In a new interview with Montreality, DJ Jazzy Jeff shed some new light on the interactions between Will Smith and Eminem from 15 years ago. Here are some quotables from Jazz:
"I was a big fan of Eminem's—you know, especially of his super early stuff. I just kinda reached out to him, 'Yo man, big fan. Would love to do some stuff.' And he ended up comin' to Philly and we went in the studio, and just knocked out some stuff. It was crazy, because that was one of the times that Will [Smith] was in town. Will walked into the room, and I think I played Will 'Just The Two Of Us.'" The 1997 song would appear on The Slim Shady EP, believed to be interpolating the Will Smith Big Willie Style song of the same name. "Will listened to it, and Will looked at him and said, 'You're either gonna be the biggest flop in Hip Hop, or you're gonna be the biggest thing that we've ever seen in Hip Hop. And [Eminem] never forgot that."
As for Eminem's "f*** you" to Will Smith on "Real Slim Shady":
That kinda stuff, he just brushes off. The funny thing was, I ended up deejaying at an Em show in Detroit. And when I went in there, he kinda came to me and was like, 'Yo man, when I said that stuff about Will, he wasn't mad?' I said, 'Nah, he doesn't care about that stuff.' [Eminem added], 'That was just me stickin' up for [Dr.] Dre and that point in time (referring to Will Smith's Grammy speech, with Dre present, about no need for profanity in hip hop and a slight at the gangsta rap genre.
Wow, how on point was Will Smith? Crazy to imagine the two superstars in the studio together at that point in their careers 15 years ago. Plus, where is this 'stuff' that Eminem & DJ Jazzy Jeff did? Would love to hear that released some day.
Proceed to watch the rest of the in-depth interview for more Will Smith talk from Jazz, including the possibility of new music, favorite "Fresh Prince" memories, and more fun facts on Jazz himself. Fun interview inspiring a lot of "What if's?"!
Nothing earth-shattering here, unless you missed the recent revelation that Big Sean was in a Detroit recording studio with none other than his fellow hometown residents, Eminem & Royce Da 5'9". In a sit-down on Nitecap with Peter Bailey, Big Sean talks about the studio session with this quote being a look into what happened:
"It was crazy just coming from Detroit. We sat and talked for a couple of hours, even before we did anything musically. You know what I’m saying? So, I was just telling them how much—how crazy it is man coming from The D." - Big Sean
Unfortunately, the details remain that scarce; no word yet on if a track was laid down and comin' for Sean's upcoming album, Hall Of Fame.
Big Sean also went onto comment on Rick Ross' controversial lyric situation saying, "I don’t think he meant it how it came across…You gotta have a sense of what’s right and what’s wrong," as well as new girlfriend, Glee's Naya Rivera, and even a comment on the recent news of Jason Collins coming out. Give the in-depth sit-down a look-see for more.
This is gonna sound like BS, but I was literally asking someone at GoWhere HQ "Where's Cashis?" Well he's resurfaced with some new material, that honestly sounds like a leftover Em production from years ago, but still nice to hear from hometown guys. He's working on a new project entitled County Hood 2 that should be due out this summer.
Is a Detroit rap fan's dream about to become a reality? Big Sean has long stated he would love to collab or even vibe out with Eminem in a studio session and the instagram he just posted mere minutes ago indicates he may have done just that. It definitely looks like a studio, but hard to say for sure. I'm just hopeful in interpreting the cryptic caption of "today was historical" as "raps from Eminem were recorded for a future song with Big Sean". Hopefully more details, and a collab, to come...
UPDATE: Royce Da 5'9" was there. Excited is an understatement for this potential Detroit collab...
I thought this was really cool. Last night, Machine Gun Kelly performed at the famed St. Andrews Hall in Detroit, best known for being immortialized in Eminem's 8 Mile, the hip hop cinematic classic. In this video above, MGK covers the iconic first verse of "Lose Yourself" sitting on the same steps Marshall did growing up with Proof. Then fast forward inside to his performance... where "Shook Ones" dropped and MGK proceeded to rhyme Eminem's entire final battle rap, word for word. It's not the same voice, nor the same flow, but I appreciate and respect MGK's precise and well-intention ode to Eminem on the historic battlegrounds. That's like a young rapper's dream. Awesome.
And the timing is just right... MGK is coming to our town this Sunday and we're giving away a boatload of FREE tickets on our Instagram (@gowherehiphop) tomorrow. Follow us and stay tuned!
In a special year-end issue of RollingStone, the iconic magazine ranks the 50 greatest hip hop songs of all time, while commemorating the list with four appropriately powerful covers featuring Eminem, Biggie, Jay-Z, & 2Pac.
As for the list, well, I first off don't get too caught up in rankings or lists. They're fun, especially when you're searching for that suggestion or opinion, but just don't take it too seriously. RollingStone's top 10 is a clear ode to the first big hip hop songs, which I was happy to see. Each of the 50 songs can be viewed online here and it's a fun read for more than just to see what song is where. There is a cool anecdote per song, like that of "Lose Yourself" below.
Eminem's biggest-ever hit plays like Rocky condensed into a five-minute song. It helped that in telling the story of Rabbit – the trailer-dwelling aspiring rapper he played in 8 Mile – Eminem was more or less telling his own, sidestepping demented clowning and pure rage in favor of tough, realist rhymes about overcoming very long odds. Em cut the song during a brief break from filming. "He came in and laid down all three verses in one take," recalled engineer Steven King. "Jaws dropped – we were like, 'Oh, my God!' This story had been building up in him."
Wow. One take?! That made me like my #1 song even more (which I previously thought impossible).
Big Sean chopped it up at length with Tim Westwood while out in London recently and of course that means some new details on upcoming projects have come to light. The one I'm most excited for: the revelation that Big Sean was invited to the studio by the biggest rap star to have come out of his city: Eminem!
Other noteworthy tidbits from the interview: Big Sean talks about his current single "Guap", that A-list rappers were cut from the final versions of the "I Don't Like RMX" and "Clique", and that his upcoming sophomore album title has been shortened from Hall Of Fame: Memoirs Of A Detroit Player to simply, Hall Of Fame.
50 Cent & Eminem sat down with MTV on the set of the video for "My Life" and in a series of clips beginning above, the duo talk about the single, how 50 is an understudy of Em, 50's new album, and of the highest of entertainment, a tease at the possibility of a Watch The Throne style collab album. Watch how Em reacts about that idea above.
While it's certainly a stretch, the idea is out there to 50 & Em. Would you like to see a collab album from the two?!
