History was made at the 2003 Academy Awards when "Lose Yourself" from "8 Mile" became the first-ever hip-hop song to win an Oscar. The track was performed by Eminem in the film, however, he was not on hand to accept the award — but he made up for it 17 years later.
In 2020, Eminem made a surprise appearance to finally perform the song at the Oscars and opened up to Variety about why he chose to do so. "I kinda figured maybe since I didn't get a chance to do it at the time, maybe it would be cool," he explained. "Back then, I never even thought that I had a chance to win, and we had just performed 'Lose Yourself' on the Grammys with the Roots a couple of weeks before the Oscars, so we didn't think it was a good idea. And also, back at that time, the younger me didn't really feel like a show like that would understand me."
He added: "But then when I found out I won, 'That's crazy!' That to me shows how authentic and real that award is — when you don't show up and you still win. That makes it very real to me."
