Eminem 2004
"I think this photo perfectly depicts where I was at in my life, as far as mental state. My mind-set was very dark at the time. I was doing a lot of self-loathing. I had come to realization in my career that it had gotten to a certain point, and I was getting older, and I kind of realized there was a struggle within myself like, I know that I'm becoming addicted to these pills that I'm taking. So there was that kind of inside thing going on. And there was also just a lot of me feeling like I was tired of trying to compete with myself. So I felt like if I killed Slim Shady, then won't expect so much from me. Maybe they won't want so much from me anymore. Basically, I was just copping out. The place I was in was just like, Woe is me. I got this money and this fame, but what else do I have? I don't have anything. I was thinking all them things that drugs make you do, and especially [the] depressants that I was taking-you know, Valium and Vicodin and Ambien, and things like that-as you go through those, the more and more you take, the more depressed you become. If you're just a little depressed, a slight bit, it's gonna amplify it 10 times. What the picture basically is saying is, "I'm gonna try blow Slim Shady out of my brain." - Anthony Mandler (Respect Mag Issue 3)











