Eminem’s “Asshole,” a cut of The Marshall Mathers LP 2, features a chorus from frequent collaborator Skylar Grey.
Grey recently spoke about her respect for Eminem and addressed their recent collaboration, “Asshole.”
“I knew [Eminem] wrote verses to it a year ago or whatever, but as far as I knew, he wasn’t going to use it,” Grey said in an interview with XXL. “And then two weeks before the album came out, I got [an] email. I didn’t even know until a couple weeks ago that he was even gonna use the song.”
During the interview, Grey also spoke about how she typically collaborates with Eminem.
“Usually what happens is, I write hooks to different beats and I’ll give him a few,” Grey said. “He’ll like one of them, and he happened to like that one…I hadn’t really planned on, ‘Oh, I need to write a song about an asshole.’ That’s just not the way it works. It’s just the way the melody just came out of my mouth with those lyrics, it just kind of flowed. It’s like freestyling almost. I didn’t plan it, it just happened.”
Grey’s work with Eminem has gone beyond collaborations. Eminem also executive produced her Don’t Look Down album.
“He’s got a really good ear and I really trust him on a creative level,” she said. “I’m easily swayed by people’s opinions, and to have a lot of people around you—label, producers, managers, and all that stuff—it can get a little confusing, ’cause everybody has their own idea of what it should sound like. I wanted Em to be the one person who I actually trusted.”
Eminem and Grey have worked together on a number of songs, including “Love The Way You Lie” and “I Need A Doctor.” Grey also accompanied Eminem on November 2, when they performed “Survival” together on “SNL.” “Asshole” can be streamed on HipHopDX.
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