Eminem joined DJ WhooKid and D-Stroy for the Shady45 Stans special, where he reflected on his influences, his ever-growing T-shirt collection, and why being called a legend still feels surreal.
Eminem still finds it hard to grasp. When asked about what he feels being referred to as a legend by other hip hop giants, his first instinctive reaction was to say:
They don’t.
And while everybody can pass it as a joke, a quip Marshall is so good with, it shows the depth of Em’s humility. Ever the student of hip hop, he is still the same kid inside, looking up to people who opened the hip hop world for him. He explains:
I mean, it’s crazy to me. The fact that I’ve made songs with Dr. Dre, and the fact that I’ve made songs with LL Cool J, it’s fucking nuts to me! Because I looked up to these guys as a kid, they were everything to me. They were on my wall. That’s why “Stan” was such an easy song for me to write, in a sense of knowing how to write about it. Because I was that kid to LL Cool J, and Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane. These guys were on my wall, it was like fucking wallpaper in my room. Still to this day, being in a room with Dre, or being in a room with LL, and having conversations with them, being friends with them – that shit is what blows my mind.
Asked about the classic album covers t-shirts he often wears on stage, Em first refused to choose a favourite but then came up with the whole list:
I don’t have a favourite. They are some of my favourite albums as a kid. I have a tape collection at home, so I just look at my tapes, and then I have the shirts made. Okay. I have a few favourites. Audio Two, the first album cover [“What More Can I Say?” 1988]. Iconic album covers. Main Source – “Breaking Atoms” [1991], “Long Live the Kane” [Big Daddy Kane, 1988], Kool G Rap’s first album, “Road to the Riches” [1989]. Those are some iconic album covers to me. I remember as a kid liking. The Audio Two album cover is so dope! They are standing in the airbrush shirts, I like this kind of shit. But I also like more obscure shit.
Beyond the nostalgia, Em said the goal is to give a new generation a history lesson:
With some of the younger fans coming to my shows, I want them to know who these people are and go back, if they haven’t heard of these albums, and listen to them. Because it’s fucking gold and it’s what inspired me and made hip hop, brought it to the level that it’s at lyrically. I feel like rappers like Kane, Master Ace, G Rap, Treach, Rakim, Nas, how much they push the pen. All the intricate rhyme schemes, internal rhyme schemes, all that shit – they are the ones who helped get it to the level where it’s at today, and push lyricism to the forefront. If you look at rappers over time, those who lasted the longest are those who went the pen like this. The lyricists. Because those are the ones that have the most staying power, because of how they do it, that talent.
Full convo drops on Shady45’s STANs special: Friday 10pET, Sunday 1pET.
