Once the tour took off, Freddy and I were practically glued to the phone when we were apart and he came to visit me as frequently as he could (which turned out be like every other city).
Getting to know Freddy again was cool because I felt like I knew more about him each time I saw him- even if I was learning small things. "I hate sour candy." He told me when he came to visit me in Delaware. I was devouring a bag of Sour Gummy Worms.
"You used to love them." I remembered him eating mouthfuls of them on B-Kidz.
"Yeah, until Trina and I got into a sour candy eating contest and I threw up all over Kayla's dad. I could never eat one again after the look on his face."
I laughed at the sight. Kayla's parents were always the over-conservative type that doesn't take crap from anybody. "Whatever, your loss."
"It really is. They used to be so good." He frowned like a little kid.
"Will you try it like this?" I asked him as I put half the worm in my mouth and handed him the other half. It was pretty much a failed attempt at the "Lady and the Tramp" scene.
"Hmm…" he said after ending the worm with a kiss. "That wasn't too bad."
"No, not at all." I said before kissing him again. Freddy was a really good kisser. We made out for about two minutes before he pulled away.
"Slow down, Wonder."
"Why?" I asked, confused.
"Because if we don't then I can't drag this out to make sure you stay longer."
I smiled. "Freddy, I'm not going anywhere. What's wrong?"
"I want to go slow with you. I like you to much for you to end up as 'just some other girl'" he explained. "You're different."
"I promise not to be just a random girl, I really want to get to know you again Freddy," I said sincerely. I was really starting to like him.
He sighed. "Well that's a relief. You know I've been trying to ask you out ever since I saw you at Kayla's party? It's almost impossible to get your attention!"
"You tried to ask me out?" I asked.
"Wonder, I even did it on live TV! How could you not get the message?" he laughed.
"Oh, I thought that was just… I don't know. I thought J planned it for the show or something. I didn't think you were serious." At the time I was completely infatuated with Liam. The whole thing seemed so long ago.
"Can I ask you something?" it was a stupid question, my mom always told me, to ask someone if you could ask them something.
"Sure, what is it?" he said.
"Kayla told me a long time ago that you and Dean had this game where you would try and take virginities of pop stars. Is that true?"
He laughed. "Look Wonder, I may have been a bit of a player back in the day, but that was Dean's game, not mine."
"Oh," I made a sigh of relief. "How many girls have you slept with?"
"Four. And you?" he asked. It was only fair; if I got be nosy he did too.
"Two, but they were guys obviously." I told him.
"I would hope…" he laughed. "Don't want you going all Kayla on me."
"Yeah, um has Kayla ever actually dated a girl, or has she just fooled around?" I asked. I was so tired of being the modest one.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she and her assistant Jules have an unspoken relationship. Other than that, I haven't met any girlfriends."
"I think Lucky was one of them…" I said. "Actually I know. Trina told me."
"What, no way!" he looked shocked. All of a sudden I felt like maybe I shouldn't be telling Lucky's secret to other people, but this was just Freddy, it's not like she would mind.
"That's what I said. But it's true. Although I haven't asked Kayla about it yet…"
"No, if Trina said it then its true, she's no liar." He stated. "But I never saw this coming. Lucky and Kayla…who knew?"
I was about to respond when Felicia walked in. "Sorry to bother you kids, but I need you for wardrobe fittings Wonder."
I looked at Freddy. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
I had only been on tour for a month and already I've had to be fitted for new costumes three times. It felt like the clothes were getting bigger, but the scale said that I was getting smaller.
"I don't understand this, Felicia." I said once we were in Felicia's trailer. "I eat enough, why am I losing so much weight?"
"You eat enough, but you don't eat right. You need protein in your diet; I mean you dance for hours every day." She explained. "And on top of that, you hardly get enough sleep."
"I do too!" I said. And as if god was trying to prove me wrong, I yawned right after.
Felicia gave me stern look. "You haven't had more than five hours of sleep a night since… I don't even remember."
"Okay so this tour is harder to adjust to than the last, but that's a good thing. I get to play more shows, I'm happy." I said trying to convince myself more than her. I loved performing more than anything, but once I got off the stage I felt exhausted.
"You don't have time to do anything for yourself anymore. You are being overworked." She complained.
"I know." I agreed. "But it's just part of the job I guess. I just put out an EP and a Spanish album. Plus, Tig expects me to release a Christmas album in time for the holidays and he's not going to let me do that if he sees I can't handle it. I don't want to let him down."
She sighed. "You need to be taken care of better. I've even talked to Tig about it and he agreed."
"Oh," I replied. "Then when's my break?" I asked.
"Steve Kurtz is the one who is overworking you. He convinced Tig that now was not the time to be slacking, he almost convinced me! I don't care about what's best for the record sales, Wonder. I care about your well-being."
I smiled. Felicia was a really good person. "I'm okay Felicia. Really, you don't have to fight my case." I said even though I kind of wished somebody would. The only problem was that I cared about my career more than anybody did. It wasn't the money I liked per se, but I had been dreaming of being a huge musician since I was just a little girl. While half of me wanted to do personal music and have time to relax, the other half knew that pop music was what was in. As long as pop was what I was doing, I'm going to put my all into it.
"Fine, but I still want you to drink some protein shakes every day." She handed me a bottle. "Drink up; you don't want to hear any more rumors about an eating disorder, do you?"
Outside the door, Freddy was knocking. "Can I come in?" he said.
"Sure, it's open." Felicia called as he walked through the door.
"What do you mean, more rumors?" I asked Felicia.
"That's what they were saying on one of those Hollywood gossip shows yesterday. Don't listen to them; they obviously don't know what they are talking about." Felicia answered.
"Oh good, just what I need." I said.
"What?" Freddy asked.
"Felicia heard on TV a rumor that I have an eating disorder!" I complained.
"Just last week I read on a magazine cover all about how I secretly got a nose job over Christmas break. It's funny though, because I'm pretty sure my nose looks exactly the same…" he told me. "Anyways, don't worry. People gossip because they are bored with their own lives."
"I guess you're right." I smiled. "It's not like I want to be one of those super skinny people. The rumors only piss me off because I'm actually trying to gain weight."
"Don't let them faze you." Freddy said.
It was actually kind of comforting hearing Freddy tell me about the rumors he had read about himself. Kayla practically made up half of the rumors about herself, and Trina had a pretty clean rep so far. It was a relief to know that Freddy was going through the same thing as me.
I looked into the camera and began to sing the words of a ballad:
When I'm lost, in the rain
In your eyes I know I'll find the light
To light my way
When I'm scared, losing ground
When my world is going crazy
You can turn it all around
And when I'm down you're there pushing me to the top
You're always there giving me all you got
"Cut!" Kayla screamed cutting the music. I never thought this day would come, but Kayla was actually the director of my new music video. At first I said "no way" when she had asked me, but after about two hours of begging and pleading I gave in.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she had said. "This is so awesome! I've wanted to do direct forever! I promise I'll do a good job."
Obviously, I wouldn't have agreed to give Kayla such an important job without confronting Tig first. At first he seemed wary, but after talking to her he told me it should be fine. Kayla had taken a few college classes on directing after her tour ended (which would explain where she disappeared to) and she was ready to try out what she learned. I trusted Kayla, not because she was a good friend, but because I knew that behind all that make-up she was a really smart girl-she always had been. Still, Tig advised, Kayla's involvement in my video should remain anonymous to avoid unwanted criticism about her skills from the gossip columns. We both agreed.
"How the fuck am I supposed to stay anonymous when MTV is filming the making of the video for that stupid show?" Kayla asked Tig on the set. After my episode of "Making of (You Drive Me) Crazy" had such high ratings, MTV asked to come back to film the shoot of "I Turn to You", the second single off my EP.
"I'm sorry, Kayla. It wasn't my idea, Steve made the call." Tig explained, although he didn't actually argue with Steve about letting MTV come either.
"Yeah well, Steve's an idiot." Kayla hissed. She was obviously pissed off and she had already made it clear she didn't like Steve.
"It's all covered Kayla, calm down. MTV has agreed to list Joseph Kahn as the director only." Tig told her. Because this was going to be Kayla's first time directing for real, Joseph Kahn was a director who was going to direct half of the video.
It was with Joseph Kahn that I had come up with the concept. The song is a ballad about turning to the one you love in times of need and even though it could be about a lover, I always felt like the song should go to my mom. Joseph suggested that in the video we would have a teen girl come back crying to her mom after she gets in a car accident, even though she and her mom had an argument earlier that night. Then in the performance parts (which Kayla would direct) I came up with the idea that I would be singing the song in a studio, walking down a street in the rain, and on top of building in the city. Joseph would only direct the parts with a storyline.
"They better blur out my face in every scene they get me in." Kayla demanded. "I don't even want anyone to know I'm here."
Tig sighed. "Yes, your majesty." He said sarcastically as he walked away.
"He is such a pain in the ass, I swear." Kayla complained to me. I understood why it was important for her to remain anonymous, but Tig had done the best he could to meet her needs. Sometimes she could be such a drama queen.
"So when do I get to stop using the umbrella and walk in the rain? It is so hot out here and I would love to cool down!" I said. We were filming in the streets in what was supposed to look like a rain storm when in actuality we just had machines spraying water to make it look like rain.
"You don't get to stop using the umbrella! Are you crazy? That would ruin your perfectly straight golden hair!" she squealed.
"So? Not everything has to be so glamorous all the time Kayla. I wanted it to be like a messy hair scene. You know, I'll be like freaking out while shouting the song to the camera and splashing water everywhere." I explained my idea again, even though I had once before already.
"No, this scene is in slow motion. You won't be freaking out and you sure as hell won't be getting wet." She practically barked. "Roll play-back, action!"
For a shield from the storm
For a friend, for a love
To keep me safe and warm
I turn to you
For the strength to be strong
For the will to carry on
For everything you do, for everything that's true
I turn to you
I sang the sped up lyrics into the camera. I learned a new Hollywood secret today: when you want a scene to look like it's in slow motion you have to speed up the song when you film it and just slow down the whole scene in editing. So pretty much I sounded like a high-pitched chipmunk. After recording the song in English, we recorded the scene using the Spanish version of the song called "Por Siempre Tu" so we can release the video to Hispanic countries as well.
"Hey," Kayla said to me after the shoot. "I'm sorry about being so harsh on you about the wet hair thing earlier."
I was surprised she brought it up. I was pissed at the time, but I was over it now. "It's okay. It would be annoying to get my hair re-done every time we wanted to do another take anyways."
"Even though my name isn't going to be linked to the video, I still want it to be amazing. It's a shark tank out there, and even something as stupid as a bad video could make you vulnerable. I don't mean to be so over controlling." She explained.
"I understand Kayla; I'm not holding a grudge."
She smiled. "I don't get you. If it was me I would be chewing myself up right now. Why are you so…polite? You don't even act like a pop star." she said.
I laughed. "I don't know, I try to be nice to people I guess."
"Why?" she asked.
"It makes you feel good inside. You should try it!" I joked.
"Nah, I'm okay." She laughed, but I swore I saw a flicker of kindness in Kayla's eyes.
The rest of the month was one of my busiest in my whole career. I had my second magazine cover for Rolling Stone and this time I wore a blue superman half shirt while pulling down my denim miniskirt to show part of my under wear (revealing I know, but it actually didn't get as much controversy as my first cover where I was laying on a bed in my bra). I released the video for my first Spanish single called "Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti". In the video I was a singer getting dressed up as a princess to shoot a music video in front of a forest backdrop. Then, on the set I sing while listening to music on break (ironic because I'm pretty much playing myself- a singer making a video). I made an appearance on Saturday Night Live, a parody show. I took my hair extensions out. I recorded my Christmas album in less than a week because Tig already had the songs picked out. And I came up with a concept for my new video "Born to Make You Happy".
"So in the video, you could be a pregnant girlfriend who is upset over her boyfriend leaving her." Steve offered.
I rolled my eyes. "No, that will never work."
"It'll be a much produced set." Tig said. "It will start with Wonder sleeping peacefully in a futuristic Japanese style bed. Then it will cut to a futuristic blue room, then a stage in the sky with stars in the background, then maybe Wonder and her love interest can meet up."
My jaw dropped. I was impressed; Tig had never had an idea for my video before. "Sounds good to me, I just have one request." I told him. "Can the hot guy who plays my boyfriend and I have a pillow fight?"
"A pillow fight?" Steve asked.
"I've always wanted to do one in a video, please!" I whined.
"Whatever works for you!" Tig put his hands up as Trina barged into the room.
"What are you doing here!" I yelled. I hadn't seen Trina since the tour had started.
She embraced me in a bear hug. "I had to come see you before you started the second leg of your tour in the UK. I can't visit you there too often because Destiny's Child is touring in Canada next month!" she replied.
"Oh my god, I totally forgot you were going on tour in two weeks! I have to come see your show at least once!" I said. It was so weird to hear about Destiny's Child since I had known Trina way before they put out an album, but it seems like they were showing up everywhere more often these days. The group was getting pretty mainstream with hit songs such as "Say My Name" and "Survivor" but they were popular with a different crown than Kayla and I. Destiny's Child was an all black girl R&B group, but despite this you would still occasionally hear about Trina, Kayla, and I in the same sentence. We were all former B-Kidz after all.
"I'll definitely have my manager call Tig and arrange something but right now I have to show you something!" she practically screamed and grabbed my arm.
I followed Trina out into the stadium I would be performing inside in just 2 short hours. She plugged her I Phone into a large screen that was set up for the show.
"An Eminem music video?" I asked her as I saw the face of the famous mainstream rapper pop up. Eminem was irony at its finest: a young white male dominating a generally black industry that was rap music. He was actually pretty cute. With his blonde hair, blue eyes, and ear piercing, Eminem looked as if he could have been a part of Freddy's boy group.
Eminem's looks were another example of irony because he absolutely hated boy groups and pop music.
"Just watch." Trina ordered.
In the video Eminem was at what looked like the Grammy's and he said:
You think I give a damn about a Grammy?
Half of you critics couldn't even stomach me, let alone stand me.
"But Slim, what if you win, wouldn't it be weird?" Eminem said acting like a paparrazi.
Why? So you guys could just lie to get me here
So you can sit me here next to Kayla and Dean out of anywhere?
I shook my head. It was kind of funny how much the extras in the video actually looked like Kayla and Dean. Then I saw a girl in the row in front of them wearing a catholic school girl outfit with her hair in pig tails. She actually looked just like me…
Shit, Wonder Blake better switch chairs
So I can sit next to J and Fred Durst
And hear them both argue over who she gave head to first
You little bitch, put me on blast on MTV
I was shocked. Not only did I not ever give "head" to J or Fred Durst, but I had no idea what he meant about me putting him on blast on MTV. Back on the screen, Eminem was now making fun of me.
"Yeah he's cute, but I think he's married to Kim. Tee-hee" said the video version of me.
I should download her audio on MP3
And show the whole world how you gave Eminem VD! Ha
The clip changed to a scene that looked very similar to a popular 'N Sync music video.
I hate all of you little boy and girl groups
All you do is annoy me
So I've been sent here to destroy you!
Eminem then continued to rip off the heads of what was supposed to be the members of Destiny's Child and then he stuck his ass in "Freddy's" face. "Okay…" I laughed when the clip was over.
"Like what the fuck?" Trina said. "I don't care that he ripped my head off, but what was he talking about when he said all that stuff about you?"
I honestly couldn't answer her question. "I don't know. I have said in interviews in stuff that Fred Durst is cute and of course there was that whole rumor about me breaking up J's engagement. But I never gave them head!" I explained.
"Well obviously not, you're dating Freddy now. But when he said you 'put him on blast on MTV'? What was that?" she asked.
"I've never even talked about him before!" I laughed. "Whatever it's not a big deal." I said. Eminem was known for talking shit, but normally he has something against you when he does it. Maybe he just truly hates my music I guess…
For some reason I got this funny feeling that the guy looked way to much like the real Fred Durst. "Hey" Fred Durst said when he picked up his phone.
"Do you know anything about a new Eminem song?" I asked.
"Which one?" he asked sounding like he knew exactly what I was talking about.
"It's called the Real Slim Shady." I told him.
"Yeah, why?"
"I don't know; he's being shady…" I laughed. "I heard he talks about me in the song."
"Yeah he asked me to be in the video, so you know, I did it. He definitely had some chick that looked like you on set." He admitted. "I'm not sure what the deal is though." I honestly doubted that.
"Okay thanks, talk to you later." I said as I hung up.
After my show, I had a surprise guest waiting for me backstage. "You're voice is magic!" said J, my friend who hosted the video show on MTV called J-pop.
"Aw, thanks!" I said as I gave him a hug. "What are you doing here?" my show was in Chicago, nowhere near his usual scene in New York City.
"Oh, I was in town to see my folks, and then I heard about your show. So I called up Kayla and invited her over here with me, I hope you don't mind." He explained.
"What, no way! You know I love to see you, so where's Kayla?" I asked.
"Speak of the devil," Kayla said as she walked up behind me. She was wearing a huge hat and sunglasses. "I was incognito, blending in with the crowd."
"How did that work for you?" J asked.
"Oh you know, only like twenty people stopped me." She responded. I was surprised. That was pretty good. If I ever went out without a disguise I would have a major problem, but even with a hat and glasses I still got stares from everyone and a crowd following.
"We are going out tonight." J stated. "The three of us and whoever else you want to invite. There are some pretty hot clubs here in Chicago."
"Oh yeah, like what?" Kayla said as she put her hands on her hips. Kayla had been to all the hottest clubs in New York and Los Angeles, but I doubted she came to Chicago often.
"They've got one that supposed to be a lot like the "Viper Room" down on Sunset Strip. We can try it out." J offered. The viper room was one of the hottest celebrity clubs in LA where almost everything went down. It was supposed to be super cool although I had never been there. Innocent school girls don't go clubbing.
"Whatever, I need to get drunk!" Kayla yelled. "Bring Freddy!"
"He's not here. 'N Sync is recording there new album right now so he won't have free time until he's done." I explained. Unfortunately, Freddy's six month break was over.
"Ugh, how boring!" Kayla replied.
J play-hit her across the back of her head. "Yeah, I was talking to my boy JC yesterday and he let me hear a little bit of what they were recording." J told us. "It was just over the phone, but it sounded like a hit!"
"That's awesome. Now, let's part-ay!" Kayla yelled. Only one second later, Tig entered the room with a stern look.
"What party are we going to?" Tig asked, obviously knowing he wasn't invited.
"Just out to the clubs, no biggie." I said. I knew Tig would let me go, but I wasn't so sure how he would react to Kayla going since she had been missing-in-action for so long, only occasionally popping up when she was looking for a good time.
"Who else is going?" He asked.
I was thinking of inviting some of my dancers. "Maybe Julie and Kara… I don't know about Trina because she said she had a headache... I'll ask them." Really I just doubted Trina would go because Kayla was there.
"That's fine." He responded as he turned to Kayla. "No funny business, got it?" he told her.
"What the fuck, I didn't even do anything yet!" she complained. "I can handle myself."
"Hey, I'm letting you go. All I ask is that you take Karl with you." he explained to us. "These aren't LA clubs, who knows what kind of people hang out around you. You need protection."
Kayla looked at me desperately. After Liam had professed his love for her, she had fired Liam's dad Karl as her bodyguard to avoid awkwardness. Personally, I thought it was a bitchy move because Karl was awesome, so I hired him as my security guard. Still, I felt like I should help Kayla out in her situation.
"Maybe that's not necessary Tig." I said. "It may be a little awkward for Karl with Kayla here anyways…"
He looked at me like I was crazy. "No, it won't be awkward for Karl because he is a mature adult who can handle cry-baby situations. Kayla could take a few notes actually." He told me while directing the question at her.
"Prick," she muttered as we left the room.
I wasn't expecting the club to be much, but J had proved me wrong. It had four different rooms each with a different theme: tropical, space, high-tech, and gothic. I even saw a couple of celebrities pass by, all though they were mostly MTV reality show stars. Karl ended up coming with us but he was just business as usual. He kept a safe distance from us so he would be able to catch anyone who got too close.
"Wonder, look over there!" said Julie, one of my back-up dancers. She had long brown hair, tan skin, and a huge Puerto Rican butt. I looked to where she was pointing and saw a familiar looking face.
"Who is that?" I asked.
"Um, I don't know. But he's from that movie we watched about week ago where his dad goes to space. He is so cute!" she squealed.
I pushed her, "Go dance with him!" I encouraged. She smiled and raced off to talk to him.
"So, where's Jennifer?" I asked J in attempt to be nice. I was still embarrassed by the way the tabloids accused me of trying to break up their engagement.
"We broke up. I'm probably going to release a statement to the public sometime this week." he told me.
"Oh I'm so sorry! What happened?"
"Everyone knows she was a flake!" Kayla told me. "No offense J."
He rolled his eyes. "Absolutely none taken."
"So have you guys heard? Eminem talks about me in his new song." Kayla said.
J laughed. "Yeah, have you seen the video?"
"I haven't even heard the song yet. I've just been told I was in it." Kayla replied.
"Yeah you're mentioned in a passing. He talks about me for like two lines, and talks about Wonder for almost the whole verse!" J added.
"Yeah, he said I gave head to you and Fred Durst!" I said to J. "It's going to be a J-Pop favorite; they don't call him Slim Shady for nothing." I lamented.
"Ew," Kayla replied. "Why would he say that?" As if I knew.
"He's going to be on J-Pop live this week. I'll ask him about it." J promised.
"Okay, I'll try to watch." I said as a I heard a familiar voice behind me.
"Well if it isn't my old pals Kayla and Wonder," said the screeching voice of Dean Marconi. "You've grown a lot since B-Kidz Wonder, I was just thinking about when we would meet up again." He said sarcastically.
"Dean," Kayla said as she stood up to kiss him on both cheeks. "Buy us a round of drink, would you?"
J did a handshake with Dean. "Haven't seen you in a while! How's college life treating you?" J asked him. Even thought he had an amazing movie career, Dean had insisted on attending Yale because "he was actually intellectual, unlike other celebrities" so he said himself. He skipped out on the Oscar Award Show even though he won an award just so he could study for final exams. Yet, he had time to make sure every newspaper and magazine knew about it.
"Oh it's amazing. I'm doing so well." he bragged as he sipped down a fruity alcoholic drink.
"What are you doing in Chicago?" I asked him.
"I'm here visiting my old friend Conrad." He said pointing at the actor Julie was dancing with. "What are you doing here Miss Genie- in-a-Bottle?" he relocated his finger so it pointed at me.
"Are you drunk?" Kayla asked him. "She's on tour and J and I came to visit her! Where are your manners?"
"Sorry, don't mind me but I think I'm going to go… take care of something." He slurred as he practically groped a slutty girl on the dance floor.
"I really fucking hate that guy." J said.
Three days later I was sitting in my hotel room in New Jersey watching J-Pop with Trina.
"So we have a phoner!" J said to the crowd after introducing Eminem. A phoner was somebody-usually a fan (or in my case it was Freddy) who calls on the show and talks to the guest.
"Her name is Melissa from Florida and she is actually a fan of J's so she's going to ask you a few questions." Eminem said.
"Alright. Alright." J yelled into the microphone.
A moment later a loud squeaky voice of what sounded like a Boston teenage girl spoke on the other end. "Hey what's going on?" she said.
"Nothing. How are you?" J replied but before he could finish she interrupted.
"Eminem I love you! I can't believe I'm talking to you right now!" she said in a voice that sounded distinctly from Boston, not Florida. J's smile deteriorated.
Eminem faked a geek snort. "Thanks...I love you too.*snort*."
"Okay J," she continued. "First of all I think you're so hot. Mmkay? So I just wanted to know, what is the craziest thing a fan has ever done to get close to you?" she asked.
"Uh, to get close to me…" he thought about it. "Well one time when I was in Cancun they had about 10 girls sleeping outside my hotel room. That's usually a problem when fans know what hotel you stay at." J replied.
"Really, that's crazy!" Melissa said.
"Yeah, but that's not even the worst." He told her. "I had a girl who hid in a bathroom when we were shooting in Big Bear, California. We were doing MTV's Snowed In and I guess she heard about the wrap party at this bar so she hung out in the bathroom for I guess, four and half hours the manager said. I went in to take a leak and she popped her head out screaming!"
Eminem laughed and said, "Then they literally had to kick Wonder Blake out!" the whole audience erupted into laughter and J did a nervous smile. "It was really bad" Eminem continued.
"That's good TV right there!" J said trying to change the subject. "You don't even think before saying it and everyone's laughing!" he said to the girl on the phone, "Thanks for calling in Melissa."
"Can I give a shout-out?" the girl asked.
Eminem made a squinty face and replied, "No. Goodbye." The audience laughed again as the image of the girl on the screen above them disappeared.
"So your video for the 'Real Slim Shady' just hit number two this week. How do you feel?" J asked Eminem.
"Wait, who's got number one?" he asked.
"Destiny's Child with their video for 'Survivor' and Wonder Blake comes in at number three with 'Born to Make You Happy'"
"Pshh…" Eminem made a face. "You know, I actually like Destiny's Child, I really do. They got swag, but at the moment they are the enemy, so fuck you!" he said waving his middle finger around. Because the show was live, the editor's didn't have time to bleep out his cussing. I hoped J wouldn't get in trouble with the MTV people for this.
"Yeah, but number two is still a great achievement!" J said.
Eminem made his impression of a geek voice. "Oh my god, I'm just a little white boy named Marshall Mathers from Detroit. I can't believe this is happening to me." He laughed. "Naw, really I'm just surprised at how mainstream I've gotten. I've got to admit I feel kinda out of my zone here on J-Pop."
"Why is that?" J asked. "Your fans obviously seem to think you deserve the attention." He said while the camera showed a clip of all the fans outside the building holding posters of Eminem's face. The entire crowd had their middle fingers raised (one of Eminem's signature moves).
"Well, for one, this is a pop show hence it's called J-Pop and I'm a rapper. The little circle of 'N Stink, Wonder Flake, and Kayla Bitch-head, it just ain't my atmosphere. You know what I am sayin'?"
"Yeah, I got you." J replied. "And in the song 'The Real Slim Shady' you kind of talk about hating girl and boy groups, don't you?"
"Yeah, am I the only one who thinks that 'N Sync stinks?" he laughed. Half of the audience cheered and the other half had their jaws dropped.
"Alright, so what I'm wondering about is the whole Wonder thing? She recently put out a statement about your song saying that what you wrote was not only 'disgusting but untrue' because you stated she quote on quote 'gave you VD' and that she sucked my dick as well as Fred Durst's. How do you respond?" J asked.
"Yeah, it probably wasn't true. So what happened is I actually think she has an incredible voice, and I respected her." Eminem said.
"So what happened?"
"Well I was watching MTV and she had her little 'What A Girl Wants' TV special and I'm like watching her special and she's giggling with her friends and whatever, and she chose my video as one of her favorites." He said. I remembered that. It was a special where I chose all my favorite mainstream music videos and I chose the song "My Name is…" by Eminem. I chose it because when it came out everyone was shocked by his controversial lyrics about murdering his girlfriend and numerous celebrities.
"And I was like that's cool that she picked my video." Eminem continued. "But I guess she heard some rumor that I was married and then she said 'Yeah, he's cute but isn't he married though? Yeah, the girl that he talks about killing on his record actually.' And I was sitting there thinking like 'No you didn't just say that, you little bitch!' And she goes on to say 'girls out there, you've got to pull the plug on situations like that. Don't let a guy disrespect you.' and all this random shit about abusive relationships and I'm like, why would you pick me video if you're just gonna pick it apart like that? I would rather have her just say nothing about me."
"Right," J nodded.
"Like she heard a rumor, she didn't even know if it was true and she put me on blast. So I'm like fuck that, right like that's cool, whatever. But since you said some shit about me I'm going to voice some rumors I've heard about you. And I don't to mean to get you in trouble J. I understand that she's under aged and how all that crap goes with you being involved…"
"Nah, it's alright." J said.
"See this is how I feel, once Wonder turns eighteen you can forget it. I don't want her anymore. That ruins the fun." Eminem laughed.
"So what about 'N Sync and Kayla? Why do you mention them?"
"Backstreet Boys and Ricky Martin too, but that's in a different song. I just can't stand teen pop in general. Kayla is garbage. I think the whole pop world is corny, its sissy music, and it's just so watered down, man. Like, how many times can you rhyme tearin' up my heart, breaking your heart, you drive me crazy, it's just ridiculous. It gets on my nerves, all of these songs sound the same to me."
"Right, and I've listened to your album and some of it is really harsh. Is that done purposefully because you kinda have to separate yourself 'cause you are automatically labeled like them just because you're a blonde guy?" J asked.
"Yeah, exactly. I always get grouped up with this J-Pop crowd and I don't really like it because, you know, I'm not pop. I can't stand being grouped in that category."
"Well even if you don't like us here on J-Pop, we still love you!" J smiled while pointing at the crowd.
Eminem laughed. "To all the girls calling me 'hot': you would not find me attractive if I wasn't famous!" he yelled into the crowd. "I'm just playing, you know I love you!"
I turned off the TV. "Well, that's that." I said.
"At least you know what he was talking about with those lyrics now." Trina said.
"It's funny because I hardly remember saying those things. It wasn't supposed to be such a big deal." I said.
"I hate how he disses pop music like that. He is obviously jealous of something." Trina told me.
"You think? I understand what he means, it is corny. But he doesn't have to be so mean about it I guess. But I get it, it's all for publicity."
She shook her head. "Whatever,"