If there’s one thing you don’t do, it’s try to engage in trash talking with Michael Jordan, especially when it has to do with basketball. If The Last Dance is any indication, MJ’s probably going to end up with the final word and if you ever find yourself to be in business with him, that kind of talk might cost you.
Eminem almost learned that lesson the hard way when he was chatting with Jordan about collaborating on an Eminem branded Air Jordan. The rapper was on Sirius XM’s Shade 45 a few days ago where he shared a story about being on the phone with MJ and how a harmless joke very quickly got real.
https://youtu.be/9Gbkaw-m-e0?t=220
“We were talking about doing some kind of shoe… one of the collaborations. And I was on the phone with him, we were talking and —everything was cool — he’s super cool — and everything was good until we get to the end of the phone call, and I said, ‘Yo, man, when are you gonna come to Detroit so I can dunk on you?’ And it was crickets. And he was —, I don’t remember exactly what he said but I think he just kind of was — ‘heh heh heh heh’ — laugh. And I remember getting off the phone going, ‘Oh my god I think I might have just blew it.’”
“Because, to me, in my head, it was a total joke, right? It’s so ridiculous for me to think I could dunk on Jordan, right? So in my head, it’s one of those things that you think is going to be funnier in your head than when you actually say it. So I don’t know what happened after that.”
“It was one of those things that in my head this would be so ridiculous, he has to know I’m joking. But when I got off the phone I remember thinking, ‘I don’t think he knew I was joking.’ Because he’s very — I mean, watching this documentary — he’s very competitive.”
In the end, Eminem launched a limited edition line of Air Jordan’s so this initial awkwardness didn’t get in the way of a business relationship. Michael Jordan may hold some grudges, especially toward people playing on sports teams from Detroit, but you don’t get to become a billionaire by letting grudges get in the way of making money so all in all, things between Eminem and MJ are, probably well.
[Clutch Points/Photo: Billboard]
