CyHi The Prynce has spent years in the studio with marquee artists like Kanye West and Travis Scott, and he’s used that experience to speculate about Eminem‘s creative process.
As a guest on Math Hoffa’s My Expert Opinion podcast, CyHi share some thoughts about Slim Shady in a clip that dropped on Thursday (February 8).
The rapper began by saying that in his opinion, Eminem was a “top five” rapper.
“With no ghostwriters,” commented co-host Mecca, a comment that inspired CyHi to talk about the nature of inspiration.
“You think he ain’t have no ghostwriters?” CyHi responded. “Man, you ain’t sitting around 12 n-ggas just fucking smoking blunts. It’s called D12. It’s called Proof. It’s called all them n-ggas he grew up with.”
You can see the segment below.
CyHi made clear, however, that he was not necessarily saying those people wrote bars for Eminem. Instead, he said that it was important for rappers to surround themselves with people who bring them “thoughts,” “ideas,” and “experiences.”
Without that, he said, “I wouldn’t have nothing to rap about. That’s more important than actually making it rhyme, is having something to talk about. Because there’s a lot of n-ggas who can just rhyme and don’t be talking about shit.”
CyHi’s appearance on My Expert Opinion comes just months after he toyed with the idea of retiring from rap.
Last August, the former G.O.O.D. Music rapper announced that he was contemplating retirement, telling his almost 140,000 Twitter followers, “Been thinking about retiring from rap.”
CyHi later went on Instagram Live and explained the reasoning behind his possible retirement, shedding light on his career struggles and label difficulties. “Should I retire from Rap? Part 1,” he captioned the almost hour-long video.
“I’ve been doing this shit my whole life damn near,” he began. “It’s been a rough journey as far as, like, being from Atlanta and having a different style, being different to what a label may want or a manager may want.
“Still to this day, when I go to labels, the first thing they tell me is, ‘Get yourself hot in the streets.’ And I think the shit is disrespectful to tell me to get myself hot in the streets. I’m like, ‘Record labels, do y’all fucking understand what that entails?’
“They think you gon’ go home, you gon’ go meet a real estate agent or a muthafucking banker or investor and say, ‘Hey man, I’m a good kid! I need help getting my records and paying the DJs and paying for digital marketing and radio and videos and all this shit.’ They want you to do this shit yourself.”