Eminem is the master of his trade, and his daughter knows it.
The man can do things with words that most journalists can only dream of, and his lyrics at times are hard-hitting – something Hailie Jade Smith has discovered.
His 28-year-old daughter opened up on her podcast about her dad’s latest music video released for his song ‘Somebody Save Me’, part of his The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) album.
Talking about it on the Just A Little Shady podcast, Smith told listeners that she doesn’t think she’d be able to watch the whole video again from start to finish because it was such a raw watch for her.
He then begins to rap about his three children and how he chose his addiction to drugs over them.
The lyrics are hard for us to hear, let alone his daughter.
Hailie Jade, 28, is Eminem’s biological daughter. (just a little shady podcast/YouTube)
He raps: “Another pill as I start to spiral, message to my daughters, I don’t even deserve the father title.
“Hailie, I’m so sorry, I know I wasn’t there for your first guitar recital, didn’t walk you down the aisle, missed the birth of your first child.
“Your first podcast. Looking down, sweetie, I’m so proud of how you turned out. Sorry that I chose drugs and put ’em above you, sorry that I didn’t love you enough to, give ’em up, how the f*** do, I not love you more than a pill.”
He goes on, but you get the point.
Speaking about it in Smith’s podcast, she says: “I definitely cry every time I hear it at all.
“Between that and ‘Temporary’… I audibly sobbed I think for both songs but especially ‘Temporary’.”
Eminem and Hailie Jade at an awards ceremony in California, 2022. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
She went on to talk about her father’s addiction: “But I will say, watching the video back, and listening to the songs, I feel like my parents did such a good job growing up where I didn’t realize how bad things were.
“But, now like, as an adult in hindsight, it’s so scary to think about. And I think that’s why I get emotional so much, like just thinking that could have happened.”
Smith continued: “Obviously that’s the point of the song, but if you’ve ever lost an addict or loved one, I feel for you.”
But it isn’t just ‘Temporary’ and ‘Somebody Save Me’ that gets the waterworks going, it’s also ‘Mockingbird’.
She added: “I can’t even listen to it anymore without crying.
“The older I get, the less I can listen to any of the songs.”