Los Angeles, Jul 31 (IANS): Rapper Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, said that he invented his Slim Shady alter ego as his music was “going nowhere.”

The 51-year-old rapper rose to global fame with his 2000 hit ‘The Real Slim Shady’, and in a video titled ‘Slim Shady vs Marshall Mathers: The Face-Off’ for a cover for Complex magazine, the musician reflected how his performing persona came about before saying it pushed him into addiction.

He told a younger AI generated version of himself in the clip: “I invented you because my life was …. My music was going nowhere and I was broke.”

He attacked his alter ego by declaring: “You didn’t fix anything. You actually made that worse. You’re the reason I had to self-medicate. Because of you I almost lost my career, my family, my life.”

“Life’s been great since you’ve been gone,” reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Eminem recently released his latest studio album ‘The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)’ and hours before it came out the rapper told fans on X, formerly called Twitter: “Public service announcement: the ‘Death of Slim Shady’ is a conceptual album, therefore, if you listen to songs out of order they might not make sense. Enjoy.”

The rapper, who has been clean and sober for years after his well-documented addiction battles, had also shared an obituary for Slim Shady, declaring him dead ahead of the release of the record.