Eminem’s signing of 50 Cent created one of hip-hop’s most dynamic duos in the early-2000s. The pair, under Shady Recordings, churned out hits such as ‘Crack a Bottle’ and ‘Patiently Waiting’ making history along the way.
That said, in 2009, the two came together again for 50 Cent’s album Before I Self Destruct, for which they recorded the track ‘Psycho’. However, according to the Queens emcee (real name Curtis Jackson), Eminem’s alter-ego helped him deliver the hit.
In a 2009 interview with MTV News, Jackson spoke about the son’s creation, unveiling, “It’s always fun working with Em for me. He’s in a space where he has the luxury of just being able to sit down. The rest of us… me, I do the actual footwork.”
He continued, “Dre hasn’t had an album out in seven years. Em – two years. Me – seven, eight months. They send me out to test the waters, and everyone else will jump in the tub. I stay a little more active. Em is by far the biggest rap artist, period. I’m the largest hip-hop touring artist. I travel more places than he travels to be in front of a live audience.”
Speaking about how Eminem’s alter-ego drives the Detroit lyricist (real name Marshall Mathers) to write the best verses, Jackson explained, “[Eminem] has an alter ego, and he has a comfort with doing things [that] are the craziest things possible. That’s when the chainsaw comes out. He starts going nuts on you.”
He continued, “I wanted him to be able to go to that space, so I worked the chorus, and he heard the chorus, and he’s like, ‘Yo, I like that.’ I actually recorded [‘Psycho’] in Las Vegas. Dre produced the track, we had a bunch of producers out there, and I went and laid the first verse. [Eminem] came, and he heard it, and he was like, ‘Yo, I’m ready.'”
This is when Mathers delivered a flawless verse. Recalling the studio session, Jackson concluded, “He wrote his verse, laid it and then he started the next verse without me. I was like, ‘Whoa, I really only wanted one verse. I was going to rap again on the third.’ And then he just came in on that, so we went back and forth on the last piece. That song is crazy. That collaboration, we just got such a good energy around each other that we can be creative around each other.”
You can listen to ‘Psycho’ in the video below.
