With Eminem's presence sorely missed in the hip-hop scene, the least bit of news about him makes fans and media alike go crazy. The latest rumor surrounding the Detroit MC was that he had ballooned to more than 200 pounds. Word on the street is that Slim Fast even came out and publicly offered him an endless supply of its dietary drink — and a spokesman position!
One of Em's friends and frequent collaborators, Trick Trick, says all the joking about Slim Shady not being slim anymore is just ridiculous.
"Em just picked up some weight, that's it," Trick, a fellow Detroit native, downplayed Thursday afternoon. He's nowhere [near] 250 pounds or anything like that. He picked up a little weight. He ain't walkin' around obese or some sh-- though. He can still run two miles if you want him to and still out-box the majority of them. My man still gets down."
Trick says Em getting down isn't just a physical thing — Slim Shady is still lyrically sound and ready to knock off heads. In fact, he is just one of the guests on Trick's upcoming independent LP, The Villain.
"He's still the coldest that ever did it," Trick said. "The game needs his album. He's rapping on [my album track] 'Who Want It.' He's like, 'Who want it?' [In the song] he's hanging out and these f---ing idiots are always at it. If you want it, come get it. He ain't trying to do nothing but be Em. I'm being me. If you want it, I got ya. He's Em on there. He's going for it. Whoever wants some can come get it. Em produced and rapped on it."
Marshall Mathers isn't the only one onboard Trick's LP, though. Em's pal Dr. Dre produced a record called "Hold On."
"The [rhymes] I did over Dre's track, I had to come hard," Trick added. "You can't just rap on a Dr. Dre track, you have to come with it. It has a message, but it's a street message. ... Street cats have to deal with a lot. A lot of people in the music business overlook the streets. You gonna encounter adversity. You can't fall off. You gotta hold on."
According to Trick, however, the most special cut on The Villain — the first single to which, "Let's Work," was just released — is a song called "Together Forever." He says it features the last-ever verse recorded by his friend Proof from D12.
"He did the verse in the studio [here in Detroit]," Trick began. "We went to a [strip] bar, then went to the casino. The next night, we met at a club called [the] Good Life [Lounge,] and he was trying to get me to drink this Patrón. I was like, 'N---a no!' Then we went back to the casino. Then the next night was the night he passed away."
Trick continued, saying that the song, "Together Forever," also features Kid Rock and Esham: "[It's] like the old Run-DMC song [of the same name]. Proof [sounds] old-school [on the song]. Everybody went old-school on it. Kid Rock is rapping too. Proof and E-Sham didn't used to get along, but they made peace. We're all going eight [bars], eight [bars] eight [bars]."
As for the title of his new album, The Villain, Trick said it's pretty self-explanatory.
"I ain't knocking nobody on how they do their music," he said. "But the artists, sometime we tend to sway with the time. It's ok to test the water a little bit, but you gotta give them you. I'm back on that gangster sh---, cuz. I'm not gonna front. I'm talking about that's straight hardcore, raw Detroit gangsta sh--. My album ain't negative, but I got a point of how I do things. People think I'm just wigging out doing this and that, getting in trouble. That ain't the case. I'm breaking down situations; 'if you do this to somebody, this is gonna happen to you.' "
