Ed Sheeran & Eminem: A Fun Story
A lot of people know by now that my main man, Ed Sheeran, is featured on a track on Eminem’s newest album, Revival. The song is titled “River” and seems to be quite popular. Now, I assume some people were very confused to see that Ed was collaborating with Eminem. They seem to be great opposites, right? Ed Sheeran is a mid-twenties ballad crooning English-redhead with strong family values while Eminem is a 45-year-old world renown rapper who grew up in the roughest parts of Detroit with a history of drug abuse and a broken family. However, they actually have quite a cool connection that a normal person might not know about.
When Ed was a tiny kid he had a small birthmark on his face that was lasered off. He says that they forgot to put the anesthetic on and that caused him to develop a stutter. Want to know how Ed got rid of that stutter? By learning all the lyrics to Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP.” Ed was just 9 when the album came out and he says that by time he was 10 the stutter was mostly gone. In a speech from 2015 Ed said, “I learned every word of it back to front by the time I was 10. And he raps very fast and very melodically and very percussively and it helped me get rid of the stutter.”
How neat that Ed is featured on a song from an artist he majorly admires and whose music helped him overcome a childhood obstacle?!
However, there is more to this Ed/Eminem saga.
So, in 2015, Ed was touring his X (Multiply) album and selling out Wembley Stadium in London on three consecutive nights (aka one of those was the best night of my life). He was making really big waves but he still had so many goals and aspirations. Ed is amazing at giving interviews and truly giving a lot of time to radio stations and media because they helped him get his music out and he says the promotion always helps. So, he did an interview with Entertainment Weekly and he discussed Eminem and “The Marshall Mathers LP” some more. Ed was asked if he had ever met Eminem before and explained, “There was an opportunity when I went to SNL with [producer] Rick Rubin. I said, “Will he know who I am?” And Rick said, “Unless you’re an underground rapper from Detroit, he won’t.” I really wanted to meet Jay Z, and I met him at the perfect point where he was aware [of who I was] so we could have a conversation rather than me just being the dude that takes a picture. So I’m going to wait for that with Eminem.”
Ed literally had the chance to meet an idol FOUR years ago but didn’t do it because he wanted to meet Eminem as a sort of “equal” and now he’s featured on one of his songs. And Ed wrote a big chunk of the song. Check this video out to learn about the beginnings of River and how Ed finally met Eminem. So. Darn. Cool.
Hard work and good planning pay off, people. Now if only I could come up with a good plan to find a career in writing or traveling or a litany of other things I really love.
