News Flash! I knew it would only be a matter of time before Eminem would influence Slim Shady to get Marshall Mathers in trouble. It’s amazing to be on the other side of the fence watching Slim self-destruct. I’ve always known that Kim would be the downfall of his career. Slim had seen all the signs but refused to acknowledge them. Slim once told me about a dream he had. The dream involved him being arrested in a public place for an unknown reason, while Kim pranced around in a very, very short skirt that showed her panties. During that time, Slim had suspected Kim of cheating. Slim actually had a premonition of his fate. As we all know, Slim was arrested for pistol-whipping a guy for kissing his wife in the parking lot of a nightclub.
Slim was given a tip that his wife was cheating on him, and he should see for himself. Lo and behold, he came, he saw, and he whipped some ass. Unfortunately, his jealous rage earned him a felonious assault charge and another charge for brandishing a firearm. Both are punishable up to nine years.Twelve hours prior to that event, Slim had pulled his gun and threatened to shoot a member of ICP at a car audio shop.
A few days later, he was arraigned on both gun charges for two separate events. My questions were: Why are you still brandishing a weapon? Why are you carrying an empty gun? How many more people will you brandish your weapon in front of before you’re shot? The news of his downfall was a disappointing event. It was obvious that he had no one in his corner to consult him or control him. That’s what I did best for Slim. I kept him out of trouble constantly. I felt some guilt seeing him in hand cuffs. I should have been there. Slim made the statement that he carries a gun due to the absence of his bodyguard! I thought I’d be glad to see him fall, but all I could think about was how he was blowing it. After all the bullshit and misery he put me through, I was concerned about his future. At the rate he’s going, he’s headed for jail or the morgue. Think, Slim! Your life should be lived for Hailey’s benefit. The media has labeled him a “joker, ” a “Tupac wanna be, ” and a “lyrical tough guy. ”
Well, Kim has finally earned the limelight she wanted, but through a mug shot. Apparently, Kim and Slim were tussling that night in the parking lot. When the police came to arrest Marshall, she attacked the cops. She was booked on disorderly conduct. The next day, Kim released a statement to the media about staying out of their private life. She also made a public plea that she stands by her man. RIGHT! Slim always said, “There’s no such thing as bad press. ” Slim Shady is the talk of the town across the world. He is bigger than Elvis right now. Many people wonder, Will he last? Will he be another rapper dead for popping off at the mouth for something he shouldn’t have said? Will he OD like Elvis? I think neither. I believe he’s going to kill Kim for REAL, or she going to kill him during one of their nasty spells. Then again, God may intervene and call Slim to be a preacher! Now that would be a sight to see! (Minister Marshall Mathers, aka Triple “M”). I worry about Kim and Slim and hope their marriage doesn’t end in tragedy. Hailey needs them both to be mature parents.
Financially, Slim has possibly dug himself a hole. The guy that he pistol-whipped is suing Slim for an undisclosed amount. The victim said he feared for his life as Slim threatened to kill him. I estimate the victim will sue for $25 million. PAY UP!!! It’s a sad day when a guy takes your wife and your money. Well, that definitely puts his mom at the back of the lawsuit line. It’s probably a good thing I did resign, because I wouldn’t have gotten another raise. I guess you really do reap what you sow!
Slim got away with flashing his gun during OUR confrontation because the police were acting like fans instead of cops. Think of how he shortchanged his staff for security, producers, and arrangements. We’re talking thousands of dollars people haven’t been paid, especially in production. God doesn’t like ugly, because you’ll pay, one way or another! It’s weird to see Slim’s songs come to life in a timely manner, especially the song “Kim. ” This is the track where he raps about killing her for cheating. Then there’s the song “Criminal, ” where he likens his words to criminal behavior. Unfortunately, his actions spoke louder than his words when he earned two felony firearm assault charges. Congratulations!
Marshall Mathers had put himself in an uncompromising position (no pun intended) with the homosexual community. Slim went out of his way to bash the gay and lesbian community through violent expressions. Michigan gay activists fired back, trying to have his music pulled from the shelves. They felt that Slim was encouraging teens to batter and possibly murder gays and lesbians.These gay activists wanted Slim to feel their pain.
This is an of ficial announcement that Slim Shady has won the beef with XXL. On June 20, 2000, XXL nervously dropped my exclusive inter view about Slim. They’d been shaken down! XXL said, “We think Slim Shady and his entourage may rush our office with trouble. This concerns our employees!” I wrote it off as a unique situation because XXL started the beef by calling Slim a “culture stealer. ” Slim retaliated by dissing the magazine globally. I worked diligently for six months on this exclusive with XXL, and they bailed a week before the release. I took it as a minor setback and realized that this was huge to XXL. Obviously, they couldn’t handle a history-making story of this magnitude. I must say, I was disappointed when XXL dropped my story, especially after doing leads (“Remember, we got a big bodyguard!”). Blacks don’t get many chances to stand together against a white powerhouse without someone selling out. Next time, stick to your guns! Slim does!
Lastly, Slim’s fans have put him as their savior. A god? He has cult followers that threatened the prosecuting attorney with death threats if he was prosecuted for his gun charges. The prosecutor took the threats seriously and moved his family to safety. Utterly amazing! They can hurt Slim more than they can help. As time goes on and his career continues to grow, I’ll be looking forward to the shocking news he hasn’t made yet. This is just the beginning!
Stop the Presses! Kim attempted suicide on July 7, 2000, at 11:30 pm. , after allegedly confronting Slim Shady about my book, “Shady Bizzness. ” When Kim confronted Slim at his concert in Auburn Hills, he apparently didn’t deny the claims. She then rushed home and attempted suicide by slashing her wrist with five superficial wounds. Slim Shady’s mother was quoted in a tabloid as saying, “Kim planned the suicide attempt for attention. Nobody attempts suicide in front of their family. ” Rumor has it that Momma Mathers is writing a song about her son, Marshall. Hmmm. . . ! I wonder where she got that idea.
More News Finally, the dreaded question! Did Slim sleep with Christina Aguilera? No! Absolutely not! The one time he tried to approach Christina she shut him down. That happened at the MTV Europe Awards in 1999. However, Christina thought he was cute. Slim apparently had crushes on Christina and Britney Spears. Obviously Slim’s feelings were hurt when the ladies didn’t respond. Therefore, he lashed out at them in “The Real Slim Shady” video.
As far as N’SYNC and The Backstreet Boys—he had plenty of opportunities to fight them.We often stayed in the same hotels with them when they were in New York, LA, and sometimes Europe. Slim never made any complaints to me about N’SYNC or The Backstreet Boys. How can one scrawny MC kick five or more guy’s asses at once?
Draw your own conclusion on the “Real Slim Shady. ”
9
THE AFTERMATH People often ask me, “What happened after the book went public?” Plenty! The behind-the-scene drama was better than the book.The media went crazy with this “tell all” by lifting up then tearing down a “disgruntled employee. ” If I was disgruntled, I would have went out like a US Postal worker! There were media scams and attempted bootlegging by a certain weekly entertainment magazine. This particular magazine was scheduled to do a review and allegedly sold copies to Eminem and Paul. There’s no doubt in my mind that they leaked the material, because absolutely no one else had the draft. I received further confirmation from two New York sources that were outside the Eminem camp that had copies of the partial book. One was a law student, and the other was DT. They read aloud to me my material
verbatim.
Needless to say, I was pissed! I was pissed at my publicist and this jackass journalist. In addition to this, I was receiving threatening calls from the media saying, “This book better be the real deal and come out on time! Or we’re going to eat your ass alive!” I told this journalist, “The media will be kissing my ass and savoring the sweet taste, so pucker up!”
I experienced many games with the media like jockeying for position against Eminem in a magazine. Reporters would do exclusive interviews and set publishing dates on the stories only to have material to obtain an interview with Eminem. Eminem would agree to take the inter views and that would shut down my story. The magazines never had intentions of going with my stories. I was just a pawn. However, for every story that didn’t flourish, another one did. I eventually did over 500 interviews domestic and abroad via the Internet, magazines, radio, and TV. The media probably hated me more than his fans for publishing the book. Why? Eminem was the second coming of Elvis. The Great White Hope! The Golden Boy! Therefore nothing should be said to tarnish his image, true or false. There were so many double standards for Eminem. All of a sudden, white people who hated hip-hop were professional music critics on Eminem and the industry. Please! He could do no wrong. I searched high and low for book deals only to learn that I was being blackballed. I never met so many scared professionals in my life. “Oh, you have a great book, but Marshall might sue us! However, if he dies tragically we’ll publish it, ” said publishers.
Three months before the book dropped I did a worldwide media blitz that caused Paul and Slim to pitch an insulting $25,000 offer to buy me out. Needless to say, I turned them down and offered them several opportunities at a fair wage: $1,000,000, negotiable. That fee would compensate me for the worldwide book publishing rights, merchandising, and film/ video rights. I was willing to negotiate down from my offer, but they were stuck on $25,000. No deal. Shortly afterward I published the book independently and sold 1,000 books the first week through selfdistribution. Unfortunately, the demand was so great that it was difficult to keep up with sales. If I had a publisher, I would have sold at least 100, 000 books that first week. I was getting calls for books worldwide. I handled the demand fairly well considering the financial circumstances. My wife, mom and dad, and brother took loans from their 401Ks to help fund the printing and publicity. I was cashing checks left and right to pay my attorney, Stephanie Hammonds, my CPA, Kevin Carter, my publicist, Roger Neal, Onyx Printing, and my assistant, Adam Rogers. I had people on payroll for eighteen months after the publishing date. I must say, the book did well for an independent. It did so well that EMINEM released a songbook titled “Angry Blond” a few months after mine. Needless to say, fans were disappointed. They were expecting a rebuttal to my book or a novel. I believe it was published to knock the edge off my book sales, considering “Shady Bizzness” was the first book EVER published about him. I eventually sold 10,000 books independently with no publisher and limited distribution.
I must admit everything wasn’t peachy. There were times when I wished I had never written the book or ever met Eminem. My life had become consumed with a one-time friend turned enemy. The book took on a life of its own, causing emotional trauma. I started to hate the book as much as I did Eminem. In reality, I hated myself. Why did I write the book? The book was an outlet to channel my anger and to prevent myself from possibly serving life in prison.The book was therapy for my thoughts instead of penal corrections for my possible actions. Several situations occurred that made me bitter toward the book. The first was the failed movie offers from some major film houses. These film producers would make great offers but they couldn’t deliver the royalties or a fair contract. In other words, their mouths were writing checks their asses couldn’t sign. Then there was one particular UK publisher whom my attorney negotiated with for eight months to land a worldwide publishing deal. The deal entailed publishing “Shady Bizzness” three months before the release of “8 Mile, ” with a media blitz. Everything was great until three weeks before the release date when the publisher pulled out of the deal. I was blown away. This publisher made me jump through so many hoops that I felt like a dog in the circus. I changed the title of the book. I added pictures. I deleted material per their attorney, and they still dropped me! The publisher claimed they were nervous about the controversial content. However, I did manage to get 50 percent of the signing bonus. I was devastated. That was a multimillion dollar deal to coincide with the release of “8 Mile”. I allowed the book to go downhill for one year. I didn’t promote it or publish another single copy. I said, “I quit! Fuck this book and fuck Eminem!” It got so bad that my kids would be scared to chant Eminem songs from the radio. This book toyed with my emotions and often rekindled the day I left Marshall with guns drawn. Eminem added fuel to the fire by lying in Blender magazine two years after the book was published. Blender magazine released this quote from Eminem. “I came to find out that he was keeping a fucking journal! That was his plan ever since he met me. I was his shot at fame. After that happened, I didn’t trust anybody. ”What the hell was he talking about? As I recall, they sought me out for the job and I orig inally turned them down. As God is my witness I never kept a journal. If I wanted fame, I would’ve went out like John Wilkes Booth. Now, there’s your shot at fame. Blender magazine should be careful whom they call an unethical bodyguard, especially after not asking for my side of the story.
After a year hiatus from “Shady Bizzness, ” I received a call from the Jenny Jones Show for an in-studio interview. This was just the spark I needed to bounce back from my layoff. Little did I know there would be a series of events to follow. Upon arriving in Chicago for the taping of the Jenny Jones Show, I received a mystery call. The call was regarding some one seeking publishing for another Eminem exposé. I immediately thought that it was a setup for shady dealings. This call came one hour before taping the Jenny Jones Show. I knew Jenny was going to hit me from every angle possible, and she did. Little did I know, the show was set up for me to be the antagonist. This show included Eminem lookalikes, former coworkers, and his grandma. Before I could sit down, there were boos and negative remarks from his granny. I kept my composure and remained standing, posing for the haters in a cream white suit, matching head to toe. I was killing them softly! When the crowd settled down, I then sat down. Immediately, Granny stated, “You wanted to harm my grandson!” And I honestly replied, “Yes, it wasn’t the right thing to do, but that’s how I felt. So instead of hurting him, I wrote the book!” Then out of nowhere, Jenny Jones hits me with the Eminem quote from Blender, which was great. This allowed me to address the lies and make people understand I never had intentions of writing the book until Slim and Paul revoked my funds, and the conflict that took place outside his mother-in law’s home happened. Eventually I won the crowd over, but you’d never know that by the way they edited the interview. Eminem’s grandma was a good sport because we conversed during the commercial breaks about how she missed her grandson. She even pitched a proposal for me to help her publish her book. I had considered helping her just because of her struggling financial situation. I could never understand how Eminem could allow his mom and granny to go without while he lives high on the hog. It must be a cultural thing. Regardless of whatever happened in the past, family should live in comfort.
10
BEHIND THE SCENES Two days after the Jenny Jones Show I got another mystery call regarding someone publishing an Eminem book. This particular fellow called with plenty of anxiety and desperation in his voice, which made me nervous. Reluctantly I agreed to meet with this guy, but I told him, “This better not be a setup for a HIT! If so, I’ll shoot you on sight. I’m talking self-defense. ” He agreed to be strictly about business. We both agreed to meet in Eastpointe, Michigan, at the Big Boy restaurant. I must say there were times when this book made me extremely paranoid, and I was my own bodyguard. There have been times when crazed Eminem fans have noticed me and rushed me to ask questions but their body language
spoke differently, which caused them to get a rude awakening. One particular time at the gas station, this guy was pumping gas and noticed me. He kept aggressively questioning if I was Eminem’s ex-bodyguard. After the second firm yes, he reached into his car. I then reached into my waistband and grabbed my gun. The guy turned around abruptly and walked toward me in a fast-paced manner. Immediately he stopped in his tracks upon observing the cold piece of steel.Then he says, “Dude I just wanted you to sign my book. I read your book in one night. It’s the best book I ever read!” I holstered my firearm, and then graciously apologized and explained my response to his fanatical behavior.
Now that I agreed to meet this mystery caller about this new Eminem book, I prepared for the worst. Once again I put on the bulletproof vest, got my extra clip, loaded the firearm. I contacted backup to stand by in the event something happened. Some may call it crazy, but I believe in facing my demons instead of running from them. Upon pulling up in the parking lot, I cased the area for anything unusual or out of place before entering.The mystery man and I agreed to meet in front of the restaurant. I had taken my firearm and placed it in a small handbag in which my hand could fire the weapon without exposing the gun. Shortly afterwards, as I stood there, a Puerto Rican/Caucasian male approaches me–the mystery caller. We entered the building and took a booth in the rear. I sat where I could see the door and placed my small handbag on the table pointed right at his chest. Observing the mystery man’s body language and the way he constantly adjusted, he was armed also. After the first five minutes we both began to realize it was strictly business. He pitched to me that his wife was a former friend of Kim Mathers and volunteer nanny for Hailey. He also suspected that Eminem had slept with his wife. He and his wife were in the process of filing for divorce due to differences and possible infidelity. He wanted to publish an exposé about Eminem and Kim as payback for what had transpired.The only problem was bringing his soonto-be ex-wife on board. He pitched the whole idea about me publishing the book, and needless to say after reading the draft, I wasn’t going to risk that. I read that draft several times and contacted the husband with a counterproposal. I basically proposed to them that I would be their publicist and distributor of the book. The major problem was that no one could know I was involved with their book or it would never take off. Therefore, I took on a Jewish alias, “Silas Bernstein, ” CEO of Urban Tabloid Marketing and Distribution. Man, it worked like a charm! I then realized how powerful the Jewish community is in the entertainment and media.
Shady Bizzness: Life as Eminem's Bodyguard in an Industry of Paper Gangsters Page 18