Lazarus talks Eminem influence, shows love to Royce 5’9″

In a new interview on Panda CHOP! News, Detroit rapper Lazarus aka Dr. Khan breaks down his wide range of musical influences, citing legends like Eazy-E, Rakim, Kool G Rap, Eminem and the Wu-Tang Clan, among others. He also reflects on Eminem’s massive impact on Detroit hip-hop and how he reshaped the culture, while showing love to Royce da 5’9”, whom he praises as a phenomenal MC.

“As far as what influenced me, I think I’m heavily influenced by Wu-Tang, heavily influenced by Nas, from Em. When I came out, Em was taking off. I was doing battles at the time when Em first started to take off so he had big impact on me too. He opened the door for every Detroit artists to think that we can actually take this hip-hop and we could take it to the rest of the world. He demonstrated that, he showed that. I love Elzhi and Slum Village but when Eminem, Royce Da 5’9″ and D12 took the scene, it was over.” Lazarus said.

Then he continued: “I actually got a chance to hear his Infinite stuff before ‘My Name Is’ came out. When that song came out it took me for a loop because I was like ‘is this the same dude who did Infinite?’ It kinda threw me off a little bit cause I was like ‘damn he really changed the style up. But when I heard the album, I was like, ‘that’s a rap!’ And then I heard the song ‘Role Model’ on Slim Shady LP and I was like ‘no, this dude is insane bro.'”

You can watch the interview below: