Shadowing Practice: Eminem's Philosophy on Diss-Tracks | Full Interview | Friday Night With Jonathan Ross - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Great to have you here.

Thank you for joining us.

Happy to be here.

Okay, now, should I call you Eminem or Marshall or Slim?

What do you like to be called?

Eminem Slim Marshall.

Look in my mind.

You can call me.

Wow.

We got the voice as well.

Hey, now, where have you been?

What have you been doing?

It's been, what, has it been four years, five years since the last album, and now you've got the new one, Relapse, coming out, but it's been a long period.

This was a deliberate step away from things, I guess.

Yeah, I just wanted to pull back from the spotlight I wanted to pull back from the spotlight for a little while, you know, just I guess kind of reassess my whole career, you know what I mean?

I ended up in rehab in 2005 and, you know, just kind of wanted to, like I was trying to figure out where I was going, you know what I mean?

Like where I was going in my personal life and career-wise and everything, like where I was, what I was going to do.

So I kind of wanted to, I knew that I still wanted to, I knew I wanted to take a break from the spotlight, but at the same time I still wanted to do music, you know, because I'd go crazy if I didn't do music.

I guess you were still creating music, writing music in that period, even if you were releasing it.

Yeah, I was writing music too, but I don't know, I kind of took the producer's role even more so, and, you know, stepped away from the mic, even though...

I mean, I was still writing, I was still making songs, but I wasn't making anything that I felt like was good enough to put out at that time.

And then what happened?

It just clicked again?

Or you just thought the time was right?

Well, I got sober, first of all, you know what I mean?

How tricky was that for you?

Was that a difficult journey?

Was that a tough thing to do?

Yeah, definitely.

It was pretty rough.

You know, there were a couple of years that were pretty bad for me.

But, you know, I'm a little over a year sober now, so I'm happy to...

Well, congratulations.

Happy to...

OK, I haven't got the new album yet.

It's not quite out yet.

I've been given a few tracks.

I've been enjoying them very much.

They're great fun.

The single's terrific.

But I love, you know, I'm a big admire of you.

I think you're just such a talented writer um.. uh.. what was the song needed about performing

that was in eight mile um.. lose yourself

that's got some of the best interests incredible captures the kind of the fear of performing

and the need to perform and the desire to perform i just thought

that was a remarkable piece of work if you weren't doing uh..

if you weren't writing rap would you be were you writing beforehand was it rap

that got you into writing in the first place or were you already expressing yourself in that way

nah um.. i mean i didn't i didn't actually like start writing it was definitely hip-hop you know i didn't um...

I didn't pick up a pen and realize

that I could write anything until you know rap got me into doing that You know I mean I heard

Ice-T reckless was one of the first songs I ever heard once I heard Run DMC LL Cool J.

I was like this is what I want

so this is the first wave of the big rappers This is really yeah that one day of see those good.

Did you like a Houdini and those guys as well?

Oh, yeah, the fat boys remember the fat boys.

Yeah, buddy.

Oh you could eat Good yeah We should team up, we should do something, maybe release something together.

That'd be hot.

Do you, let me ask something, and I'm sure people who rap get asked this all the time, do you sing ever?

Say you're at home and the mood takes you, because in your rapping, it's rapping, it's kind of talking, if you're in the shower, a little bit of Frank Sinatra maybe?

Yeah, a lot of Frank Sinatra.

Yeah, really?

Yeah.

You got a good voice?

No, I mean, I sing on my records, I can't really, I'm not a singer.

But it's not singing singies, it's not like, oh, the summer breeze, you know.

No. That is officially singing, regardless of what you think.

But you ever get tempted to cut loose on a record?

I mean, I've done some things, you know, here and there, like as far as like singing, but, you know, I'll tell the world I can't sing.

That's not my, you know what I mean, what I feel like my forte is.

But, you know, some hooks, if you listen to them, there's melodies in them.

Yeah, there's a melody.

Well, the way you use the voice is melodic as well.

Yeah, as long as you can hold a key, you know what I mean, or a note or whatever.

You can do it?

Yeah, I guess.

Yes, at least I try.

How was it when you were starting out?

Because I know before you came along, there was only one white rapper I was familiar with, and that was Vanilla Ice.

He was great.

Mr. Richard Von Winkle or something.

Believe it or not, I interviewed him years ago.

I quite liked him, he was a nice guy.

However, he was kind of a bit of a novelty act, really.

You came along, and obviously it's the real thing.

But did you encounter that kind of prejudice?

Did you encounter that attitude early on, people saying he can't do it because he's a white guy, this is essentially black urban music?

I mean, yeah, early on I went through quite a bit of that.

But I think that at the end of the day, I guess if you, as long as you,

if your heart is in it and you just keep persevering, you're going to break through.

I mean, I don't know.

I mean, it was certainly, it wasn't easy, you know what I mean?

But I just kept at it.

You know, I got booed off stage.

It was many times, as I did in the movie, like certain, you know.

How long did it take, do you think, before you got good enough to think, OK, this is working now?

How many times did you have bad on stage experiences?

100

Um, maybe a couple.

101

So not that many.

102

Because I'm pretty awesome.

103

Okay, let me talk about your new single because you know what I love about your work, and I'm sure many people do, there's a sense of humor in it.

104

It's funny.

105

A lot of the time it's funny.

106

Not always, sometimes it's dark and you know, other things, but sometimes it's very funny.

107

The new single is very funny

108

and you have a firm grasp of popular culture culture you kind of I think the word

109

that young people use is this you diss some people in

110

the new single some yeah yeah now do you have any

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feedback you ever meet those people do they ever contact you

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and let you know what they think about it

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or nah I mean here's the thing this is this is the kind of the way

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that I see it in the way

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that I've always said it is it's kind of like these

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aren't personal attacks on people these I've never met these people you know what I mean

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so these aren't like personal attacks on their character or or anything like that, you know, it's kind of like picking names out of a hat.

118

And if your name rhymes with something good, you know what I mean?

119

That's the same line.

120

If you're, you know, a pop figure, you know what I mean, like in this world...

121

Like Marilyn Manson, who you do, and Jessica Simpson, and Sarah Palin, I guess.

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But you can see why, if you do Sarah Palin, people might think, oh, he wants to make a statement about Sarah Palin or American politics.

123

I do, I want to nail her, but...

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If anyone's gonna, I think you got a good chance.

125

Hey, you're looking in good shape.

126

One of the rumors I heard that when you were away, that you'd ballooned up, that you'd got really big.

127

Did you put on a lot of weight?

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Yeah, I put on quite a few pounds.

129

How chunky did you get?

130

I think I probably tipped the scales a little over 200.

131

And was this just eating, overeating?

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It was eating, it was taking pills that I had no business taking, you know what I mean?

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Doing things that I just wasn't taking care of myself, I wasn't taking care of my body.

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I kind of felt like, I mean, you know, there were times I wanted to just give it up, you know what I mean?

135

I was in a pretty dark place.

136

To keep in check of this now, you must be working out a lot, I guess, and you've got a fitness regime you stick to?

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Yeah, I run a lot.

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I run quite a bit.

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I get up in the morning.

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I was running twice a day for a little while.

141

And how far did you run when you say one?

142

It's half an hour, ten minutes?

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What is it?

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I was running...

145

I was...

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There was one point where I was running, like, it was a little too much.

147

It was a little extreme.

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It was a total of 17 miles.

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But you know what that is.

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That's you filling the gap you had in your life when you've given up the other stuff from there.

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It's kind of addictive behavior.

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Yeah, it's like you kind of go from one addiction to the next, and I'm an addict, you know what I mean?

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So I'm, I guess, an extremist, like one extreme to the next.

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Well, now, am I right in thinking that one of the things you're addicted to right now, and I'm very excited about this, is American comic books.

155

Oh yeah, I kind of, I had that hobby when I was a kid, like I used to collect comics a lot, and I kind of, I guess when I, as I started to get sober,

156

I kind of like fell back in love with, you know, comic books again.

157

Like, oh, this is dope, why did I ever leave this alone?

158

There you go, there's Eminem on the cover of The Punisher, one of the Punisher comics, a recent one.

159

That's got to be, you've got to know you've arrived when you're on the cover of the Punisher.

160

Oh yeah, that's how you know you made it.

161

Yeah.

162

The hat you're wearing in that particular situation, because it's red, it looks rather like my wife has something that she wears in the shower sometimes.

163

I don't think they've done you any photos.

164

But you do like the headgear, don't you?

165

Yeah, I do like the headgear.

166

Yeah, and what's the name of the guys you perform with, the group?

167

D12.

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D12.

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Now, here's a photograph.

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They all look very splendid, but the fella to the bottom right, he appears to be wearing his grandmother's shower cap.

171

Do you have any is there any quality control

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that goes on with the gang around you do you

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when they come in they file in do you ever say Good good good.

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Oh Absolutely not or you just let it come as it

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and fall as it does no when he put that thing on I was like good good good great

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Are you gonna come back you do some more tools um I haven't got

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that far as far as like touring I haven't like got

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that far to do to really figure it out yet I haven't got

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that part figured out so I'm kind of you know I'm kind of an album cycle right now

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Promoting and things like that, but we'll see how it goes.

181

Do you have any need this evening of a human big box?

182

Maybe we should just do the whole thing acapella

183

and you should be boxing this is you might be we won't need alchemist I am old school.

184

I'm old school.

185

Really?

186

Yeah, man.

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I'm old school I'm so old school I don't even know what old school means.

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Me neither. At this point.

189

It's hard to bust a rhyme, to bust a rhyme and keep in time, it's tricky.

190

It's tricky, tricky, tricky and I can do it.

191

Wow.

192

Amazing, amazing.

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Why practice speaking with this video?

This interview with Eminem offers an insightful context for English speaking practice. Eminem discusses his hiatus from the music industry and personal challenges, allowing learners to engage with real-life dialogues filled with emotion and authenticity. Practicing speaking along with this content not only improves articulation but also provides a unique opportunity to absorb conversational rhythms and expressions used by a renowned artist. By mimicking Eminem's intonation and style, learners can enhance their own speaking abilities, making this an engaging way to learn English with YouTube.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Analyzing the dialogue reveals several key grammatical structures and expressions that can enrich your English skills:

“I wanted to pull back from the spotlight” - This structure demonstrates the past tense and emphasizes desires or intentions using “wanted to” + base verb, useful for expressing past wishes.
“I kind of wanted to reassess my whole career” - The phrase “kind of” is a casual way to soften statements, which is common in spoken English.
“I was trying to figure out where I was going” - This phrase illustrates the use of the continuous tense to describe ongoing processes, which could be beneficial for students practicing IELTS speaking practice.
“It just clicked again” - This idiomatic expression suggests an understanding or realization, and is a great way to express sudden clarity in conversation.

Common Pronunciation Traps

Throughout the interview, there are several pronunciation challenges learners should pay attention to:

Sober - The pronunciation of this word can be tricky; focus on the "o" sound and ensure clarity to avoid confusion with similar-sounding words.
Incredible - The emphasis often shifts in fast speech; practice saying it slowly and then at a normal speed to master the pronunciation.
Rough - Pay attention to the "gh" sound; it can be difficult for non-native speakers and may be pronounced incorrectly if not practiced.

Using a shadowing app can significantly aid in mastering these pronunciations, as you imitate native speakers and refine your accent. By frequently practicing with content like this interview, learners can improve their fluency and confidence in spoken English.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	have you been doing · I've been enjoying
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have you been · It's been · I've been given
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be called · I've been given

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Eminem's Philosophy on Diss-Tracks | Full Interview | Friday Night With Jonathan Ross - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Why practice speaking with this video?

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Common Pronunciation Traps

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?