For most high profile celebrities, Googling yourself comes at high risk. By plugging your name into the search engine, you’re exposing yourself to cruel tabloid headlines, embarrassing paparazzi pics and a barrage of rumours – whether they be true, or not. However, for Eminem and fellow rapper Lil Wayne, Google is a necessary precaution against self-plagiarising.
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In a recent interview on Apple Music series, Lil Wayne told Eminem, “I literally bro, when I’m doing something, if you look through my phone history with my Google history and you press ‘L,’ first thing that will come up is Lil Wayne lyrics.”
“I literally have to Google my lyrics to make sure I didn’t say something before,” he said. “Man, that’s how long we’ve been doing this sh*t.”
“Oh my God! I swear to God I do that too,” Eminem responded. “…I just did that sh*t last night.”
“Man, that’s funny as hell. I’ve been doing that for like the last five years. You’ll be like ‘Oh I knew I flipped this one [verse],’” the ‘Stan’ rapper added.
“Exactly! Yeah!” Lil Wayne agreed. “[It’s like], ‘I was wondering why that sh*t sounded so perfect.”
It’s really no surprise Eminem has to Google his lyrics to ensure he’s not unintentionally ripping himself off. According to a 2014 article by SPIN, he had released almost 300 songs – and has dropped plenty more since then.
And let’s not forget the fact that Eminem’s recent track ‘Godzilla’ features a 31-second verse composed of 224 words containing 330 syllables. According to High Snobiety, that’s 10.65 syllables (or 7.23) words per second. That’s a lot of lyrics to Google.
Clearly, Eminem’s self-Googling is for the sake of originality – but that’s not always the case. Katy Perry once admitted to Googling “Katy Perry hot” for an instant self-esteem boost, and on the other end of the spectrum, Jennifer Lawrence said she once Googled “Jennifer Lawrence ugly” when she was on her period.
For those who aren’t Googling themselves for very serious work purposes, take Blake Lively’s advice. The actress told Variety that Googling herself “just ended in full depression,” and said “I think it’s a good rule of thumb not to Google yourself because the Internet is not nice.
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