The rapper from Ohio who became famous at the tender age of 10, joined Fat Joe for a conversation about life and hip hop than inevitably took a turn to discuss Eminem and how Fat Joe was queueing to buy Marshall’s first album.
It started with a question that Fat Joe methodically asks his every guest: personal top five rappers, dead or alive. Bow Wow was stalling a little bit to buy himself time and then gave his answer that once again longer than just five names. Because he had all names out there already before he got to Eminem who he meant to put on his list:
You know, Snoop is in there. I’m throwing Tupac in there. I’ve gotta throw [Ice] Cube in there. I’ve gotta throw L [LL Cool J] in there. And I’mma put Jay-Zn I’mma put Hov in it. I was going to throw Eminem in there. I’ve seen lots of cats asked about their Top Fives and they are not putting Eminem in there. But as far as lyricism and wordplay… I just don’t understand how Eminem rhymes the words that do not rhyme, but he makes them rhyme. It’s the craziest shit in the world.
Fat Joe was right there to support Bow Wow in this sentiment. Not for the first time he demonstrated his deep respect for Marshall. But this time he even shared some memories from over 20 years back:
He’s incredible. Eminem is something else. You know, and I know if he was not something else he would not be where he’s at. Because they would not let him get that type of pass like that. That man was so exceptional. I remember when Eminem’s first album came out, we were in LA for Grammys and me and Big Pun waited on line. And Pun was nominated for two Grammys, and he was double platinum and me and him literally, physically waited on line at the Tower Records to buy Eminem’s album at Sunset Boulevard. One of the biggest misconceptions ever is that all the other new white rappers who come up in the game feel like they gotta diss Eminem to get on another level. Which is not true. And they wanna go to war even though he’s still dead nice too. It’s not even the question of lyrics. The next Puerto Rican rapper don’t gotta diss Fat Joe! Show me love, I’ll embrace you and show you love!
Bow Wow agreed with everything Fat Joe said and added that the clout became the narrative drug in the modern culture, but its effect doesn’t last long, as opposed to a firm reputation forged in a studio.
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