"Shady Bizzness: " Life as Eminem's Bodyguard in an Industry of Paper Gangsters" by Byron Williams

everyone went
from, “Ahh, Hawaii” to “Oh, shit!” It was ugly. Finally, we got Honolulu
police and airport security to escort us to our vehicle. Immediately Sarge
and Rowe put Dre in a van at the back of the airport where Death Row
couldn’t see them, and they fled. They busted up. They are pretty good
at handling stuff like that. Me, I was only one person and didn’t have a
second person I could set up and organize with or anything. It was just
me, and I had to do everything at the same time as watching Slim. It was
pretty hectic. Unfortunately, we had to go out the front door. There were
some police officers that were working with us as extra added security
coming from California. So we had to wait a while because some had to
get their guns and their vests, which were still in their luggage. They lost
my luggage, but I didn’t have anything in it anyway, but the whole point
was we are here in Hawaii, Death Row is out here, and they are starting
shit. It was instant stress and instant drama. I was freaking out because I
was mad now. I had invited my wife to come out, and I knew she was going
to have an attitude, so I was worried about her, and I had to worry about
Slim, who was crazy. The happy mood was broken. Everybody got their
luggage except me; they sent mine later to the hotel. We all got in the van,
and the mood went from everybody talking about having fun and chasing
women to complete silence. I mean, all you saw was everybody putting
on their bulletproof vests, loading and cocking their Glocks, pulling back
their hammers, the whole nine, checking their guns, and all you could
hear was “click-click, snap, pop. ”We were like, damn! About half a block
down all you could see were these red-and-black jerseys; these guys had
on strictly red and black. It was them Death Row cats.
    They had made it known that they were in the house, and it worked.
So we pulled off in the van, with the Honolulu police as an escort, and
headed to our hotel. The drama began at the hotel. Immediately, we had
switched Snoop from the hotel he was at, which was the venue where
they were going to be performing a show in the banquet hall. Death Row
was apparently staying at the same hotel where Snoop was, so we had to
get Snoop from that hotel to our hotel, and we had the Honolulu police
surround the perimeter of the whole hotel. Anybody who looked like they
didn’t belong there was stopped and questioned, people from Xzibit to
Snoop to Dre to their wives to their girlfriends to their kids. No one could
leave the premises without proper escort. It was basically demanded that
no one go anywhere. I think we were on the best part of the island, and we
got the best hotel on the beach, so everything we needed was right there
on the spot—the bar, the swimming pool, everything. We really didn’t
have to go anywhere, but it just rained on the whole parade. We were all
confined to our rooms, and all the artists, such as Xzibit, Dre, Snoop, and
Eminem, had to have two police officers on twelve-hour shifts outside of
their rooms. Anytime we went anywhere we had numerous bodyguards, so
there were a good twelve bodyguards among us, and there were like, two
police officers for every two bodyguards. We were deep, so basically we
outnumbered them, but it was just the point of being uncomfortable.
    We couldn’t go anywhere, we couldn’t sleep in peace, and we
were worried about the drama, what was going to happen next. I had my
wife here trying to celebrate her birthday. It was miserable, but we made
the most of it. My thing was in a situation like that you worry about the
women because they are the weakest link. I guess my mind really got the
best of me because I was thinking, They’re going to target me because
I’m Slim’s bodyguard, and he’s the new guy, and the way to him is get to
me. I brought my wife along, and it’s her birthday, and they might try to
approach her. I was just really