airplane safely to our vehicles, telling us they would send our luggage later. We couldn’t figure out what was going on, we just thought they were giving us extra escorts. But they were like, “No, we are coming to inform you that there are like thirty guys here from Death Row Records, and from what we understand they were on the same plane as Snoop Dogg, and they were antagonizing him, talking some shit. ” I’m thinking, Man, we are in Hawaii, trying to chill! Damn! The whole mood went from having a good time to drama. When the plane doors opened, everything changed. It was like we walked into a jungle of fire. Things just got hot quickly, and I’m telling myself, This shit is not happening! This is not happening. Immediately, I’m thinking, OK I need to send my wife back home. She is going to be mad, but this shit is about to get ugly. Anytime you got thirty Death Row guys flying from Cali to Hawaii to try to start some shit, to try to pause the Break Up to Make Up Reunion, man you know there’s about to be some shit.That took some masterful planning. Anybody that does that, you got to have much respect for.You got to have much respect for that because that’s organized. They got long arms!! That told me right there that they could reach out anywhere at any given time and get to you, whether it be Dre, Snoop, or Eminem. They didn’t give a fuck! I learned that real quickly. SHIT! I was totally blown away. And if I had to say there was one time I was scared, that was the time, because they caught me totally by surprise for the second time. I wasn’t expecting to see them there. You know, you are in Hawaii and you are expecting to enjoy the beach, the sun, the food, but all that shit quickly changed. The whole setting changed because everyone went from, “Ahh, Hawaii” to “Oh, shit!” It was ugly. Finally, we got Honolulu police and airport security to escort us to our vehicle. Immediately Sarge and Rowe put Dre in a van at the back of the airport where Death Row couldn’t see them, and they fled. They busted up. They are pretty good at handling stuff like that. Me, I was only one person and didn’t have a second person I could set up and organize with or anything. It was just me, and I had to do everything at the same time as watching Slim. It was pretty hectic. Unfortunately, we had to go out the front door. There were some police officers that were working with us as extra added security coming from California. So we had to wait a while because some had to get their guns and their vests, which were still in their luggage. They lost my luggage, but I didn’t have anything in it anyway, but the whole point was we are here in Hawaii, Death Row is out here, and they are starting shit. It was instant stress and instant drama. I was freaking out because I was mad now. I had invited my wife to come out, and I knew she was going to have an attitude, so I was worried about her, and I had to worry about Slim, who was crazy. The happy mood was broken. Everybody got their luggage except me; they sent mine later to the hotel. We all got in the van, and the mood went from everybody talking about having fun and chasing women to complete silence. I mean, all you saw was everybody putting on their bulletproof vests, loading and cocking their Glocks, pulling back their hammers, the whole nine, checking their guns, and all you could hear was “click-click, snap, pop. ”We were like, damn! About half a block down all you could see were these red-and-black jerseys; these guys had on strictly red and black. It was them Death Row cats.

  They had made it known that they were in the house, and it worked. So we pulled off in the van, with the Honolulu police as an escort, and headed to our hotel. The drama began at the hotel. Immediately, we had switched Snoop from the hotel he was at, which was the venue where they were going to be performing a show in the banquet hall. Death Row was apparently staying at the same hotel where Snoop was, so we had to get Snoop from that hotel to our hotel, and we had the Honolulu police surround the perimeter of the whole hotel. Anybody who looked like they didn’t belong there was stopped and questioned, people from Xzibit to Snoop to Dre to their wives to their girlfriends to their kids. No one could leave the premises without proper escort. It was basically demanded that no one go anywhere. I think we were on the best part of the island, and we got the best hotel on the beach, so everything we needed was right there on the spot—the bar, the swimming pool, everything. We really didn’t have to go anywhere, but it just rained on the whole parade. We were all confined to our rooms, and all the artists, such as Xzibit, Dre, Snoop, and Eminem, had to have two police officers on twelve-hour shifts outside of their rooms. Anytime we went anywhere we had numerous bodyguards, so there were a good twelve bodyguards among us, and there were like, two police officers for every two bodyguards. We were deep, so basically we outnumbered them, but it was just the point of being uncomfortable.

  We couldn’t go anywhere, we couldn’t sleep in peace, and we were worried about the drama, what was going to happen next. I had my wife here trying to celebrate her birthday. It was miserable, but we made the most of it. My thing was in a situation like that you worry about the women because th
ey are the weakest link. I guess my mind really got the best of me because I was thinking, They’re going to target me because I’m Slim’s bodyguard, and he’s the new guy, and the way to him is get to me. I brought my wife along, and it’s her birthday, and they might try to approach her. I was just really tripping’ out at this point. Now, I knew to expect the unexpected whenever I was with Slim. “Yo, this shit is getting crazy. ” I couldn’t deal with it, you know. Everybody was stressed out. Folks were mad, people were miserable, everybody’s women had attitudes, and you couldn’t blame them because it was supposed to be a time in paradise, but it turned into a time of terror in Hawaii. We finally got everything situated and organized and secured the premises. Every artist’s door was secure on a 24-hour basis. And then some of the drama began. The second night, we had to do a sound check for the show and, mind you, the sound check was at the same hotel where Death Row was staying, and they tried to bombard the facility; they tried to bum-rush the sound check, and there were quite a few of them.The numbers were pretty equal, you could figure, between the artists and the bodyguards; maybe we had them outnumbered by about ten or fifteen guys. But my point was that these guys weren’t from Hawaii but flew from California to start some shit, and they were organized. From what I understood, they had two offduty police officers that were down with them to basically help them get through a lot of the bullshit. A couple of the security personnel knew this and notified hotel security not to let these guys on the premises period, even though they stayed in the hotel, and not to let them anywhere near the banquet level.