Eminem gave a sensational performance when he was welcomed to the stage by his close friend, Dr Dre, who told the story of how he discovered the star.
“Over 20 years ago, Jimmy Iovine played a demo tape for me from a guy who called himself Eminem. The first thing I said when I heard it was “What the f**k did he just say?” Metro quoted the “Still D.R.E” rapper as recalling.
“Eminem flipped hip hop on its head. While forcing us to confront our own biases, growing not only the genre but all of us along with it.”
Eminem then took to the stage at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater to the hook of his hit My Name Is…, before giving a sensational performance of his record-breaking hit “Rap God”.
He brought out friends aplenty, including Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler to sing “Dream On” (the song Eminem sampled for his track “Sing For The Moment”), and Ed Sheeran to sing the chorus on the rapper’s hit “Stan” (sampled from Dido’s “Thank You”).
Giving his acceptance speech, Eminem said: ‘This s**t is crazy. I realise what an honour it is for me to be up here tonight and what a privilege it is to do the music that I love and the music that basically saved my life.’
He paid tribute to his biggest influences, including The Notorious B.I.G, Tupac, Ice Cube and LL Cool J, adding: ‘Those were my rock stars. Those are just a few of the names I hope will be considered in the future for induction because without them a lot of us wouldn’t be here.’
