Before Eminem became the world’s biggest rapper, someone had to walk his music into the rooms that mattered. Kevin Black says he was that person — and this interview explains why.
A Gatekeeper From Hip Hop’s Most Explosive Era
Former Interscope Records VP Kevin Black has seen the inside of every major turning point in late-90s and early-2000s hip hop. Now he sits down with TFU for a conversation about Suge Knight, Death Row’s rise, the golden years of Interscope, and the role he believes he played in breaking Eminem.
The interview is part oral history, part masterclass, part stand-up performance, because Black tells stories like a man who’s been holding them in for too long.
Black remembers the early days with surprising candour. “Eminem wasn’t always that guy that wanted to perform in front of Black people”, he says. “He’s kind of nervous, trust me”. Yet he also remembers watching Marshall transform into the artist who would later sell stadiums out of habit: “He’s grown to himself, and Eminem is the number one rapper in the world”.
And according to Black, his job was to figure out whether the young Detroit MC truly had the fire Jimmy Iovine claimed he had.
The Night It All Changed: Eminem vs. DMX
Black describes the moment he “tested” Eminem, a night that sounds almost mythical now.
He told Em they were heading to Funkmaster Flex’s Hot 97 battle show in New York. DMX was the featured battler that night. The rules were simple: freestyle only, no lines from existing records. Flex would expose any recycled bars with a brutal buzzer. “It may be one night Jay-Z battling Murder Mook, then Murder Mook battling Jadakiss. So, everybody was battling. And some of these guys were lyrical bandits”, explains Black.
Eminem didn’t flinch. “I told Eminem, tonight they got DMX. It’s up to you. You don’t win this one, we might as well just go back to California. He said, ‘Don’t worry’”.
Black tells it straight: “I know y’all gonna play this shit for the world. Eminem tore his ass up. He was not losing in New York”.
The studio, already known for legendary battles featuring rising stars and stage combatants, had rarely seen anything like it. Black recalls: “At the end, he’ll say something like, ‘Bring on the next one’. And then Flex was like, ‘Somebody call up here and get him off the stage’. Flex knew how to charge him up. It was nice”.
Black claims this was the moment he knew the kid from 8 Mile was the one to watch. And the bank Iovine was going to put behind Shady would not go bust. Blacks sums the story up with: “Eminem probably was my hardest rapper, but my best”.
The Hot 97 Engine That Lifted a Generation
To understand the significance, you have to remember where the battle happened. Funkmaster Flex’s Hot 97 show was the beating heart of New York hip hop. Flex became the first DJ to bring rap to mainstream radio there in 1992, building a nightly proving ground where anyone could rise or fold in minutes.
For a Detroit unknown to outshine DMX on that platform said everything Black needed to hear.
Story Time
Kevin Black has lived a life of extremes: Death Row boardrooms, Interscope breakthroughs, 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” promotions, and decades of cunning industry manoeuvring.
He is also an expressive storyteller, the kind who reenacts scenes, imitates voices, and refuses to clean up the language for camera.
If you want hip hop history told with volume, rhythm, and laughter, this episode is worth a full watch.
