Latest Interviews Archives - Page 28 of 28

James Larese talks about working with Eminem on Empire State Building performance

No Jumper host Sharps has recently sat down with the video director James Larese to talk about the business, how he navigates his way to success, artists he has worked with, how he keeps his motivation going and much more.

At one point of the interview, Sharps asked James Larese to talk about working with Eminem on Empire State Building performance of his “Venom” single from 2018, off Kamikaze album.

“I’ve worked very very consistently with Eminem for many many years, since about 2008. So, he was gonna perform. He had this song “Venom” out and he was going to do that performance. They did an actual music video for it as well but this was gonna be the separate live performance that we were gonna shoot live.” said Larese.

Then he continues: “Eminem is amazing. He’s genius. He’s a genius, that’s all I can say. And here is a thing. We shot it a week before the Kimmel show. Before it was gonna air. And it was planned out where on that day that it was gonna air Kim will throw it to them and it would seem as if it was right then. So, because we did that a week ahead of time it had to be a secret. So how you do that? It could not let be known because then everyone would know it was not live when it actually aired. People do that all the time when they shoot things.”

“So, basically we had 70th floor up of the Empire State Building for about two days. To rehearse and sequence, the lights of the Empire State building to the song, so when we would play the song the lights of the Empire State Building would pulse to the beat, they change it. And then we had two helicopters, one that was filming his performance and one that was shooting that helicopter shooting him. I wanted to take advantage of that fact that we were actually using helicopter so I wanted to be able to shoot the helicopter in the shot.” he added.

Earlier this month James Larese, who has previously worked with Eminem on “From Detroit To The LBC,” with Snoop Dogg, “Is This Love (09′),” with 50 Cent “Darkness,” “Rainy Days” with Westside Boogie, “Lucky You,” with Joyner Lucas, “Fall” and “Fast Lane” with Royce 5’9″ music videos and SNL sketches, also hinted that Eminem has something planned in 2023.

You can watch the new interview below:

Almighty Suspect explains why Jay-Z doesn’t have bigger impact than Eminem

Following 50 Cent, Los Angeles rapper and No Jumper host Almighty Suspect is another artist who disagrees former NBA player Jamal Crawford saying Jay-Z has bigger impact on hip-hop than Eminem albums sales will ever have.

During the conversation with Shaquille O’Neal on his new podcast called The Big Podcast, Crawford drew the parallel to hip-hop to rank his top five NBA players of all time and used Eminem and JAY-Z’s impact as an example.

“In my top five, the dominance outweighs the number. You can not change the game and say this person has more points than me, he is better. It is beyond that. Jay-Z’s affect on hip-hop is bigger than any album sales Eminem will have. That is just how it goes.” Crawford said.

Jamal Crawford’s statement sparked lots of discussions in social media and 50 Cent also weighed in. The Hip-Hop Wolf Instagram page posted Crawford’s interview and asked fans if they agree to the statement or not. Under the comment section, Fifty replied: “Ha, bulls–t.” with Sneezing Face emoji.

Today, the topic has been discussed in No Jumper podcast, where Almighty Suspect denied Crawford’s statement: “Bro, I can name like six Eminem clones right now. Hopsin, DAX, Logic, MGK, that white McDonald dude that white dude who’s is making If-I-Was-Black songs. Joyner Lucas is one of them too. That’s the six. I’m not naming rappers that look like Eminem. I’m naming rappers who are actual clones of Eminem. I just named six. Tell me, name me, six Jay-Z clones.” said Suspect.

Then he continues: “I’m not saying Eminem’s impact is better or worse but it’s large! It has to be acknowledged and I don’t even like Eminem like whatsoever. I think Jay-Z’s impact on rap is bigger outside of rap. More entrepreneur s–t. In the business aspect, hell yeah. But if we talking about just rap, bro, all Jay-Z does is f–king quote Biggie lines. F–k we talking about ni–a. His effect, I get it, because he’s definitely one of the GOATs, one of the greatest rappers alive in people’s eyes. To me, one of the greatest artist is Wayne. Jay-Z’s impact in hip-hop, what are we saying? Like, what? Where? Besides being a business mogul.”

“Eminem does have a lot of numbers but he also has a big impact on rap bro. You know how many motherf–kers trying to imitate him? Ni–as do that all day. It’s not like eight of them. It’s millions of them.” Suspect added.

You can watch the entire thing below:

Peter Gunz talks trying to get Cory Gunz signed to Eminem, reveals Eminem is still their dream collab

Peter Gunz from Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz hip-hop duo, who released their debut album back in 1996, has recently sat down with Math Hoffa where the The Bronx, New York-rapper revealed that he was trying his best to get his son Cory Gunz signed to Eminem‘s Shady Records.

Cory Gunz who is currently signed to After Platinum Records, Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, and Universal Republic Records also revealed that Eminem is still his dream collaboration.

“Cory was raised on LL, Rakim, Kane, KRS-One, Redman, Jay-Z, Biggie, Nas. He only heard that and I would give him those patters and gave him like a homework. Go write like that, do this, do that. I would give him sprinkle of everything. Little bit of Slick Rick, little bit of De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Busta, I wanted him to get full package. And then this rapper came along called Eminem and his patterns intrigued Cory and the rest is history.” said Peter Gunz.

Later in the interview, Peter continues: “I’m still a fan of Eminem. Yeah he may not be the same if he was black I get when people say that. He says it himself but that does not take away from him being incredible. Sometimes he says some s**t we can’t relate to but he also says meaningful stuff. He’s incredible to me. In my humble opinion, I think Eminem is incredible.”

“I met with Paul Rosenberg. I was really trying to get Cory next to Eminem. I even tapped the producers just to get next to Eminem, even if I didn’t want the beat. It was Mr. Porter but beat was fire. I felt like, if we get the beat from him and Cory rapped on he would play it for Eminem and that’s maybe set it up. That was my thinking of to try get him over there. It never panned out that way but things happen the way it supposed to happen.” Peter added.

Then Cory continues: “I wanted to work with Shady Records and to this day still I do. Cory and Eminem, that’ would be a dream come true. Shout out to Royce too.”

Peter adds: “That would be like me getting a song with Prince. That would be something on my bucket list if that happened before I die. Even before my own dreams, to get Eminem and Cory on a record or hear them rhyming together would be a dream come true because Cory one of the ones that can hang with him in my humble opinion.”

You can watch the interview below:

KRS-One, Chuck D, Killer Mike talk about Eminem’s influence on rap in new “Fight The Power” documentary

BBC has just released 4-part documentary Fight the Power: How Hip-Hop Changed the World written and directed by iconic Chuck D. The docuseries examine how hip-hop/rap music became a cultural phenomenon, with insight from some of the rap scene’s biggest stars. You can check the Eminem-segment below but all the episodes are free to watch on BBC iPlayer. US citizens have to wait for January 31 though.

Eminem: When all these millions of people were listening to me it was crazy to watch this whole thing cause I was like ‘people are tripping because I said that?’ It made me realize that hip-hop has impact not only on me but millions of other people too

Sway: Eminem was a dope rapper. I first met Eminem right after he won the Rap Olympics. He became popular purely because of his talent and his skillset and the fact that he was a white guy that was outrapping everybody at that time.

Killer Mike: You can’t talk about Eminem without talking about Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre foresaw N.W.A and helped create what Gangsta Music was. But he also understood that game needed to changing. What Dr. Dre recognized in Eminem was that, there is a place for poor white people to have say in this culture.

KRS-One: Listening to Eminem’s early stuff, what’s going on internally in the white home. He’s writing you out. He’s talented. He tells his struggles.

Killer Mike: What Em showed the bigger world that hip-hop could do would unite people to understand that everyone suffers underserved. He participated in the culture he loved and he brought new audience with him.

Chuck D: It was the first time in hip-hop and rap music you can get somebody who really seriously making Elton John type of money.

Then Eminem continues talking about Donald Trump and his The Storm Freestyle which divided his fanbase in two: “If its gonna divide my fanbase then so be it. You may divide some people but you are also gonna bring a lot more people together. And maybe I could take that opportunity in this platform I have to be somebody that could inspire change.”

You can watch Fight the Power: How Hip-Hop Changed the World Eminem-segment below:

Jamal Crawford: “Jay-Z’s effect on rap is bigger than any albums sales Eminem will ever have”

In the latest episode of TNT Tuesday Night show, Jamal Crawford, Shaquille O’Neal and Spice Adams spoke about LeBron James’ marching towards breaking record hold by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, dicey situation of Golden State Warriors in the league and the NBA world as a whole.

During one segment of the episode, Crawford asked Turner to name her top five players of all time. Following her response, Shaq and Crawford weighed in with their choices. This resulted in a debate that silenced the Big Aristotle.

Both Crawford and Turner named Shaq as one of their top five, but both did not name him in the top two category. When Turner emphasized her choices, Shaq thanked her for thinking of him and replied: “Thank you for thinking of me but there is no need to waste your energy.”

Basketball is undoubtedly a game of numbers. However, Crawford believes that the dominance and influence of a player on the game weigh more than any number or stat. He explained this by drawing a parallel with the rap game. Jamal Crawford said: “ The dominance outweighs the numbers…Like, Jay-Z’s effect on hip hop is bigger than any album sales that Eminem will have. That’s how it goes.”

Shaq gave a nod by saying: “That’s a good point.”

You can watch the interview below: