In his recent interview with NME Royce is talking about how competitive Eminem is and how respectful he is to the culture.
The conversation was driven from discussing Royce’s latest album “The Allegory” to talking about Eminem. Which is not completely fair to Royce but interesting because it has provided some interesting insights into what Marshal thinks about the state of the game.
The question was asked about that notorious “guest in the house of hip-hop” situation and how Lord Jamar tried to spin his way Eminem’s respectful response in his interview on Crook’s Corner. Royce seemed annoyed by how misunderstood and underappreciated are Marshall efforts to contribute to the culture:
You know what? At the very beginning, when Lord Jamar first started talking about it, that’s one of the first things Marshall said to me: ‘I hope black people know that I know I’m a fucking guest in the house of hip-hop.’ He was talking like that way back then. So the fact that Lord Jamar has taken it and flipped it to make it seem like Marshall was disagreeing with him ain’t right. That’s not what [Eminem] has a problem with. He doesn’t have a problem with you saying he’s a guest, he has a problem with you grouping him in with motherfuckers that come into the culture, walk all over it and dip out. You ain’t talking about a motherfucker that just rhymes words. Let’s get this shit right man, he’s a master at this. I watched this man get booed off stage plenty of nights trying to find his place in the black community. He respects the culture and he gives to the culture. There’s never been a day where he’s treated the culture like he wasn’t a guest.
Another topic that a reporter seemed to push was some competitive tension between Marshall and Royce. Royce was having none of it:
In that same interview Eminem said whenever he gets on a record with you or Crook he gets anxiety because you’re such elite MCs…
That’s what he said?That’s what he said.
Nah, I think he just means I dress better than him. […] I’m not so sure that it’s anxiety but I do understand what he’s saying. For me, if I’m doing something with Marshall, or Crook, or Joe [Budden], or Joell [Ortiz], I just think a little bit more than I usually would. I don’t necessarily get worried but that’s because I’m not as competitive as Marshall is. Being out-rapped is not that big of a deal. Somebody has to make sure that we’re making a song. And sometimes if you do shit with Marshall he won’t let you out-rap him. He doesn’t care about the song… It’s like, ‘I don’t mind getting out-rapped by you, bro. It’s not that big of a deal.’ I don’t think it’s gonna be career suicide for me or anything. But yo, he be acting like somebody gonna throw him off a cliff if he gets out-rapped.
You can read the interview in full on the NME website
