Eminem is one of the best rappers to ever do it. In certain aspects of the game, he is the best to do it, as his flow and rhyming ability are simply unmatched. Even if you aren’t a rap fan, you still have to admire Eminem’s talents and what he has done for the legacy of the genre. Frankly, he is not just one of the best rappers of all time, but one of the best musicians of all time.
For the majority of his career, Eminem was fairly untouchable. He was, by no mistake, the biggest rapper in the world, and the rapper taking the most artistic risks. Risks that got him in trouble, and risks that also made him a legend. However, by the early 2000s, there was an up-and-coming rapper coming for Eminem’s spot, and that was Lil Wayne.
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Lil Wayne’s mainstream career kicked off in 1999 with the release of his debut album Tha Block Is Hot. Subsequently, he kept the success rolling with the untouchable albums, Tha Carter and Tha Carter II. Due to the success, Eminem decided he would take a shot at Lil Wayne in a disstrack. Though it never came to fruition.
Eminem Wanted to Avoid Public Backlash
In a 2010 interview with Spin, Eminem divulged how Lil Wayne got under his skin and brewed up an artistic rivalry with his talent. Marshall Mathers stated, “I would hear lines of his, the way he’d connect his words, and I thought, ‘Man, I can do that s—t. He ain’t that dope.’”
“I’m hearing this dude say some clever, witty s—t and I’m not doing it, so I feel f—t up,” added Eminem. So, armed with a sense of envy and an arsenal full of wit, Eminem crafted a diss track about the New Orleans rapper. However, ultimately, he decided against it.
Concerning his reasoning, he told the publication, “It would have been career suicide…They would have f—n’ murdered me.” There is no way to truly know what would have transpired if Eminem had released the track, but it is probably safe to assume that some great music would have come out of it. Though at the end of the day, the decision not only favored Eminem, but also Lil Wayne.
Since then, both wordsmiths have existed in the game harmoniously. As a matter of fact, Lil Wayne and Eminem have collaborated on three songs: “Forever”, “Drop The World”, and “No Love”.
Photo by Patrick Ford/Redferns
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