He said he felt like he found an “ally.”
While “My Name Is” may have been how many Eminem fans were introduced to the Detroit rapper, Marshall Mathers had been apart the underground hip hop scene for years. Em was spreading his music far and wide and around the time he captured the attention Dr. Dre, Yelawolf also learned the future Shady Records mogul. Yela shared the story his first introduction to Eminem’s music with HipHopDX and even recalled a few the lyrics that grabbed his attention.
Christopher Polk / Staff / Getty s
“The first time I heard Marshall was on a Rawkus mixtape,” he said. “At the time we were—this is back when 411 skate videos was where I was getting a lot underground hip hop…I’m talking VHS tape videos.” The rapper recalled the mixtapes he’d heard out New York, Texas, and Atlanta. “Somewhere through there I heard Marshall and I was like, is that a white boy? That sounds like a white boy!”
He explained it wasn’t just the way Eminem sounded, but the content about “mushrooms” and “white boy sh*t.” From that point forward, he was a fan. “Any man that can jump in front a minivan with 20 grand, a bottle pain pills and some minithin is f*cking crazy,” he rapped Eminem’s track “Any Man.” He added, “Then it was, ‘Don’t you wanna group up to be just like me?’ That was it for me. I was like, ‘This dude’s nuts.'”
Yelawolf admitted that he hates most white rappers but he felt like he found an “ally” with Eminem. Watch the clip his interview below.