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Tried not to think that this 1 … enjoy.
It started with a tweetand it ended up making a sensation.
The new album of Eminem, Kamikaze, dropped less than fifteen days ago (August 31) without preamble, without marketing, without noise.
Just a tweet – and 13 tracks full of lively, antagonistic and rabid-fueled bars that made the world talk.
Part of the album was openly opposed to the critics of Eminem's previous album, Revival, which arrived a little over eight months ago, in December 2017.
The highlight: Kamikaze beat 434,000 album equivalent sales in the United States during its first week, 63% more than the super-product Revival.
Kamikaze's strong debut made it the fourth week in the US this year, behind three giants of modern-day popular rap – Drake, Travis Scott and Post Malone.
Kamikaze has also proven its success globally, reaching first place in no less than 103 markets around the world.
Here, MBW meets two long-time members of the Eminem team: Marshall Mathers' manager (and recently crowned Jam leader) Paul Rosenberg, plus Interscope Geffen A & M Vice President, Steve Berman.
The duo overturns the place where they believe Kamikaze can leave from here, what his huge commercial performance means for Eminem's career – and why that announces good news for the format of the album in the era of streaming …
Paul Rosenberg, President and CEO / President of Def Jam Recordings & Eminem
What were your expectations for Kamikaze before his arrival?
We did not know [Kamikaze] would be quite as good as out of the box, because we have never done anything like this with Marshall – a surprise exit from a complete project.
We did not really have a gauge for that. We came out of Revival, a project that we put on the market months before it was released, and that did not produce the expected results, so there was obviously a little bit of the unknown in this company.
Did you think, before the arrival of Kamikaze, that an album "more raw" than the previous album of Eminem would exceed it commercially?
I felt that it was necessary for [Eminem] to get those messages out of his chest and for him to release the record with the energy, urgency and anguish that he was expressing within it.
Did I know it meant he would be a great commercial interpreter? I did not do it It'll just show that [streaming] public, everything is transparent and democratic, they want honesty, they want purity. They do not want to be marketed, they do not want to be told that something is a success.
They want to find music themselves and consume it as they please.
In many ways, for a guy like Eminem, it's a big relief, right?
It makes sense.
Because now you can sit down and say, "Why am I trying to do that? Why am I chasing this? I will make the record I want to make. That's what my audience wants.
"Everything that happened or did not happen with Revival brought Eminem to a place where he could make this record."
I think it's a blessing. Everything that happened or did not happen with Revival brought him to a place where he could make this record, be raw and honest and moved, and make people really kiss him.
The impossible question: now, it happened, why did Kamikaze perform so much better than Revival, which, as you noted, had a more "traditional" media / marketing boost?
It was a lot of factors, the first being that Marshall never made [a surprise release] before.
If you hear that someone like Eminem has abandoned a surprise project, instantly you are intrigued and want to find out what it's all about.
The timing was really good too, because the track was very clear for the big outings, and some of the biggest hip-hop projects escaped.
Then, obviously, the word of mouth is really loud and people were really eager to hear what he was talking about because there was a big buzz on some of the topics he was tackling.
the debate around who he tells is still raging! What do you think Kamikaze did for Eminem's status among, in particular, a younger audience, as well as his personal energy as an artist?
I think he was in the mood: "Listen, I do not know if people have forgotten who I really am and what I'm talking about, but I need to remind them."
I felt that it was what he wanted to accomplish, and he did it.
He has set up a project where he can simply say, "Listen, do not forget what I can do, and the things that brought me where I am.
Do you like people talking about the entire album in an industry that is becoming more and more focused on the tracks?
Absolutely. It's really important for a guy like Em who is so focused on music as a work.
In order for this streaming audience, this digital audience that is obviously younger, to engage like that, it simply proves that if you offer good product quality with high standards, people will be there for that.
They will engage in things that are worth giving.
When did you hear the record for the first time?
I've heard songs as they were created and, at first, he thought maybe he was going out one or two songs in response to what he was feeling.
Continuing, I think that he started to have more confidence in what he was doing, then two songs turned into four songs, and then he said, "Why do not I do not make this project a real project? "
Are you a little afraid to keep the record secret?
Oh yes, I was terrified. But the good news for Eminem was that in my other work, with Def Jam, I was part of those exercises. [this summer] with Kanye's versions.
I've learned, being in this system, what you can and can not do, how long you can hold things, and the levers you can pull to get things done in no time.
I know you're invited to all the lunches you go now, but how does it work on an Interscope project as Eminem's manager, and then does he work as a boss of Def Jam – which is part of the UMG system? a rival label. Is it a little schizophrenic?
A little bit, because obviously we are competing with Interscope Def Jam for some things, like signing new artists, but I never look at them like [outright] rivals. I have worked so closely with [Interscope] since the beginning of my career, I could never see them in anything other than positive.
Marshall remains signed there, I love working with the people of the label, and everything went well, all things considered. Although it's sometimes strange, because I have to put on my other hat, I think we're all good at separating it.
"Marshall comes in and says," Hey, what are you doing? We are releasing another album!
One of the things I've said to everyone at Universal before taking the stand with Def Jam was: "I need this album from Eminem [Revival] out, before I can focus on [the label]. "
I thought I was going to have a few years to really install and be comfortable in this new role, and of course, Marshall arrives and says, "Hey, what is it? what are you doing? We are releasing another album!
It is a huge challenge and a huge job, but it has kept me focused. I think I'm actually more efficient because of that.
You appear on a skit on Kamikaze – warning Eminem on a voice message of the "slippery slope" of Revival's revival review. It's scripted, right?
The skits are always based on real conversations, so even if they are not necessarily true voice messages, they are things that have really been expressed among us – especially mine.
Marshall & # 39; s [skit] is a bit more extreme and comical, but there are still pieces of truth in there.
I always played the voice of reason in these skits, and at the beginning, it was just so that everyone knew we were not completely crazy!
I'm saying some of the things you may think about when you listen to these recordings.
Outside Eminem, what is your No.1 goal at Def Jam, and why did you accept the job?
We really have one goal, and that is to make this label the label that everyone wants to be associated with and that we must send back.
There was a time in hip-hop where there was Def Jam, and then there was everything else, and I want to come back to it. If we do that, it means we are doing everything right; we are breaking records, we are signing good artists, we are influencing culture, we are cool. All of these things work if we achieve this goal. This is where I want to be.
Why did I decide to do it? I mean, it's the biggest hip-hop label of all time.
Giving the opportunity to master this situation and contribute to this legacy is a unique thing that I could never have missed.
Steve Berman, Vice President, Interscope Geffen A & M
What is the current mood at Interscope?
We are excited about the global reaction, seeing the numbers we see around the world, in all markets, regardless of the format that matters.
We had to be so sensitive to the wishes of Marshall and Paul; the only mandate was: "Do not let anyone know. Do not let anyone know, and do not let him flee.
Since we wanted to execute the message exactly as they wanted it, we felt that this is how we designed the deployment and we are very happy to see it play.
When did you discover Kamikaze?
Our main team Eminem – John [Janick], myself, [Interscope comms boss] Dennis Dennehy, [marketing exec] Jason Sangerman – went to Detroit and met Paul and Marshall.
It was about five weeks before release. Marshall was very clear about how he wanted this to happen.
We came back and we kept this group very very very small here. [Chief Revenue Officer] Gary Kelly and [EVP International] Jurgen Grebner was strongly involved and did a great job with the global campaign.
"It's torture, but it's really exciting."
Everyone was very clear about the mission: to honor the mandate of Marshall and Paul.
You sit there every day thinking, "Is this the day that there will be leaks? Is this the day the information will come out?
Literally hours before going online: "Are we going to do it? Will we do it?
It's a really exciting thing. It's a torture, but it's really exciting.
What was Eminem's mandate?
It was really important to him that he wanted [Kamikaze] surprise people. He just wanted his fans to wake up and say, "Oh shit. It's here. "
It was so important to us that we could go around the world as quickly as possible, because there were some markets where physics means everything.
At the same time, Paul and Marshall were creating visuals to support the release – the fall video was at the top of the release and the Lucky You video is hitting.
Does the fact that the overall discussion is around the album, the whole job, is important?
I love the fact that you have asked this question because she is talking about who I am as a record holder.
I hope this will inspire a whole new group of artists, a whole new legion of artists, to see the value of the album. the power of it and the art and care associated with it.
Statistics suggest that Kamikaze handed Eminem a conversation between hip-hop fans around the world, in the same breath as Drake, XXXTentacion, Kendrick Lamar, Migos, etc.
I was at Twickenham Stadium [in the UK] when Em did the shows in July, watching the reaction of the fans, which was amazing. I was with [Universal Music UK boss] David Joseph, and it was very clear that Marshall was concocting something, but we did not know yet.
Fast forward and I'm in Detroit, hearing the album for the first time when we played it in the studio. It was one of the happiest days of my career because I knew at that time that it was something really special, and it just had that clarity.
"It was one of the happiest days of my career.
We had a great trip with Paul Rosenberg and Eminem, and this trip was not always a straight line. There were twists and turns, but through all that, we had such a belief and a blind loyalty to Em as an artist and friend.
I think people will look back [Kamikaze] and say, "It was a real moment; a record that clearly represented him when he was in a beautiful place with his art.
We are very proud to be in business with Eminem and the art it creates.Music Business Worldwide
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