The Compton rapper takes a smoother, more refined approach on his latest release. And he found a inspiration in one of Slim Shady’s old tracks.
New spin on a classic
On “Kudos” from The Gentlemen’s Club, YG flips the hook and post-chorus from “Kill You”, building his track around one of Slim Shady’s recognisable flow.
Essentially, both deal with survival, ambition, and the forces that shaped the artists behind them. But if Eminem, on the opener of The Marshall Mathers LP, approaches the topic with anger, YG looks back on his past with a sense of appreciation and melancholy.
The Compton rapper might have refined the string arrangement from the original track and softened some of the source material’s intensity. Still, he did not mask the influence, including the track on his recent album. The “Kudos” credits mention Eminem as a co-writer, together with both main producers who crafted “Kill You” – Dr. Dre and Mel-Man.
Lasting legacy
There are few more powerful reminders of an artist’s cultural significance than their ability to inspire new generations. YG never spoke openly about being influenced by Marshall, never gave him a shout-out, or publicly asked for a feature. The only public intersections between the two artists came when when YG was not very pleased with the amount of praise Eminem got for dissing Trump on “The Storm” freestyle because he felt like his own Trump diss a year earlier went unnoticed. Nevertheless, his criticism was not aimed at Eminem directly, he did not even mention him by name.
At the same time, YG’s interpolation shows how deeply Eminem’s contribution is ingrained in hip hop culture now. A flow created 26 years ago has enough life in it to drive a new song forward and to sound fresh. And it is still so unmistakably Eminem’s that listeners recognise it instantly.