Eminem has been feeding fans all year. The Detroit legend dropped Music To Be Murdered By earlier in the year, then followed up last week with the deluxe edition. Now Em is offering fans a closer look at where his mind is at right now in a new, recently published lengthy interview
In an exclusive new interview, the Slim Shady Records founder sat down with Zane Lowe on his Apple Music show At Home With for a long interview discussing an array of topics. When asked about some of his favorite rappers in the game right now, the hip hop veteran name-dropped Lil Wayne, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, among others. He said specifically, "I rap to be the best rapper, but I'm not the only rapper who raps to be the best rapper. Wayne, Cole, Kendrick, Joyner Lucas. They rap to be the best rapper, and I feel like when you push yourself like that, that's what I feel like inspires greatness. But the list, man, sometimes you almost have to go by era."
He continued, "Tupac, I feel like rappers like Rakim, G Rap, Kane, Treach, Phero Munch, Gwin, KRS-One would drive some new sh-t, it just outdid whatever was before that. And then along comes Rakim, and he out does that. And then along comes G Rap and he starts out doing everyone else. Redman, Redman was, to me, one of the most consistent artists."
He then went on to discuss the evolution of the rap game and how younger fans of the genre missed out on its golden era, which he considers the era of time where he would collect rap cassettes from his favorites at the time, like Run D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys. "Hip Hop, I feel like in its infancy stages, as much as it's evolved and it's went through all these transitions and sh-t, I feel like a lot of these kids won't understand the experience of Hip Hop in its infancy stages," Em explained.
He concluded, "And everyone ... the younger kids are going to ... everyone's going to think their era is the best era, but this really was to me ... the golden era of Hip Hop was the best era to me just because it was so new. You'd never heard it before. I know that I saw and heard a lot of people say that it wasn't going to be anything. You know what I'm saying? Like it wasn't going to last or whatever. Here we are what, 40, 50 years later? It's crazy. And it's the biggest music. If I'm not mistaken, it's the biggest genre."
Be sure to check out the full interview below to hear more from Em, also available on Apple Music.