Psycho

Album: Before I Self Destruct (2009)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This track features 50's label mate Eminem. Fif paid tribute to his family member to MTV News. "It's always fun working with Em for me. He's in a space where he has the luxury of just being able to sit down. The rest of us... me, I do the actual footwork. Dre hasn't had an album out in seven years. Em - two years. Me - seven, eight months. They send me out to test the waters, and everyone else will jump in the tub. I stay a little more active. Em is by far the biggest rap artist, period. I'm the largest hip-hop touring artist. I travel more places than he travels to be in front of a live audience."
  • Among the pair's previous collaborations was "Patiently Waiting," from 50's debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin'. The G-Unit mastermind compared the two tracks: "Well, 'Patiently Waiting' I perform with Eminem. On ['Psycho'], off Before I Self Destruct., is 50 Cent and Slim Shady."
  • 50 told MTV News about the recording of this track: "He [Eminem] has an alter ego, and he has a comfort with doing things [that] are the craziest things possible. That's when the chainsaw comes out. He starts going nuts on you. I wanted him to be able to go to that space, so I worked the chorus and he heard the chorus and he's like, 'Yo, I like that.' I actually recorded ['Psycho'] in Las Vegas. Dre produced the track, we had a bunch of producers out there, and I went and laid the first verse. [Eminem] came and he heard it and he was like, 'Yo, I'm ready.' Wrote his verse, laid it. And then he started the next verse without me, I was like, 'Whoa, I really only wanted one verse. I was going to rap again on the third.' And then he just came in on that, so we went back and forth on the last piece. That song is crazy. That collaboration, we just got such a good energy around each other that we can be creative around each other."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Justin Timberlake

Justin TimberlakeFact or Fiction

Was Justin the first to be Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher? Did Britney really blame him for her meltdown? Did his bandmates think he was gay?

Prince

PrinceFact or Fiction

Prince is shrouded in mystery, making him an excellent candidate for Fact or Fiction. Is he really a Scientologist? Does he own an exotic animal?

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Mac Powell of Third Day

Mac Powell of Third DaySongwriter Interviews

The Third Day frontman talks about some of the classic songs he wrote with the band, and what changed for his solo country album.

Who Did It First?

Who Did It First?Music Quiz

Do you know who recorded the original versions of these ten hit songs?

Dennis DeYoung

Dennis DeYoungSongwriter Interviews

Dennis DeYoung explains why "Mr. Roboto" is the defining Styx song, and what the "gathering of angels" represents in "Come Sail Away."