In the latest episode of “People’s Party With Talib Kweli,” Kweli sits down with iconic rapper, writer, producer, and original member of the legendary Juice Crew: MASTA ACE, where the two talked about many things, including Eminem.
Talib Kweli: Now, Eminem…One of the best emcees, most famous, most well-known, he has talked about spending the whole summer listening to the “SlaughtaHouse” album, it’s interesting cause if you a rap fan you can clearly hear your influence on Eminem’s cadence, metaphor-wise, flow-wise. How is that make you feel?
Masta Ace: It’s absolutely an honor. To me, I don’t hear myself in him cause the stuff he was doing he was on another stratosphere with the wordplay. So, when people say they hear similarities, I’m like ‘I was not rhyming like that! That’s another level!’ The respect goes both ways. The first time I met him, he told me that, when “SlaughtaHouse” came out, he was broke, he was hanging out with his boys, D12. And they were just driving around in Detroit, playing “SlaughtaHouse” joint. And I was like ‘WOW.’ I would have never thought that. Never in the million years thought that, so it was an honor. Definitely a big honor.
Eminem has cited Masta Ace as one of his biggest influences when growing up. The two even jumped on a 2000 track together, titled “Hellbound” which also features J-Black, from Game Over compilation album.