Here Is Eminem’s Full Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Speech

Eminem has gone from 8 Mile to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. The 2022 induction ceremony took place Saturday (November 5) at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, and Eminem was among this year’s class of inductees in the performers category with Carly Simon, Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie, and Pat Benatar.

Dr. Dre inducted Em — nine months after their epic Super Bowl LVI halftime show. Then, Slim Shady stood up to the podium and made sure to single out everybody who ever had an impact on his unprecedented career arc. His speech also touched on his near-fatal 2007 drug overdose, highlighting that his induction was significant not just because he’s one of few rappers to have earned the honor but because he was “probably not supposed to actually be here tonight” at all.

An edited version of this weekend’s star-studded ceremony will be available to watch on HBO come November 19. In the meantime, read a transcription of the speech (via The Detroit News) and watch clips from it below.

“Can y’all hear me? I can’t hear me. Can you hear me?

This sh*t’s crazy. So I wrote some sh*t down tonight that I’m never going to f*cking remember, so I had to read it off the paper and sh*t, but it’s from the heart. I realize what an honor it is right now for me to be up here tonight, and what a privilege it is to do the music that I love, and the music that basically saved my life.

Where’d the man… where did Dre go? The man who saved my life, ladies and gentlemen, Dr. motherf*ckin’ Dre. So I’m going to try to make this as quick and painless as possible. I’m f*cking stuttering and sh*t, I mean Jesus Christ.

So I’m probably not supposed to actually be here tonight because of a couple of reasons. One of them that I’m a rapper, and this is the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. And there’s only a few of us right now that have been inducted in already, but there’s only a few of us.

Secondly, I almost died from an overdose in 2007, which kind of sucked. Hailie, plug your ears: because drugs were f*cking delicious, and I thought we had a good thing going, man, but I had to go and f*ck it all up and take too many. G*ddamn. OK Hailie.

OK, so… hold on, I lost my motherf*ckin’ spot. Paul, did I say… I said drugs were delicious, right? And finally, I had to really fight my way through man to try and break through in this music, and I’m so honored and I’m so grateful that I’m even able to be up here doing hip-hip music, man, because I love it so much.

And they say you won’t work a day if you love your job and sh*t. This part I’m not crazy about? But, OK.

My musical influences are many, and they say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, it took a whole genre and culture to raise me. They say success has many fathers, and that’s definitely true for me. So whatever my impact has been on hip-hop music, I never would have or could have done this sh*t without some of the groundbreaking artists that I’m about to mention right now.

And this is a list, man. I put this list together yesterday, and I kept adding to the sh*t, adding to the sh*t, and if I forget anybody, I apologize. But these were my teachers right here.

I’m gonna start with the 2 Live Crew, Tupac, 3rd Bass, Alliance, Apache, Audio Two — Milk Dee, what up! — Awesome Dre, the Beastie Boys, Big Daddy Kane, Big Pun, Big L, Biz Markie, the Notorious B.I.G. of course, Black Moon, the Boogie Monsters, Brand Nubian, Brother J from X Clan, Buckshot, Casual from Hieroglyphics, Chill Rob G, Chubb Rock, Chuck D and Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, D-Nice, Dana Dane, De La Soul — now I’m about a third of the way done.

De La Soul… did I say De La Soul? Def Jef, Del The Funky Homosapien, DJ Quik, Dr. Dre of course, Dre’s from Black Sheep, Ed O.G., EPMD, Fat Boys, Fat Joe, Fu-Schnickens, Gang Starr, Geto Boys, Heavy D, House Of Pain, Ice Cube, Ice-T, the Intelligent Hoodlum, JJ Fad, Jaz-O, Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince, Just Ice, K-Solo, Kid & Play: I’m a tenth of the way done.

King Sun, King Tee, Kool G Rap, Kool Moe Dee, KRS-One, Kwame, Lakim Shabazz, Large Professor, Leaders Of The New School, the one and only LL Cool J — love you bro. Lord Finesse, Lords Of The Underground, Mantronix, Masta Ace, MC Breed, MC Lyte, MC Shan, Melle Mel, Merciless Ameer, Mobb Deep, Monie Love, Nas, Newcleus, Onyx, Organized Konfusion, Outkast, Andre 3000, Paris, Pharcyde, Queen Latifah, Rakim, Redhead Kingpin, Pete Rock and CL Smooth… I’m almost done.

Redman, Roxanne Shante, Run DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh, Snoop Dogg, Souls Of Mischief, Special Ed, Stetsasonic… now I’m all down to the S’s. Super Lover Cee and Casanova Rud, the D.O.C., the Roots, Black Thought, the Skinny Boys, Tony D, Too Short, Treach from Naughty By Nature, A Tribe Called Quest, U.T.F.O., Whodini, Wise Intelligent and the Poor Righteous Teachers, Wu-Tang Clan, and YZ.

Those were my rock stars, man, and I just want to say, like, those are just a few of the names that I hope will be considered in the future for induction. Because without them, a lot of us wouldn’t be here. I know I wouldn’t.

So that’s all I had to say, man. I know this induction is supposed to be me talking about myself and sh*t, man, but f*ck that. I would not be here without them. I’m a high school dropout, man, with a hip-hop education, and these were my teachers. And it’s their night just as much as it is mine, so thank you.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. .