Eminem was an inductee during Rock Hall’s Class Of 2022 ceremony
Eminem was inducted by his mentor Dr. Dre into the Rock Hall Of Fame ceremony in Los Angeles Saturday night (November 5). Dre gave a speech about his relationship with Em, whom he thanked for introducing “Hip Hop to middle America.”
“Over 20 years ago, Jimmy Iovine, who is also one of tonight’s inductees and one of my best friends, played a demo tape for me from a guy who called himself Eminem,” Dre recalled. “The first thing I said when I heard it was, ‘what the f— did he just say?’ I loved it so much that I couldn’t stop listening to it.
“A few days later, Jimmy called me and said, ‘you know he’s a White guy, right?” F—ed me up!” the Compton legend added. “Looking back, I don’t know why it didn’t cross my mind. He certainly didn’t sound like a Black rapper, especially because of what he was saying. I guess it was my ignorance at the time, thinking that if you’re a really good rapper, you must be Black.”
The duo went ahead to perform “My Name Is” and “Rap God” together.