New Interview Archives - Page 5 of 16

Kuniva talks about “Lost Gold” album, today’s hip-hop scene, Proof & Eminem sacrifices for D12 & much more

Kuniva is a Detroit legend!

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of “Lost Gold” album, the legendary D12 member sat down with Marshall Mann’s The Spotify Scavenger podcast via Southpawer where the two talked about the importance of this digital rerelease in today’s hip hop world. D12 stories, Proof’s sacrifices for D12, the making of “My Brother’s Keeper,” working with Swifty McVay and much more!

On “Lost Gold” album

“I think this album was jewel that was missed because I only did a CD release when I released it and I felt it didn’t reach the masses because it was limited edition so I decided to go back and on 10th year anniversary release it digitally. Just so that the world to appreciate it and I want more people to hear it. Last time I did it it had mixtape feeling. This time its a solid LP project. I just want the world to experience this project.”

Writing process with other emcees, like Kid Vishis and Royce 5’9″

Competing with someone that you f**k with heavy and have a big respect, like Royce 5’9″ and Vishis, those are my brothers, I love them to death, I always viewed it as…I just want everybody to succeed. I want everybody to shine. How I was taught, just being in the group D12, we never competed with each other but we always made each other better. We were always taught to build up the next verse.

His thoughts on today’s hip-hop scene

The state of hip-hop right now, I think it’s still great. I think its nothing but evolution. Everything evolves. I really f**k with, people laugh sometimes because they thought I would never picked them up but I love NLE Choppa, I like DaBaby, I like Migos. I rock with lots of new school stuff. You have to know, as an artist, that things change and nothing stays the same forever. And we have to change our substance too because in today’s world we could not get away with the s**t we were saying back then. We would be crucified. They would kill us. I don’t think we would survive in this day and age. As far as hip-hop scene today, there is always a great music, mediocre music, trash music and it’s always been like that. I rock with some of today’s music.

On Swifty McVay and “My Brother’s Keeper” album

First of all, I don’t have ‘a relationship’ with Swifty. That’s family. That’s my brother. I consider him as my blood brother. I just respect him so much. We came up together and we have been through a lot. I think one of the things that we have is mutual respect for the sacrifices that Proof made. Sacrifices that Marshall made. Sacrifices that Paul Rosenberg made. We have a dope fanbase. Our fanbase is dope. They took a chance on us when we first came out with Shady Records, you know Shady Records was created for D12. Marshall introduced us to the world. He introduced us to his fanbase and they embraced us. And I think we owed it to him to give him that. On top of that, me and Swifty still going on tour together and it just make sense to have music outside D12. It was actually our fanbase that suggested to do a joint album ‘My Brother’s Keeper.’ And we just gave what they wanted.

Hip top 5 artists and future plans

I always f**k with Nas, Jay and Em and eveything else under depends on how I feel. There is so many, I wish I could name… By the way, I got new album coming out, besides Lost Gold, and there are songs with Big Proof. Proof’s son actually gifted me with these songs.

Kuniva then continues Big Proof’s sacrifices to the group and tells some stories about D12. You can watch the entire thing below and make sure to stream “Lost Gold” album now available on all digital platforms!

JID shares his thoughts on his and Eminem’s fast-rapping and chopping styles

East Atlanta’s JID, born Destin Route, who was signed by J. Cole to Dreamville back in 2017 and dropped The Never Story same year, showed the world that he was among one of the most talented rappers in the world that were coming up. His acclaim further grew with the following year’s DiCaprio 2 which contained songs such as “Off Deez” with Cole and the rabid “151 Rum.”

The 31-year-old MC’s latest effort The Forever Story has finally arrived after a four-year hiatus and finds JID aiming for the throne. Where The Never Story and DiCaprio 2 were more based around the energy of their bar-heavy tracks, The Forever Story leans more into the soulful side of JID’s sound.

To promote his new album, the young rapper has recently sat down with Bootleg Kev where the two briefly talked about Eminem’s fast and chopping style of rap. JID revealed that he is not a fan of that rapping style despite doing it himself.

Kev: When rappers chop and fast rap, I feel like sometimes it’s amazing. Guys like Rittz, Tech N9ne are really good at that. But sometimes it’s like really unbearable.

JID: Sometimes it’s unbearable. You know what? I’m just like this. I hate it though. I would not listen to that s**t though. I respect it and all but it’s kinda crazy. I don’t think it’s my niche. I just do it. Effortlessly. I’m not trying to rap like this. I don’t really aim for this style of music. I would not even say rap is the first thing I would press play in my car.

Kev: I feel like, for Eminem being one of the greatest rappers of all time, I don’t like when he raps like that. It’s not for me. Shout out to Em. Curtain Call 2 out now. Did you listen Eminem growing up?

JID: I used to love Stan. He’s great. I love all the craziness. I was super fan when Eminem was prominent. Before 2002. 1998-1999.

Back in 2019, in an interview with Nardwuar at SXSW JID talked about Eminem and the legendary Smack DVDs: “This is how I started rapping. This is crazy. I love Eminem. This is how I started doing music bro. I started watching these DVDs. Battle rap is the most talented level of rap there is. They are most creative. This is why I say certain things that I say. That’s why I was been waiting somebody to try me. Cause this is what I do. This is my life. This is my fetish.”

You can watch the new and an old interview after the jump below:

Legendary Treach talks how much Eminem means for hip-hop culture & why he’s in debt to him

Legendary Treach, the lead rapper of the iconic hip hop group Naughty by Nature, has recently sat down with Andrew Moffatt on Hip Hop XXIV where the two talked about Naughty by Nature Verzuz, Tupac Shakur, Biggie and much more.

During the interview, Andrew asked the legendary rapper about Eminem, on which he replied: “I tell everybody that Eminem is my light-skinned twin Slim Shady! Hats off to him. He’s one of the greatest of all times if we talk about GOATs, his lyrical prowess, his consistency throughout the years, no matter what he has been going though personally, he always comes out on top. Comes out and give that music. Supplies the fans with that real live musical dope. It’s no-one like him and it’s not going to be no-one like him ever. Might never been another one who could do them lyrics and put them songs out. Hats off always and I hope he never stops. The way I was inspirational for him he’s inspirational to me. When I hear him I go and star t writing all over again.” says Treach.

Then he continues: “Hip-hop was black men’s sport in the white men’s world. That’s why Eminem was getting so much flat. He was white until he opened his mouth. And the skills took over all the doubts. He elevated hip-hop culture to a stratosphere that it would have never reached if it was black person’s music. He is one of the reasons why we have 50 years of hip-hop coming up. When we were coming up, we always heard that hip-hop would be around for five more years.”

When asked about wanting to release his album under Shady Records, he replied: “Me and Eminem spoke many times but one thing is, we never smoke business. It was always an admiration. I always believed that everything is god’s plan to happen at a right time. If that day ever comes, it’s gonna be dope. If it don’t, I never gonna be mad with him. Just him saying how much he admired me, you don’t know how much doors he opened up for me. He shouted me out and gave me so much love, I’m actually in debt to him. He does not even understand how much he did for me. And I love him for that. I love him forever.”

You can watch the interview below:

The Game names 3 reasons why he dissed Eminem

In an interview on the Rap Radar podcast, The Game addressed his recent 10-minute Eminem diss track “The Black Slim Shady” on “Drillmatic: Heart Vs. Mind” album. Speaking with Elliott Wilson and Brian “B.Dot” Miller, the West Coast rapper named few reasons he went against Eminem.

“What’s the reason going at Eminem? Number one, just because nobody does. Number two, I pissed off a lot of people with that song, you know Em got a lot of Stans. But as far as it being personal, it’s not personal. I came up on Em too. I remember the first time that ‘My Name Is’ came out. I was, like, ‘whoa’-ed by it. I felt the same feeling when I heard that, that I felt when I heard “Juicy” from Notorious B.I.G. the first time. … I always f**ked with Em,” he said.

The Game continues with revealed third reason of dissing Eminem: “I think me and 50’s fallout kinda made Eminem choose a side and he was not doing the s**t that I did. He was like, ‘I’m going with 50. F**k you n***as.’ But I just felt like I had some emotions, a little bit, about Super Bowl s**t and all of that. And that’s Dre’s boy, and Dre don’t rap. So it’s like, if I wanna have a conversation with Dre or I’m mad at Dre, let me poke shots at Eminem. And 50 can’t out-rap me, he’s doing his TV thing and more power to him, the shows are great. But as far as rap s**t, I got that locked. So the only person I could rap with, or try to poke the bear and see if he really want to go there, is Em.”

Then interviewer asked about The Game’s Top 10 rapper tweet from last year, where the Compton rapper puts Eminem at No. 4. On that Game replied: “There are emcees out there that you might have thought was number one at one time and not your favorite anymore. Another thing is, it’s like Floyd Mayweather and Muhammad Ali thing. If he’s number four and I feel like I’m number one for me, why would not I take shot or challenge everybody in my top 10? why not? If you met Floyd Mayweather when you were coming up in Olympics and he ended up being undefeated and now you have the chance to fight him you turn it down because you are a fan? Are you not training to be better than Floyd? With Em, it was not a personal thing. I did it with Hov when I was younger. Hip-Hop gotta be interesting. These ni**as these days are goddamn boring or everytime somebody wants to beef somebody got to die, I don’t get that. Sometimes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s just hip-hop and leave it that way. If I see Em, I’m NOT FIGHTING EMINEM. Lyrically, outside maybe Em or Kendrick or Cole or some of these super lyrical ni**as, I don’t think nobody can lyrically go at me.”

You can listen to the podcast below:

Eminem opens up about Juice WRLD collaboration, beef with Snoop Dogg, Rap Critics & more

Eminem’s manager Paul Rosenberg sat down with Slim Shady for the part two of “Curtain Call 2” interview on Paul Pod podcast where the two talked about how Dr. Dre’s brain Aneurysm played a big role in reconciliation with Snoop Dogg, collaborating with late rapper Juice WRLD, how it frustrates him what people think about his rhymes and much more.

About Snoop Dogg beef

Me and Snoop had our little issue, when that thing happened with Dre, the brain aneurysm, we were like ‘bro this is stupid as hell to be feuding right now.’ I don’t remember if I called him or he called me but we talked it out and I think there was a miscommunication in regards to him being on my album Marshall Mathers LP2 on a track “B**ch Please II” and he wanted to do something with me again and he gave you [Paul Rosenberg] the idea and he said something like ‘let’s hear what the song sounds first and he took it the way that ‘I don’t f**k with him.’ And I explained to him like ‘bro Doggystyle changed my life.’

About Juice WRLD

We had been talking about Juice WRLD for a while. And we just wanted to do something with him. We liked his freestyles over my instrumentals. It was crazy. I had a different hook on “Godzilla” and never was really crazy about it. I had verses and that was the reason we asked him for the hook. He sent us two things that were great and the first one was that Monster hook. I was like ‘holy s**t.’

About Rap Critics

It’s frustrating when you do something technically and people who think they know what hip-hop is about start giving opinions on it. They don’t hear what the f**k you doing. If I rhyme entire f**king sentence, every syllable hit, they would literally think that at the end of it I was rhyming ‘back’ and ‘cat’ because they skipped over 30 other syllables. They don’t understand that there is art to that. Kool G Rap has done it so well, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, there is an art to that. We [me and critics] are not listening with same ears.

Westside Boogie talks ‘More Black Superheroes’ album, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar & more

Westside Boogie has recently sat down with Charlamagne Tha God and Angela Yee on Power 105.1 FM’s Breakfast Club where he talked about his latest album More Black Superheroes, his past relationships, therapy sessions, linking up with Eminem, relationship with Kendrick Lamar and much more.

About ‘More Black Superheroes’ album

The process of making this album was tough because the accountability factor that came with therapy. By that time I had a healthy relationship and when I lost her I was still happy because I was like ‘I’m gonna make a fire album, I can make a heart-break album.’ Then I’m at therapy and my therapist make me address the stuff and make me hold myself accountable so I felt like I could not approach music the same. It was hard to make certain songs and it took awhile to figure out what I wanted to talk about.

About linking up with Eminem

I was sitting in church in Compton. I was doing gospel raps at first and there were a little kids who were going to church and were already a gang members and I thought they were the coolest ni**as in the world so I became a follower. I started going in church with them and gospel rap was not a thing anymore. Just started rapping around the city. Got my baby mama pregnant at 19. I was recording in my mama’s room for about 4 years. This white man hit me on Twitter. In a hood we think that any white man hit us means we made it. That’s what I thought at that time. He became my manager. He came from Indian background. He was working with the likes of Skrillex.

Interscope ended up calling me. But they put me on the shelf. Then LVRN came around and two weeks before that my new manager had called me and said ‘hey man I don’t know hw Paul Rosenberg found your music but he f**king with you and he wanna fly you to Detroit.’ I had new management and Eminem took over my contract out of nowhere. I don’t know how he found me. They said Rihanna’s post about me was a thing. Eminem told me the songs that he liked was like my album cuts and he was explaining me those lyrics and that’s what made me trust a judgement because he was not talking to me about the viral songs. We had that conversation, I went home and he just gave me the freedom to create, that’s why I appreciate him. Because he gave me advice when I needed it but he does not overstepping my creative process.

About relationship with Kendrick Lamar

That’s my favorite rapper. He’s from my neighborhood and I just appreciate the doors he opened with just about being himself. I never expect Kendrick to do nothing for me. He did gave me opportunities because just let me come around and to see certain stuff being in the studio with him. So yeah, shout out to him. I do have a relationship. It’s not like he’s my best friend but somebody from my neighborhood who was accessible to everyone from my neighborhood.

You can watch the full interview below:

B.o.B reveals first thing Eminem said when they met in the studio

B.o.B. has recently sat down with B High Atl for an interview where the two talked about many things, including meeting Eminem for the first time in the studio in Detroit.

“That was crazy. I remember the first time I met Eminem was at the studio in Detroit. Of course it was exactly what you think Eminem’s studio would be like. It’s f**king late, it’s spacious. the couches are red. There are plaques on the wall. There is refrigerator full of diet coke cause he loves diet coke. And he got Arcade games in this s**t.” said B.o.B.

Then he continues: “There is a picture. You can Google Eminem and B.o.B. It’s a picture of me wearing this black Miskeen shirt and it’s like earth with an Alien on it and it says B.o.B.. The first thing he said to me was like ‘yo, you are f**king star dude.’ And I was like ‘EMINEM…Slim Shady…Marshall Mathers told me I’m a star.’ [laughs] It’s a hunger that you have as an artist that even when your idol tells you you are a star you still are like ‘yo I need to prove it. Nah, those ni**as really don’t know it.’ But that s**t was really wild cause I was like ‘what is he seeing in me that makes him think I’m a star?!’

You can watch the full interview below:

B.oB. and Eminem have previously collaborated on a song “Airplanes, Part II”, a sequel to “Airplanes,” featuring Hayley Williams, which has two new verses by B.o.B, produced by Alex da Kid with additional production added by Eminem himself.

Bang Em Smurf says Eminem was ready to go in a gunfight against Suge Knight for 50 Cent

Queens native and former G-Unit member Bang Em Smurf has has recently talked about a time when he and Eminem almost went into a gunfight against Suge Knight.

In an interview with 9 Side Entertainment he said once, while recording the music video with 50 Cent’s “In The Club” single, the Death Row founder pulled up and was ready to go.

According to Smurf, he was getting a haircut on the opposite side from where the crew was when Sha Money XL told him that Suge Knight had arrived on the set with some goons.

“I had to shake that off me and ran back like ‘I’m about to kill this ni**aa,” So I ran inside and said, ‘Yo, Suge outside. What you want me to do? Blow his head off?” said Smurf.

“I know if I killed him I would have been like five years. That’s nothing, and I would have been played like I was scared for my life.”

However, 50 Cent told him to hold it down. Then Bang Em Smurf returned to where Suge Knight was, and he said to him, “What’s popping?” And guess what? Eminem accompanied him with his bulletproof vest on.

“Eminem came back with the vest. Eminem was outside. Shout out to Eminem. Dre was not outside, 50 Cent was not outside but Em was outside. Shout out to Eminem, I love that ni**a. He gave us our first deal. Proof is my man. Rest in peace to Proof.” Smurf added.

You can listen to the interview below:

Logic talks getting inspired by Eminem & reveals funny conversation he had with Eminem when they first met

Logic dropped by the neighborhood to speak with Big Boy about his latest album “Vinyl Days,” his upcoming tour with Wiz Khalifa, performing at The Grammy Awards, investing in crypto, and receiving a letter from Congress for his song 1-800-273-8255.

At one point of the interview, the two talked about Eminem too:

“A couple of years ago, the internet was making fun of Eminem cause it was just fun thing to do. They were like ‘oh lets make fun of Eminem…He’s too lyrical-miracle’ like WHAT? I’m like, I’m in bizarro world.” said Logic.

Big Boy continued: “It’s crazy cause we had this conversation and I said ‘man Eminem is crazy, how people come at Eminem?!’ And I remember Eminem just what the world felt like. The grasp he had and I tell people sometimes, not to take this wrong way, I say ‘you know what happened to Eminem bro? He lived. If Eminem had passed, you understand what I’m saying and I don’t clickbait or s**t, none of that, if he had passed in so called ‘prime’ he would have been the biggest thing not only in genre but in the world but he lived and he became old school. And I don’t think he is sitting at home at every moment worried about this. Does he want a hit record? Probably. That’s Eminem. But also Eminem can come up and announce a tour tomorrow and it’s done.”

Then Logic said: “He lived and he is THAT to me. I agree. He got his beard, I wish I had a beard… I also want to say, when it comes to that kind of stuff I learned to let it go. How many hits can you have? How many number ones can you have? How many billions of streams can you have? As a musician I’ve checked every thing from the money, the fame, being recognized, selling out arenas around the world, I’ve done it all, I even went to Grammys, I felt like I won that night, that night was mine, I got to perform, it was really amazing. The only thing on my list of things that I wanted was a Grammy but now I don’t even give a d*mn. I look at cats like Em and I’m like ‘man, he’s just doing him,’ And that’s what inspires me.”

Logic added: “I didn’t even know Eminem knew who I was when I met him couple of years ago. He shouted me out on a record. And I was like ‘OH MY GOSH. THIS IS AMAZING.’ And the next day we are on a song together. He’s one of the illest dudes. He’s so nice and when I met him I was all nervous I was like ‘yo am I being weird?’ He was like ‘nah man, you’re cool.’ Then we talked about rap and I’m like ‘am I being weird now?’ he’s like ‘no, you are fine!’ And then we talked about some other s**t and I was like ‘am I being weird?’ and he was like ‘NOW YOU BEING WIRD!'”

You can watch the interview below:

Westside Boogie tells Eminem he’s ready to go at anybody who discredits his legendary status

Westside Boogie has recently dropped his sophomore album More Black Superheroes under Shady Records, featuring Snoop Dogg, Soulja Boy and Smino among others.

To promote the album, Boogie sat down with Sway In The Morning where he received a surprise phone-call from Shade 45 boss, Eminem.

With the recent discrediting comments from The Game, Sway told Eminem: “Em, them dudes going crazy. I know there has been lot of folks who fell off the horse and hit their head on a rock that talks that trying to deny your skillset, I’m not one of them. I’ve seen it from the beginning to now. They are going crazy.”

On which Eminem replied: “Thank you Sway. Coming from you bro, that means alot.”

And Boogie intervened: “And you always can call. Let me know bro, I’m one call away, I’m ready to go at whoever, you know! Let me know man!”

“I got you.” Eminem added.

You can watch that part of the interview below: