Meeting Marshall Mathers: The Later Years

Walk Of Fame

As soon as we arrived to the crazy scene  I was split from Marshall. He was taken to catch up with Curtis and Dre before the ceremony began.
I kept way out of sight but it didn't stop some of the lesser known press photographers from snapping a few photos of me.
I sat in my own section away from the party, watching on proudly. Over the years Curtis had been a great friend to me, so I was super grateful for Marshall bringing me along.
I couldn't conceal my smile much from the a group of fans who kept shouting my name and shouting over compliments and asking how Marshall was. Eventually the security had to step in to quieten them. It made me feel incredibly special when the fans angled their attention towards me, I absolutely loved them, and if it was up to me I'd of stayed behind every appearance to chat with them, they were so funny. I mean often you'd get a couple of rude ones, but very rarely, and they really had nothing original to come up with by calling me Kim, that was the usual one, or telling me to get my breasts out or anything else sexual they could think of.
I could just about see Marshall. He looked quite tense and awkward as he sat impatiently by 50's side as the female host held the ceremony and gave an introduction followed by a speech of her own. I could see he would have the odd glance around in the wrong direction as to where I was, which was making me grin because I knew he was trying to find me in the crowd but he was looking to his left and I was in the end stand, two sections down from his.
It was Marshall's turn to take the stand so I proudly applauded as he jumped up. I could tell on his face he was a bag of nerves, public speaking was a big hate of his, funnily enough,

"Okay so.. hold on. I wrote somethin' down... I wrote.. I wrote this but I didn't memorise it so I gotta read it off of this paper. I wrote this last night so bear with me.." the crowd hyped him up, he was so nervous, I just wanted to step up there and put a hand on his shoulder,
"Of all the things I don't remember about 2002, I have a very clear memory of the first time I met Fifty. One of the first things I noticed when he walked into the room was his presence. It just kind of felt like he's going to be a star ... He was the whole package."
He then went on to discuss Fifty's music for a little bit,
"... and what's crazy about it to me is the charisma and the personality, everything matched the intensity of his music." He called Fif's first album "so classic," and mentioned his prolific output of mixtapes and how he and Dre walked away from the meeting impressed,
"If it worked on us, it was going to work on the rest of the world and I'm glad we trusted our instincts. I'm here today because he's not only a business partner to me, this is one of the best friends I've known in the world. I would say it's much more fun to be his friend than it is to be his enemy, 'cause this guy is fucking relentless. And he won't stop."
Marshall then noted many of Curtis's accomplishments – artist, entrepreneur, actor, director, producer as well as recognizing their long friendship,
"He pretty much does it all. And he's also helped me through a lot of hard times in my own life and he's always been there when I need him. So, Fifty, congrats on your star, man. Hollywood is making it official, what I knew from the beginning and Dre knew from the beginning."
Fifty in turn, thanked both Marshall and Dre, and then the host once again graced the stage to close up the speeches so the photo opportunities could take place with the placing of the star.
Marshall and Dre was wanted for the majority of photos, Paul also joined in on one, one of the reporters made a joke saying that Paul must of missed the "white sneakers memo" as Marshall, Dre and Fifty all had dazzling white shoes on.