The “Acid Rap” pioneer says Em does not represent Detroit enough.
Detroit Rap pioneer Esham challenges Eminem in an interview with Murder Master Music Show posted by UGS Radio today (February 27).
“Tell Em to come on man, rap battle what?” Esham says in the interview. “Come on, what? Where ya at? I challenge.”
Esham became one of Detroit’s biggest independent artists in the ‘90s. His powerful and dark style known as “acid rap” helped influence the careers of Tech N9ne and Insane Clown Posse, among others.
He says Eminem has been disrespecting the city of Detroit.
“I am tired of Eminem,” Esham says in the interview. “I just want him to keep it real and quit being a bitch. He fuckin’ sold a lotta people out in the city, man. He needs to stop disrespecting the city and making people hate Detroit even more. That’s what that was about. Don’t even say shit about Detroit””
Esham points to recent Shady XV track “Detroit Vs. Everybody” as a moment were Em did not show proper respect for the city.
“With the ‘Detroit Vs. Everybody’ don’t say Detroit vs. everybody… you don’t help nobody in the city,” Esham says. “I don’t give a fuck. I will say that. You got a radio station and nobody gets played on your station? Come on, B. Get the fuck outta here. You got 50 hundred million dollars and you ain’t doing shit. Do something for the schools, anything, I don’t wanna hear that shit. If you say something about Detroit, I’m gonna say something about you. Let somebody say something to me. I ain’t gonna say shit. I ain’t lyin’ on that muthafucka.”
Eminem is reportedly working on an album for 2015 called Roots.
Esham recently released the twenty-fifth anniversary edition of his debut album, Boomin’ Words of Hell.
“When I came out with my first album I was just a kid…” Esham says on his website. “I unknowingly started the Wicket Shit! If you had asked me then I wouldn’t have believed I would spark the creation of an entire sub-genre. Over the years, many have indulged and benefited from the fruits of my labor. I felt betrayed at times but I’ve given back far more than I’ve taken from this game. I’m at peace with that. I feel blessed to be considered one of the most influential artists in rap music and cursed to have never been accepted by my peers.”
