The sharp lyricist opens up about lessons from D12’s Denaun Porter, the dream of teaming with Eminem and Tech N9ne, and the starstruck night he first met Em.
RJ Payne has built his reputation as one of the sharpest pens in the game, but he admits it took time to find balance when rapping alongside other heavyweights. Speaking with Panda Chop! News, he remembered advice from D12’s Denaun Porter: stop trying to outrap people and just focus on being yourself. That perspective clicked while recording “Hells Fury” with DJ Kay Slay, Rah Digga, Cory Gunz, Royce 5’9, and Papoose.
“I’m not here to be more technical than Cory Gunz”, Payne said. “You’re not gonna outrap Cory Gunz. You’re not gonna outrap Eminem. You just got to do what you do”.
Speaking of Eminem, Payne still hasn’t recorded a track with him, but it is a dream collaboration he thinks could push him to new heights. “I would like to do a collab with me, Eminem, and Tech N9ne”, he said. “That would probably make me rap better than I’ve ever rapped in my life”.
The respect is mutual. Following the release of “Leatherface 2”, Eminem praised Payne on Lil Wayne’s show. He said: “RJ Payne, you know him? Yo, he kinda had a resurgence lately. I know he’s not a new artist but man, he’s a fucking animal”.
But Payne’s most unforgettable memory with Em goes back to the early 2000s. Thanks to Bizarre from D12, Payne found himself backstage in Atlantic City, side by side with Reed Dollaz and Eddie Morris. Suddenly, Eminem appeared.
“I couldn’t move. On my life, I couldn’t move”, Payne recalled. “I’m tapping Reed like, ‘Yo, yo’. And then Em was just like, ‘Yo, what’s going on, man?’”
To Payne’s surprise, Eminem already knew who they were. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, I know who they are. That’s Reign Man. That’s Reed Dollaz…’ He gave us that. And just as quick as Eminem walked up and gave us love, he walked away. No security. Blew my mind. He gave everybody love, let everybody know, ‘I know who you are. I’m a fan’. And just walked off into the night, and that’s how I met him. Super cool dude”.
Years later, Eminem still remembered him – now RJ Payne, not Reign Man – closing the loop on a story. “Em pays attention”, reminds Payne. “He pays a lot of attention”.
