Crooked I also says Eminem is likely not dissing Kendrick Lamar on “Rap God,” a new cut off Em’s upcoming “The Marshall Mathers LP 2.”
Crooked I, a member of Shady Records’ Slaughterhouse, recently spoke with HipHopDX about Eminem’s new song, “Rap God,” a selection set to be on Em’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2.
“It was crazy,” Crooked I said in an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. “It’s just always refreshing to hear a super mainstream artist with bars and skills because a lot of these mainstream dudes that’s rapping out there is wack as fuck. So, here’s somebody who has all the success and has achieved so much in the game and he still has bars to bar you out the game. It’s real refreshing. He basically took the art of double-time rapping and displayed the many different ways you can do that. There’s different cadences you can use when you’re double-timing. He just displayed almost all of them on one song.”
Crooked I Praises Eminem’s Hip Hop Knowledge
On “Rap God,” Eminem says he is a product of N.W.A., Rakim, Tupac Shakur and Lakim Shabazz.
During the interview, Crooked I also praised Eminem’s knowledge of Hip Hop.
“Let’s be clear,” Crooked I said. “Eminem has a 360 degree knowledge of Hip Hop. Therefore, he can drop names like Lakim Shabazz. These new mothafuckas don’t know who the fuck that is and it’s no excuse because we have the Internet.
“You can go look up the Hip Hop pioneers,” Crooked I continued. “If you’re really into the culture, as an emcee, you can go find out what Big Daddy Kane was spittin’, what Kool G Rap was spittin’. You can go to listen to the whole Illmatic [by Nas] front-to-back. You can go listen to [Jay Z’s] Reasonable Doubt. There’s no excuse. With Em, he has a 360 degree knowledge of the game…Eminem is displaying that he’s a real Hip Hop emcee [on ‘Rap God’]. You can’t take that away from him ever. That’s what I love about that song.”
Crooked I Responds To Those Saying “Rap God” Disses Kendrick Lamar
During the interview, Crooked I was asked what lines stood out most from the track.
“I know a lot of people are talking about, ‘Why be a king when you can be a god?'” Crooked I said. “I know a lot of people feel like that was a jab at Kendrick. But, to me, that whole song stands out.”
Crooked added that he does not think the line was aimed at Kendrick Lamar.
“Nah,” Crooked I said. “Me knowing who Em is, every time I’m around Em, he has said nothing but good things about Kendrick and Kendrick’s artform, so I wouldn’t just think that all of a sudden he would just take a jab at him out of nowhere. That don’t make sense, but I can’t speak for Eminem. I don’t know exactly what he was thinking when he said that, but as a listener, I didn’t take it like he was saying that to Kendrick. There’s been a lot of people in Hip Hop who’ve declared themselves kings. If that’s the case, he’s shooting at everybody.”
Eminem’s “Rap God” can be heard below.
Crooked I is set to be featured in tonight’s airing of BET Hip Hop Awards. He participated in the Slaughterhouse cypher along with fellow groupmates Joell Ortiz, Royce Da 5’9 and Joe Budden.
Eminem signed Slaughterhouse to Shady Records for the group’s 2012 effort, Welcome to Our House. Eminem produced several tracks on the project, including “Throw That” and “Asylum.” Eminem also mixed several songs on the album. Additionally, Eminem was a co-producer on several selections and the executive producer of the group’s project.
In 2011, Eminem performed alongside Slaughterhouse and Yelawolf as part of the BET Hop Hop Awards cypher. Their 2011 cypher can be viewed below.
