The Eminem album that changed Kendrick Lamar’s life: “The raw and realness”
Kendrick Lamar is now at a point where he’s changing lives with his own music, but there was once an album that made him rethink everything. The Compton rapper has noted listening to Eminem‘s The Marshall Mathers LP as an important moment in his life and an example of why Slim Shady is one of the best lyricists to ever do it.
Speaking to Vanity Fair about how he’s able to pack so many words and syllables into one bar, he said, “It comes from my love of Hip Hop. Eminem is probably one of the best wordsmiths ever. There’s a whole list of why, but just bending words. The Marshall Mathers LP changed my life.”
It must have been a proud moment for K.Dot in 2012 when he ended up featuring on The Marshall Mathers LP 2, the sequel to the album that changed his life. To this day, ‘Love Game’ remains the only the time the pair have worked together on a record.
The respect goes both ways, with Eminem revealing he listens to Kendrick Lamar’s latest music as inspiration to go that little bit harder.
“My role in today’s Hip Hop is to always try to be the best rapper,” he told XXL. “That’s it. That’s how I want to feel inside. That’s what I want to feel. And I can’t do that until I listen to what the fuck J. Cole just put out. What the fuck did Kendrick just put out? And I’m thinking, ‘Oh, these dudes ain’t playing.'”
He continued, “I don’t want to get swept away in that shuffle. I still want to let everybody know who the fuck I am. Like I said, they rap to be the best rappers. I’ll hear some shit by them, and I’ll be like, ‘Yo, I ain’t the best rapper right now. I need to fuckin’ get up, get back on my shit.'”
Prior to the release of good kid, m..A.A.d city in 2012, Kendrick Lamar named his 25 favourite albums of all time but notably didn’t include The Marshall Mathers LP. Sitting down with Complex, K.Dot revealed a list that included multiple entries for a number of artists.
DJ Quik made the cut with Quik Is the Name, Rhythm-al-ism and Balance & Options, Dr. Dre was on there with The Chronic and 2001, and 2Pac featured with Me Against the World, All Eyez on Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.
Kendrick Lamar also had high praise for DMX’s 1998 album It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, going as far as saying it was the project that inspired him to become a rapper.
“That’s the first album that got me writing,” he said. “I wrote my first lyrics to that album actually, about 13-14. I was going into eighth grade, seventh grade going into eighth grade maybe. I just got inspired and I started writing, so that will always be one of my favourite albums. And the fact that I just met DMX for the first time last week—I got to actually tell him that for the first time. That album inspired me to be a rapper.”
He added, “It was just the raw and realness. 2Pac was gone, there was a void, [something] was missing in the game and he came through to fill that void. Now that I think about it, that was the reason why.”