eminem has all but conquered the rap game, but it took the good doctor to show him his future was behind the boards.

“Producer” is not the first title that comes to mind when you think of Eminem, but he has been learning the boards since he started working with Dr. Dre. Whereas most rappers overlook the production side of their music, he realized that the opportunity to become Dr. Dre’s apprentice was right in his face. He was continually exposed to the inner workings of Dre’s production sessions and had access to his legendary drums. Em moved quick and soaked up everything Dre had to teach.

Being a multimillionaire doesn’t hurt either. Shady’s three-room studio is outfitted with the best equipment money can buy and is constantly running like his own personal hit factory. Instead of having to figure out melodies, he only needs to hum his ideas to his two full-time musicians. Instead of having to learn how to track in Pro Tools, edit, and mix, he has two full-time engineers to take care of that. But Eminem’s success in production is ultimately due to his work ethic and creativity rather than his good circumstance or fortune.

When we arrived at his studio in Detroit at 9:30 a.m., he was already in the middle of working on a beat. The self-described “nine to fiver” is constantly creating, with a new beat tape of five to 10 tracks every two to three weeks. While he admits he is still a newcomer to the game, his desire to learn and advance has propelled him to the upper echelon of producers. In a few short years, Eminem has evolved from an MC who “didn’t think about the future” to a full-time producer, executive producer, and world-renowned rap artist. Leave it to us to give you a rare look at the creative side of one of the hardest working men in the business.

How would you describe your music before you were signed with Dr. Dre?

I didn’t know how to work a drum machine; I didn’t know the first thing about it. I was making raps to other people’s songs. It would be distracting. I remember especially writing a lot to Nas’ first album. I had no equipment and didn’t know what to do. Between Infinite and The Slim Shady LP, Denaun [Porter of D12] was making all those beats. When I got with Dre, it was all about rhymes, rhymes, rhymes. I was so young and I wasn’t thinking for the future.

I didn’t know how to write choruses back then. My man DJ Butta would scratch in choruses from other records. I always had melodies in my head, and then I started getting better at writing hooks and was like, “This is easy.” I realized the hook is just summing up the whole song or what point you’re trying to get across.

What turned you on to production?

The more I got in the studio with Dre, the more I started picking up and watching what he was doing. My first experience making beats is my first album. The first drum pattern I ever made was to [singing] “I never meant to give you mushrooms girl.” I already had the melody in my head from the night before. I didn’t know how to work the metronome, but if you put the click on for me, I knew how to make a drum pattern. Then I was like, “Yo, I know how to do this!” After that, I did the drum pattern to “Still Don’t Give a Fuck.” I’d go to Dre and hum the melody, and he was like, “You don’t even realize it, but you’re producing.” But I had no idea.

What would you say your first real track was?

The first record I ever produced while Dre was in the room was “The Way I Am.” I had a piano loop in my head and I didn’t want to forget it, so I recorded on a little handheld recorder. And the whole flight to L.A., I had it in my head and wrote the lyrics. I didn’t even have a drum beat in my head. So when I got there, I asked his keyboard player to play the lick. Then I had to figure out how the beat would go, so I picked out the drums I wanted and asked Dre to turn the click on.
So I started making a pattern using Dre’s sounds and it was like night and day from anything we had ever produced. After that I did the drum pattern for “Criminal,” “Renegade,” and “Cleaning Out My Closet.” That’s when I really got into drums sounds.

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