Eminem has always acknowledged his heroes, and ranked high among them is the legendary Nas.
The Detroit MC was featured in The New York Times‘ “50 Rappers, 50 Stories” piece in honor of Hip Hop’s 50th anniversary, in which he talked about the impact that Illmatic had on him when he was honing his craft.
“I remember The Source gave ‘Illmatic’ five mics [a perfect score],” Em said. “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.’
“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.”
Slim Shady previously discussed how much Nas’ seminal 1994 debut album taught him during a 2020 interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.
“Everybody knows that is a classic, essential album,” he said. “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 was particularly impressed by the song “Halftime,” which he claims shaped his own approach as an MC.
“One of the reasons that I picked ‘Halftime’ is because there’s some rhyme schemes on there that most rappers to this day probably can’t do,” he said. “And that’s one of the things that has made Nas so great over his career.
“Like when he [said], ‘Because when I blast the herb, that’s my word/ I’ll be slaying them fast, doing this, that, and the third/ But chill, pass the Andre, and let’s slay/ I bag bitches up at John Jay and hit a matinee.’ He was rhyming entire sentences. And I’m like, ‘What the fuck is this?’”
Also in the New York Times article, the “Without Me” hitmaker praised Treach, admitting that the Naughty By Nature spitter made him want to quit rapping at one point.
“And then Treach from Naughty by Nature came along and he was doing all that, too,” Em said. “He was cool, too — his image and everything. I wanted to be him. When the first Naughty by Nature album dropped, that whole summer, I couldn’t write a rap.
“’I’ll never be that good; I should just quit.’ I was so depressed, but that’s all I played for that summer. Proof thought Treach was the best rapper, too. Every time he would drop an album I would just be, like, Son of a bitch.”
Although collaborations between Eminem and Nas have been few and far between throughout their decorated careers, with one of their only team-ups coming on 2021’s “EPMD 2,” the rap icons are both set to appear on LL COOL J’s upcoming album.
