Eminem is not looking for the crown.
The “Rap God” sat down with Kxng Crooked for the latest episode of his “Crooked Corner” series. During the hour-long conversation, the Detroit rapper addressed Lord Jamar’s criticism about him being a guest in the house of hip-hop.
“How do you feel about the concept of white rappers being a guest in the house of hip-hop?” Crooked asked Em around the 20-minute mark.
“I don’t know if I’ve got a chance to say this yet, but the funny shit is with the whole beef with a certain person, I never said I wasn’t a guest,” he said without naming Jamar.
Em went on to acknowledge his place in the culture. “I’m absolutely a guest. I never said I wasn’t. I never said I was king of anything,” he added. “I never want to be the king of hip-hop. Who the fuck is the king of hip-hop? Like, is there a king of hip-hop? … I care more about the craft than any of the other shit.”
Eminem recently dissed Jamar and addressed his comments about being a guest in hip-hop on “I Will” off his latest album Music to Be Murdered By. “Been claiming rap when it’s not yours / If it was anyone’s house, G Rap and Rakim would be havin’ you mop floors,” he raps. “Run-DMC would be havin’ you cleanin’ sinks / Yeah, your group was off the chain but you were the weakest link.”
Following the Kxng Crooked interview, Jamar responded to Eminem’s comments. “I guess his EGO wouldn’t allow him to say ‘Lord Jamar was right the whole time, & I was buggin for coming at him the way I did…my bad…I am a guest in the house of Hip Hop,’” tweeted the former Brand Nubian rapper. “But at least the EGO was quelled enough to admit what I’d been saying all along.”
I guess his EGO wouldn’t allow him to say “Lord Jamar was right the whole time, & I was buggin for coming at him the way I did…my bad…I am a guest in the house of Hip Hop.”
— Lord Jamar (@lordjamar) February 22, 2020
But at least the EGO was quelled enough to admit what I’d been saying all along.
— Lord Jamar (@lordjamar) February 22, 2020
This shit is case closed, now all together repeat after me…WHITE PEOPLE ARE GUESTS IN THE HOUSE OF HIP HOP THAT BLACK PEOPLE BUILT! Thank you and good night. (Drops mic and leaves podium)
— Lord Jamar (@lordjamar) February 22, 2020
Elsewhere in the interview, Slim Shady paid tribute to the late Juice WRLD, whom he collaborated with on “Godzilla” on Music to Be Murdered By. “That kid was so talented, like his freestyle he did on Tim Westwood — what the fuck?” said Em of Juice, who died from an accident overdose in December. “To be so young, he mastered that so fucking quickly. His potential was so off the charts.”
He also shined praise on MCs including DaBaby, YBN Cordae, and Kendrick Lamar. “He’s such a chameleon of styles and he can do pretty much everything and he’s so proficient at it and you don’t know what you’re gonna get,” he said of the Compton MC. “That, to me, is a top-tier lyricist. You can get your ass kicked any day.”
Watch the full interview below.
