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The year is 2002. Eminem has three songs on The Billboard Hot 100 chart. He has a number one single in his song “Lose Yourself” and a critically acclaimed, box office hit film 8 Mile. This success was astronomical at the time, but one would not expect that it would provide the rapper with a clever business venture 19 years later.
Within “Lose Yourself” are the lyrics:
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti
The last lyric of this line, “mom’s spaghetti”, would go on to become a very well-known and commonly used phrase in pop culture and satirical YouTube videos. Now, Eminem is taking it one step further by creating a walk-up style restaurant in his hometown of Detroit. The name of the restaurant, you guessed it: Mom’s Spaghetti. The rapper’s newest endeavor opened on September 29th and is located within the newly-opened Union Assembly restaurant at 2131 Woodward Avenue. This concept actually originated in 2017 as a pop-up shop. According to a news release from Eminem’s website, Mom’s Spaghetti has made past appearances at several of the rapper’s festival performances and also delivered food to front-line hospital workers and COVID-19 vaccinators in Detroit during the coronavirus pandemic. It is now making its way to a permanent location.
Mom’s Spaghetti features a very straightforward menu consisting of spaghetti with the option of adding either meatballs or vegan meatballs. The restaurant also offers what it refers to as a “sghetti sandwich.” Attached to Mom’s Spaghetti is an upstairs retail shop called “The Trailer”, another reference to 8 Mile. Eminem himself attended the grand opening, serving customers their food and partaking in photos with attendees.
It seems that restauranteur is another feather in Eminem’s already robust cap. This goes to show the true drive and ingenuity that lies within the man we have all come to know as Eminem. To be able to intricately craft insightful and inventive song lyrics demonstrates talent as is. To then transform those lyrics into groundbreaking works of art that generates millions of dollars is another thing entirely. Capitalizing on one’s own previous success in a completely different industry, however, is just brilliant.
Though on the surface Mom’s Spaghetti seems like a playful and fun idea for a restaurant, it certainly demonstrates the intelligence of a good businessman.
Will you be checking out Mom’s Spaghetti in Detroit? Let us know down in the comments.
This article originally published on GREY Journal.
