Eminem Talks Retirement, 'Rapping At 50'

After more than a decade in the business, Eminem remains a hip-hop heavyweight, one who can still sell records as if it were the pre-Internet era. So it's hard to imagine what the music scene would be like if he wasn't around. Aside from remembering his "8 Mile" co-star Brittany Murphy in Vibe's 15th-anniversary "Juice" issue, Em also opens up about his inevitable retirement from the rap game.

"Honestly, I don't know how much longer I have in this game," the 37-year-old MC told Vibe. "I'm always going to love hip-hop. But how much longer am I going to still do it? I couldn't give you an answer. But the day that this is not better than the last will probably be the day I stop."

Despite his love for the game, the Detroit native said that even if he were to continue to get in the studio, he doubts he would release the music as a middle-aged MC. "I do love it so much. But even if I was rapping at 50, I don't know if I would put it out. I know it always makes me feel better to lay things to tape, and — 'lay the tape.' See, I'm old school," he said.

In the August/September issue, Em also proves he can be his own worst critic, calling some of his previous material "mediocre." But he said that it's the fans who will ultimately decide his hip-hop fate.

"The fans might say the sh-- is garbage. You don't how long people are going to want you around ... Realistically, if I don't rap, what the f--- am I going to do? It's too late to just be unfamous right now at this point," he admitted.

Slim Shady is probably right about it being too late for him to fade into obscurity, but by the looks of things he probably has no reason to worry about losing his fanbase. His latest effort, Recovery, is smashing the competition and it sits atop next week's Billboard albums chart with sales of 133,000 pushing it past the 2.1 million mark in just eight weeks.

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