Legendary Samoan Hip-Hop group Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., Eminem and anothr legendary Hip-Hop group Cypress Hill’s B-Real teamed up for 2003 single “911,” for Boo-Yaa’s “West Koastra Nostra” album. As it turns out, the single was not a typical collaboration among rappers. There is something much deeper than that.
Last month, Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.’s nephew Monsta Gunjah appeared on The Lesson w/ DJ Sanchez where he spoke about his uncle working as Eminem’s security back in the day. In an interview, he revealed that Slim Shady was once being extorted by the Los Angeles Crips, which is also reflected in the lyrics of the song “911”.
“That is how ‘911’ with Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. and B-Real happened, that’s how that song came about because Paul Rosenberg reached out. Eminem was getting extorted by some Crips. Maybe he was paying them money and getting bullied, I don’t know the exact details but what I do know is a few phone calls were made and then that is how the feature came about because they were like, ‘Anything in return, what do you want?’ They are like, ‘I want a feature from Eminem!'” – says Monsta Gunjah
HipHopDX reached out to legendary B-Real and asked about the song’s backstory : “I did not hear too much about that because I never got involved with any of that stuff with Eminem. They just called me to be on this record and Boo-Yaa, they have always been family to us. Ganxsta Ridd was one of my big time homies. They were always with us in the early days. And so when that project came up and I heard Em was on it, I would always wanted to flip on a record with him, so it was easy work — it was family and Em was on it. I was like, ‘Oh, s**t. All right, let’s do it.’”
“And I did not think of the politics, he was just somebody I wanted to get down with because I love Em. He is one of my favorite top three, and so I had a chance to work with him there, along with my family. It was a no brainer to me, and yeah, you know the politics I heard about it later, but Boo-Ya washed that s**t out for them.”
“No one was f**king with those guys, you know. If they got behind you and they said, ‘Hey, he’s with us,’ you do not f**k with him. Nobody f**ks with those guys. But yeah, I was just glad to get on it, and me and Em talked about it some time later, and it was just a cool experience. I was glad to be on it, for sure.”
VIA HIPHOPDX.