Have you ever played the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? It works like this: you pick an actor arbitrarily, then you and your fellow game players connect the name to other actors until you connect them to the popular and prolific thespian, Kevin Bacon. It’s kinda funny, because you can almost always end up connecting the first actor to Kevin Bacon before or by the time you get to the 6th name, hence the game name “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”.
But this morning, Inny was quick to point out that SHE is LESS than six degrees connected to Dr. Dre and Eminem, the gangsta rap gods that will be featured in today’s SB half-time show at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California. If you didn’t know, Inny has a famous uncle! Inny would claim her uncle has a famous niece in her, but Innyways…
SB Half-Time Show Includes Dr. Dre & Eminem
Let’s harken back to the end of the year 2001. 911 had just happened, Nu-metal, along with the juggernaut known as Grunge, were dominating rock radio. Oh, and Eminem was also dominating the rap world too with The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. Back then it was fun to watch rock radio suits try to fit this new white rapper in with their tight, radio formats. But the kids wanted Slim!
Everybody did. It’s easy sometimes to forget about the Eminem fever that spread around the world like Beatle-Mania. But it did. And being the rap mastermind Dr. Dre was, he saw the potential in Marshall Mathers. That’s why Dre signed Eminem to his Aftermath Entertainment label back in 1999, even as others condemned him for working with a white rapper.
But he wasn’t done with Shady. Dr. Dre released his aptly named CD 2001 in November of that year. He also released a single from the record “Forgot About Dre” featuring Eminem. The song was a smash success and was everywhere from radio, T.V. and YouTube. Scratch that… YouTube didn’t exist yet…
But in the mix of all that worldwide success for Dr. Dre, Eminem and rap music, was Inny’s uncle. She calls him “Favorite Uncle Steve”. Inny’s “Favorite Uncle Steve” up to this point had already lived quite an interesting life. Prior to 2001 “Favorite Uncle Steve” was in the Marines. He fought in MULTIPLE wars. And then after his military career, he picked up acting. He was in numerous projects, including the filming of the music video for Dr. Dre’s “Forgot About Dre” song. The video was played so many times on MTV (when MTV played music videos), I think their Betamax broadcast tape probably wore out. We posted the video below for your viewing pleasure (Favorite Uncle Steve’s scene is at the 3:20 mark).
In the music video, Inny’s “Favorite Uncle Steve” plays a cop that arrests Eminem and puts him in the back of a squad car. Above is a couple of screen shots of the fake-arrest. Pretty cool stuff, Inny! Even if you’re cool because of your cooler Uncle Steve. By the way, Uncle Steve’s real name is Steve Barnett, and his acting credits also include, but are not limited to, the T.V. show 3rd Rock From The Sun and the movies Mac and Me, An American President and Jurassic Park! Those are some serious acting credits- “Favorite Uncle Steve” must be where Inny got her show biz talent from!