Eminem has confessed that he doesn’t feel as influential in hip-hop as many of the rappers that came before him.
The rapper, whose latest album was released this month, said that he remained awe-inspired by Eighties MCs like Rakim, who was part of the influential hip-hop duo Eric B & Rakim.
Speaking to Zane Lowe on his Apple Beats show, Eminem said that he doesn’t feel like he was an innovator in the same way.
“When people try to compare eras, hip-hop’s [gone] through too many different transitions for anyone to be the best rapper of all time,” the rapper said. “Rap has gone through transitions, it’s evolved, now people are doing things with flows that I never could have seen happening. But rappers from [Rakim’s] era meant so much to that era, just because there were so many innovators.”
He continued: “I know I’ve been around for a minute, but I don’t feel like honestly, in my heart of hearts, like anything I did, or anything I’ve done up to this point is more influential than they were to their era. To me, I will never mean more than they meant to their era.”
On his new album, Music to Be Murdered By Part 2, Eminem caused a stir by apologising to Rihanna for offensive lyrics that appeared in a track that leaked online in 2019.
On another track, “Zeus”, Eminem hit back at Snoop Dogg after the latter disputed earlier this year that Eminem was one of the greatest rappers of all time.
