Legendary Masta Ace has recently sat down with Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur and DJ Thoro The Amazing AllHipHop Podcast where he talked about his legacy, lyrics, and the next chapter. At one point of the interview, he talked about similarities between him and Eminem.
“I hear people say that stuff [early Eminem sounding like me] and I have seen that recent post about it but I don’t repost. Because I feel like it is disrespectful. We as artists, we all feed off of each other. I could play you my early stuff before my first album came out, where I sounded like Rakim. We all trying to find our own ways, especially in the early going.” said Masta Ace.
Then he continues: “Whatever Em ended up doing, he did something completely on another plateau than whatever I did. He actually names sever people that influenced him when he was coming out. It was Redman, Bid Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, it was a long list. I was just one of those names. I respect that bother, he respects me. He’s influenced me in the ways he probably doesn’t even realize as well. The willingness to kind of say stuff that’s a little bit outside of what would you expect a rapper to say. Having that courage. It just opens up minds. And then, some of the ways he kind of put words together and then the way he made stuff rhyme that you never would have thought to make rhyme. It energizes you as a writer to go like ‘lets go there!'”
You can watch the interview below: