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interview RBX  (May 2009) | Interview By: Jonathan Hay and Chad Kiser

   While everybody is talking about Eminem and his virtuoso, pharmaceutically-conceptual album, Relapse, we wanted to go back in time and take a look behind the scenes of one of Eminem's greatest albums—well, possibly one of the greatest albums ever, period. The Marshall Mathers LP.  So, Jonathan Hay and Chad Kiser of Dubcnn quickly caught up with RBX, who was featured on that classic Marshall Mathers LP on the extraordinary song, “Remember Me”—which also featured a phenomenal verse from Sticky Fingaz.  “Remember Me” is a definite, hands down, fan favorite all across the world for its amazing lyrical performance by Eminem, RBX and Sticky Fingaz together, and a menacing track produced by Dr. Dre and Mel-Man. We got a couple of questions in with RBX, as he looks back and reminisces on history.  If you don't remember, “Remember Me”, in the words of Clinton Sparks…GET FAMILIAR!  

As ever, be sure to leave your feedback in our forums or email them to haywire@dubcnn.com.

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Interview was done in May 2009

Questions Asked By: Jonathan Hay and Chad Kiser

 
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Dubcnn Exclusive – RBX
RBX talks about Marshall Mathers (May 2009)
By: Jonathan Hay And Chad Kiser
www.myspace.com/jonathanhay
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Dubcnn: You were telling Chad and I earlier that Suge Knight actually wanted you to sign a recording contract with Death Row, without having it looked over by any kind of legal representation…  

Yep! 


Dubcnn: That's crazy—a major record company at the time, worth millions upon millions of dollars, was still trying to do some ghetto ass business like that!  

That is what I thought, too. In retrospect, I thought maybe I would have been more successful if I would have just complied with the bullshit, but I did not want to compromise what I believed and the knowledge I had. I knew that's not how it was done and I had a homegirl who knew more than I knew and she told me, she was like “you had better not sign that, you are signing your life away!” She was like, “you never sign anything like that, even if you don't know some of the jargons, never sign it. You should have someone who does know so they could look it over before you sign it.” Suge [Knight] wanted people to just sign it and not look anything over, he was like “we family and apparently you ain’t family.” However, I was like, hold on, if you really had our best interest at heart then you would have everybody use representation and we can push this thing back up in the next stratosphere. Instead, everybody starts tripping on what they are gonna get, I mean I’m watching MTV and Kurt Loder said “this album is gonna be a monster” and I’m thinking, if this album is gonna be a monster, then we would wanna protect ourselves and they were like, “well, you can’t protect yourself” and I said, “Shit, I’m gonna protect myself regardless.”  Then there was a question of my loyalty because I didn't sign the paperwork; he said, “well, he ain’t family because he didn't sign it. You’re not gonna get the paperwork back Monday when you give it to me, you might get it back in a week—after we have gone over what I’m signing.” 


Dubcnn: Anyway, the reason we hit you up is to talk about your place in history with the Marshall Mathers LP, which has sold over 19 million copies worldwide and many people feel that it is one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time…and you were personally involved in that historical project.

Yeah, I had no problem with the Marshall Mathers project. At that time, I was dealing with Dre and Aftermath. The only thing that was a little tainted with me was all that Death Row shit that happened.  It's like this, when I deal with just Dre, it's straight up, but whenever I had to deal with Suge back in the day, it was always some ghetto bullshit. 


Dubcnn: So did you know or have any feeling that the Marshall Mathers LP was going to be such a blockbuster album like that when you were recording it? 

Nah, man… I'd be lying to you if I said I knew. I knew it would be successful because it was Dre, but like, when he asked me about The Chronic, I told him, we might go half or gold, ya know, 500,000…maybe even platinum. Boy, was I wrong (laughing), so really I'm not one of the people to ask about that stuff. I pretty much just stay focused on what I gotta do and let that stuff take care of itself. As far as the Marshall Mathers LP record being a blockbuster, nah, I didn't know… 


Dubcnn: Were you, Eminem and Sticky Fingaz all in the studio together recording Remember Me? 

I was in the studio with Eminem and Sticky a few times, however, mostly the only people who were there was me and Dre; I believe I set it off. If I remember right, Eminem wasn't even around when we actually recorded that song though. I believe I had to be somewhere at the time, so I recorded my part first, then Dre recorded Sticky. I did what I did in about an hour. Dre said, “Could you spit in an hour?” Honestly, working with Dre, you gotta really be on your toes and up on your game, so to get in and out in an hour was something. I just ran in and spit and he was like, “ooooh, that's it.” So I was like, “I can leave?” He said “yeah, that's it, it's a wrap.” So I bounced out and Sticky came in did his thing and Em did his thing later and we keep it moving. I've talked to Em a few times since, but he's been focused on doing his thing, while I've been doing mine. I haven't really talked to him recently, but everything is 100 and eventually we gonna all unite like Voltron and ain’t nobody gonna be able to fuck with us. With all the momentum we got, it's gonna happen—you’ll see. Some things are gonna happen.


Dubcnn: I’m just blown away at what you've accomplished in the past, but, obviously, you want to focus on the future and keep moving forward, but to just think of the things that you've been involved with, man, it just blows my mind. In terms of sales, you've already been a part of both The Chronic and The Marshall Mathers LP—two albums that are both undeniable in pop culture, and two of the greatest albums of all time. It's an amazing feat, and a lot of people can't say that they've been a part of history like you have…that's Hall of Fame type shit.  

For real, no disrespect, but I really don't even trip off shit like that. I'm really moving forward, but I'm telling you, if ya'll thought that was hot, wait for my new stuff. I'm always trying to push the bar up. I'm affiliated with the Em' thing and that's a blessing from Dre, and Dre probably knew what it was gonna do, but I didn't.  There was a list of 25, maybe 30 people that he could have called to come do that verse, but Dre called me and I know it was a blessing, but I don't dwell on it, but at the same time, I'm very thankful for it.  I also know that when I get down and out, I can stand up… There were times I was down and out and didn't wanna really spit anymore, I thought I had issues and Rocc [from Concrete Criminals] was in there like, “you need to put that aside and get your head right.”  It was a slow process, but I came out of it and started seeing the creative side come back around, and now I'm back. I have my mojo back and now I'm fully focused and I understand the business. I am ready to take over! But that Eminem shit, [Remember Me] was a blessing for me, man, for real.   


Dubcnn: Thanks RBX and we will keep in touch!   

Thank ya'll!   


 


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