Rapper Eminem shocked Oscars guests Sunday night with a surprise performance of “Lose Yourself” 17 years after he won an Oscar for the song.
Eminem originally didn’t attend the Academy Awards for his Oscar back in 2003, but his award was accepted by his collaborator Luis Resto, according to a report published by Variety.
Eminem recently dropped his album “Music To Be Murdered By” as a surprise as well. The Oscars performance was also kept a secret, and if it got leaked to the media, Eminem had the option to back out. (RELATED: Anonymous Academy Awards Member Gives Brutal Review Of Barack Obama’s Documentary ‘American Factory’)
“I kinda figured maybe since I didn’t get a chance to do it at the time, maybe it would be cool,” Eminem told Variety about his decision to perform. “Back then, I never even thought that I had a chance to win, and we had just performed ‘Lose Yourself’ on the Grammys with the Roots a couple of weeks before the Oscars, so we didn’t think it was a good idea. And also, back at that time, the younger me didn’t really feel like a show like that would understand me.”
“But then when I found out I won, ‘That’s crazy!'” he added. “That to me shows how authentic and real that award is — when you don’t show up and you still win. That makes it very real to me.”