Eminem has claimed that hip-hop saved his life.

The rapper, who said that he he had been lucky to overcome his addiction to drugs in an [url=http://www.nme.com/news/eminem/73916interview with BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe[/url] earlier this week, told Rolling Stone that hip-hop was the only thing he had ever been able to excel at.

Speaking about his current state of mind, he said: "I'm as happy as I can be, I guess. Hip-hop saved my life, man. It's the only thing I've ever been decent at. I don't know how to do anything else. I think they have a word for that – what do they call it? Idiot savant?"

In his interview with Lowe, meanwhile, Eminem also admitted that he his battles with drug and drink addiction had made it difficult for him to perform live. "I was so trapped in my own head," he said. "I think that back then it was so big in my head, it was like, 'Fuck, man, let me take this and drink this and get through it', as opposed to going out there and actually being able to see the people and connect with the crowd and have fun with it."

Discussing his plans for the future, meanwhile, and said he wanted to be involved in the music industry even when he stops rapping. "I don't know what the plan is for the near future but I do know there'll be other things coming up, other projects things like that that I'll probably get into working on," he revealed. "I always write and I probably always will.

"At whatever point I decide I'm probably going to put the mic down, whatever happens with that, I do feel I always want something to do with the music. So whether it's producing or whatever ends up happening I just want something to do with it. Music is always going to be in my head along with myself that's trapped in it."

Eminem released 'The Marshall Mathers LP 2' earlier this month (November). His first solo record since 2010's 'Recovery', it subsequently went on to claim the Number One spot on the Official UK Albums Chart.