Eminem hyllar Nas-klassikern “Illmatic” – i samband med hiphopkulturens 50-årsjubileum

Eminem har sedan debuten i slutet av 1990-talet varit en av hiphopvärldens mest framgångsrika rappare. Detta till trots visar han med jämna mellanrum den största respekt för sina föregångare inom hiphopkulturen, både i tacktal och genom att frekvent bära t-shirts med sina favoritartister och album.

I samband med Hiphop50-firandet under 2023 har New York Times sammanställt en omfattande feature under parollen “50 Rappers, 50 Stories” – där Eminem nu hyllar Nas ikoniska klassikerdebut “Illlmatic”. I artikeln säger Marshall Mathers:

“I remember The Source gave ‘Illmatic’ five mics. I already knew I liked Nas from ‘Live at the Barbeque’ with Main Source, because his verse on that is one of the most classic verses in Hip Hop of all time. But I was, like, ‘Five mics, though? Let me see what this is.”

Han minns hur Nas texter fick honom att baxna vad gäller komplexitet och originalitet:

“And when I put it on, ‘And be prosperous/though we live dangerous/Cops could just arrest me/Blamin’ us/We’re held like hostages.’ He was going in and outside of the rhyme scheme, internal rhymes. That album had me in a slump, too. I know the album front to back.”

Tidigare har Eminem hyllat “Illmatic”, bland annat i en intervju med Zane Lowe på Apple Music Radio:

“Everybody knows that is a classic, essential album. I don’t know where you place that in Hip Hop, but it’s got to be at the top. It’s got to be up at the top. It taught me different flow patterns, different schemes you can do, and then when you start finding your own that you feel like haven’t been done yet, that’s when it becomes fun.”

Eminem medverkade på Nas-albumet “Kings Disease II” på låten “EPMD II”. Lyssna nedan!