Eminem Shares Struggles With Addiction in Latest Music, Nearly Two Decades After Overdose

In a recent collaboration with the late Juice WRLD, Eminem bared his soul, divulging the truth about his experience with substance abuse. The song Lace It, from Juice WRLD's posthumous album, gives listeners an insight into Eminem's troubles, revealing how an overdose nearly killed him in 2007. The Grammy-winning rapper has a history of using his music as a platform for personal introspection.

The song Lace It dives into Eminem's turbulent journey through addiction, addressing his use of ecstasy and the dangerous spiral that followed. The lyrics graphically illustrate his struggles and the potentially lethal repercussions of his decisions. This was a break from Eminem's normal discretion in interviews and on social media, where he has traditionally kept his personal life private, per The Things.

"You pop some ecstasy first, it gets progressively worse / Try your best to reverse unsuccessfully flirtin' with certain death revertin' to your promethazine urge / The *****' devil he lurks, lose your best friend, he smirks / Wake up and everything hurts and as you spiral downward, listen,” he raps on the track. “I was lucky my escape was narrow and do / Not think I take it for granted that I’m still here synthetic heroin you / Tried to kill me then you murdered Jarad didn’t you,” he added, per Complex.

Recognizing the enormity of his overdose, Eminem's longtime manager, Paul Rosenberg, expressed real concerns about probable brain damage. However, the rapper made a spectacular recovery and has been sober since 2008. During a podcast session on Paul Rosenberg's show, Eminem discussed the joy he rediscovered in making music after recovery. He emphasized the positive transformation in his thinking, identifying the recording of his 2009 album, Relapse, as the point when he began to enjoy music again after a long time.

"I remember when I first got sober and all the s— was out of my system, I remember just being, like, really happy and everything was f—g new to me again," Eminem said on the podcast. "It was the first album and the first time that I had fun recording in a long time. It was like the first time I started having fun with music again, and re-learning how to rap, you remember that whole process," he added. "It took a long time for my brain to start working again."

Following his overdose, rumors persisted that Eminem would release a sequel to Relapse, comprising previously unreleased recordings from that horrible period. Eminem recognized that there was enough material to do Relapse 2, but he expressed qualms about revisiting that period of his life.

Eminem and Juice WRLD's collaboration on Lace It offered an opportunity for both musicians to convey their addiction experiences. Juice WRLD, real name Jarad Anthony Higgins, died of a drug overdose in 2019 when he was 21 years old.