Eminem made an unannounced appearance last night (Nov. 5) at the Wall Street Journal's Innovator Awards held at New York City's Museum of Modern Art. His longtime collaborator and mentor Dr. Dre and his Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine were being honored at the awards ceremony.
Dre and Iovine recently sold their Beats headphone and music service to Apple in a $3 billion buyout. The award recognized their achievements in creating the company as well as the subsequent formation of the undergraduate program USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation, which is now being funded through the profits from the Apple acquisition in a $70 million donation.
Social media documentation showed Eminem on stage presenting Dre with the entrepreneurship award. One account from WSJ Deputy Editor in Chief Rebecca Blumenstein quotes Em as saying, "They saw my potential," about Iovine and Dre.
Another one shows footage of him reading off notecards saying, "Dre and Jimmy are like a force of nature. As an example of how powerful they are, they had me fly here all the way from Detroit to speak publicly, and I really hate public speaking."
According to WSJ reporter Elizabeth Holmes, Eminem also said, "When Jimmy and Dre put their minds to something, get on board or get the f**k out of the way."
Eminem began his relationship with the two Interscope founders in 1997, when staffers sent Em's Slim Shady EP to Iovine, who then played it for Dre.
Following the event, Em took to his Facebook to congratulate them and claim that they "can't be stopped."
Eminem is scheduled to release his double-disc album ShadyXV on November 24. The effort is set to feature Slaughterhouse, 50 Cent, Big Sean, DeJ Loaf, and more. Check out documentation of his appearance below, and let us know what you think in the comments section!
#wsjawards #eminem present the award to #drdre and #jimmylovine @eonline
En video publisert av Jennifer Cooper (@jencooperphoto) på Nov. 11, 2014 at 10:51 PST
Eminem at #wsjinnovators on dr. dre and jimmy iovine: "They saw my potential." @wsj pic.twitter.com/Nr4luEXSnU
— Rebecca Blumenstein (@RBlumenstein) November 6, 2014
