For years, YG has paid homage to Eminem in his music but hasn’t talked about it much in interviews. Now, he spells it out – the influence, the inspiration, and his hope for a feature.
There was a lot of discussion around YG’s latest album, The Gentlemen’s Club, and “Kudos”, a song that clearly interpolated Eminem and even credited Eminem, Dr Dre, and Mel-Man as writers.
In a recent interview on the Boardroom podcast, YG explains why he made this particular reference, and why it was deliberate.
I grew up listening to Eminem. He’s one of my favourite rappers for sure. Every time I’m doing an album – I’m going in my rap bag. I always go and reference Tupac, Jay-Z, Biggie, Eminem – all the time. Even Fifty. I always go back to re-listening to their albums, my favourite joints, and Lil Wayne. When I was making this album, once I found the concept, I was like, “I’m going to tell the story. I’m going to have to be doing a lot of playing on my voice. And I think, like, Eminem. And when I heard that [“Kudos”] beat, it just gave me Eminem and Dre vibes. It just came.
Swiftly, YG switches to singing lines from Eminem’s “Kill You” and goes on to reveal two more Eminem homages:
On a “Hitman” record I paid homage to Eminem, too. On “Twist My Fingaz”, I flipped “Two trailer park girls go round the outside”. I stay fucking with Eminem shit. I showed a lot of love to Eminem. I might tap in for a feature, dawg. It’s only right. That’d be hard.
YG released “Twist My Fingaz” in 2015, and while everybody noticed the “Without Me” interpolation, it seemed more like a nod to Eminem than part of a larger story. Over 10 years later, YG has just as much love for Eminem as before, but he’s also thinking about storytelling and the tools he can pull from Eminem’s bag. Now, he’s putting the idea of collaborating with Marshall out into the universe. Perhaps Eminem and Rosenberg will hear that, too.