Seventeen years ago, Eminem became the first rapper to win an Oscar with “Lose Yourself,” from his hit movie 8 Mile. But the rapper was a no-show at the ceremony. Jump to the present and Eminem finally made up for his absence by performing the song at the last night’s ceremony.
But many had one question: Why? Sitting down with Variety after the surprise appearance, Eminem revealed his reasoning. “I kinda figured maybe since I didn’t get a chance to do it at the time, maybe it would be cool.” As for the timing of it all, it couldn’t have been any better for Em: “[I]t was cool because we just put out an album, so we said maybe that’ll make sense with the timing of the new album.”
Em also revealed why he decided to skip the Oscars back in 2003 and stay home with his daughter, Hailie. “Back then, I never even thought that I had a chance to win, and we had just performed ‘Lose Yourself’ on the Grammys with the Roots… And also, back at that time, the younger me didn’t really feel like a show like that would understand me.”
Eminem also shared his reaction when he was first told about his Oscar win, the reason behind the Oscars reaching out to him, his future plans, and more.
To watch Eminem surprise all with his performance at the 2020 Oscars, click here.
[via Varitety]
