Thirstin Howl III is a veteran who got involved with hip hop from the very early days when the culture was born. He started with graffiti and breakdancing, added rapping to his skill range in 1996, and in 1997 he was the winner of The Source Magazine’s Unsigned Hype Award.
In 1999 he released “Skillosopher”, an album that featured his collaboration with Eminem. Dark and sinister beat produced by DJ Spinna for “Watch Deez” inspired their dark and brutal lyrics, but behind the scenes, they had a lot of fun, admits Thirstin Howl in his recent interview to AllHipHop:
I remember we both broke. [laughs] We broke that day. Eminem had a check he was trying to cash. I remember we were in Brooklyn, going to DJ Spinna’s house to record the song. We went to a liquor store and they wouldn’t cash the check. We’re just trying to buy a bottle of liquor so we could enjoy ourselves.
I think it was an out of town check. He was in New York with me in Brooklyn, but we wound out getting the bottle anyway. Went back, knocked out the track and got busy. The rest was history.
They stayed in touch and compete in the same scene for a while, Thirstin Howl says, but eventually, they drifted apart. It’s all love anyway:
I really haven’t heard from him. I could imagine what his life is like now, how many people are trying to talk to him or get in touch. Even after he blew up, he stayed in contact a little bit. He let me open up some shows. If I went to Detroit to perform, he would come out and rock with me. Definitely proud of his success, it’s well-deserved. He really is the truth.
Watch Thirstin Howl III — “Watch Deez” feat. Eminem
