Stans

A lot of people ask me...

- Why did you write the song "Stan?"

- Is "Stan" based on a real fan?

- Why do you share so much about yourself in your music?

- What the hell goes on in your brain?

Are you happy?

How's your daughter?

- Who is someone that helped you the same way

that you helped me?

- Do you feel like the impact you've had

is what you hoped it would be?

- What's it like being famous?

- How much fan mail do you get?

- How does it feel to be followed by so many people?

Have you read my letter?

Is everyone ready?

- All right, Marshall, take one.

What's your first question?

- Hi, my name is chicka-chicka Slim--

I wanted to say Zolt Shady.

Hi, my name is chicka-chicka-chicka

Zolt Shady.

Hi, my name is Alex.

Hi, my name is Daniyela.

Hi, my name is Giovanni.

Hi, my name is Brooklyn.

Hi, my name is James.

Hi, my name is Kyle.

- Hi. "My Name Is."

- Well, no, you-- -

I'm s--I thought you mean it like the song.

Hi, my name is Nikki.

Let me just put my cape on.

I don't even know what these look like on.

Too much?

It's called the Eminem.

Um, it's based off-- in his music video

"Without Me."

Um, although I did leave my plastic ass at home,

but this is my costume.

- This is art.

This is crazy.

Early Eminem, Slim Shady.

This is the type of mask that he always wore

in every concert, early 2000s,

everything like that.

- How and why does a white T-shirt become iconic?

- Because, uh, there's a Slim Shady in all of us.

When he wears that shirt,

and when I wear that shirt as well,

it symbolizes unity.

They, um, have an Eminem subreddit, r/eminem,

and I enjoy being there.

It's actually, uh, where I found my people.

- So I follow him on all social medias.

Every social media that he has, that I have,

I will follow him on.

- I, like, followed him every--

not followed him everywhere, 'cause that

sounds weird and creepy.

- You should see what my explore page

on Instagram looks like.

Eminem, Eminem, cute puppies,

Eminem, Eminem, horror movies,

Eminem, Eminem, hairstyles.

Stuff like that.

- I wake up every morning, and it is a habit.

It's a ritualistic routine.

I think I do have an addiction to Eminem.

- Occasionally, like, I'll go into, like,

a YouTube, like, rabbit hole where

I'll, like, watch old performances

or music videos or interviews.

And, like, what people could say in interviews

25 years ago versus what they could say now, like,

half the shit he said was insane.

All right, y'all.

Back here live on the "Rap City" thing.

I'm looking for my man.

My man is not--

Ow!

Ow!

Yo, cut the cameras, man.

Come on, dog.

Come on. Come on.

You all right? - Hey!

One... - Ladies and gentlemen--

And a-two, and a-three--

Insane.

This guy's insane.

- Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Eminem.

Y'all give it up for Eminem.

- What's up, dog? - What's up, man?

How you doing?

- That right there, it brought me back so much.

Just the energy that he came in when he was onscreen

was a different type of energy.

- This is an artist called Eminem.

It's spelled funky.

If you're going to pronounce it,

it's like the candy. Eminem.

- I'm keeping it gangster, homie.

I'm keeping it gangster.

I am flexing my bum-bum.

There was a shock factor

when I was first discovering Eminem.

- Here's Eminem doing one of the best Michael Jackson

impersonations I've ever seen.

- He was definitely a loose cannon.

Mom!

No, yes, you did molest me.

- This dude, he's got a good sense of humor,

and he's willing to express his art, you know,

with no boundaries.

- I was 10 years old sitting at home watching MTV

in hopes to see the Backstreet Boys

or NSYNC come on,

but it was Marshall Mathers.

Slim Shady came on with "My Name Is,"

and my whole life changed after that.

- I was coming home from the police academy,

and I hear, "Hi, my name is."

And I was like, what is this?

And so I listened to it all the way home.

It's not like anything else I've heard before.

I'm in.

- You want to copy me and do exactly what I did?

Try 'cid and get fucked up worse than my life is?

I was like, what? Yeah!

Sign me up.

I'll do it.

- Most of these rappers back then,

they want to portray this, I'm from the streets,

I'm a thug, I'm this, don't fuck with me.

He's just being him.

He's just having a grand time.

- Nobody was making those type of music videos.

Most people were like, half-naked, dancing,

doing, like, these big numbers.

And he had, like, storylines.

- When he started going at these pop culture people,

making fun of them to the T, I'm just like, oh, my God,

dude, this guy really doesn't give a fuck.

I was, like, hypnotized.

Like, my eyes were, like, glued to the screen,

and that kickstarted my obsession with him.

- We be live in Times Square, "Total Request Live,"

with the big videos, the most requested ones.

How about a round of applause for Eminem?

Hi.

Making his--

"TRL" at the time was new.

It was always our intent to have it be

an exact reflection of our audience.

It was like, what if we gave one hour of this network

to the fans?

And let's ask them what they want.

Let's take their requests.

I was a radio guy, and we did a lot

of, like, requests in radio.

Who did you want to see?

Congratulations.

"Slim Shady" is going to number two next week...

- Thank you. - On the charts.

Thank you.

- That deserves a round of applause right there.

- With a little--little bit of help from MTV.

- I've seen fans. I've seen it all.

I've never seen anything like Marshall, Eminem fans, ever.

My name is!

- How they show up, what they look like,

the connection that they have with this artist,

it's really deep.