Eminem: “Tupac was the first one to really help me learn how to make songs that felt like something.”
Earlier this week, Paper Magazine asked Kendrick Lamar to share some words about Eazy-E’s influence on his life and career. For their “Nowstalgia” issue, they also asked Swizz Beatz to pen a tribute to The Notorious B.I.G. Earlier this year Eminem shared a letter he once wrote to Tupac’s mother, today we get to see an essay he wrote as a tribute to Tupac.
Eminem explained what it was about Tupac that drew him in:
Whatever he was rapping about, it was urgent. If it was a sad song, it’d make you cry. But there were a lot of different sides to him: fed-up, angry, militant, having a good time. His spirit spoke to me because it was like you knew everything that he was going through, especially when he made Me Against the World. You just felt every aspect of his pain, every emotion: when he was happy, when he was sad. His ability to touch people’s lives like that was incredible.
Eminem admitted that Tupac was a direct influence on his own life and career, “Tupac was the first one to really help me learn how to make songs that felt like something.” He went on further to explain that Tupac wasn’t just a great rapper or entertainer, but a great person as well:
He was so versatile — if you weren’t in the mood for what he was doing on this song here, he’s got something for you over here. He covered such a broad perspective and there were so many different sides to him, but the best part about him overall was that he was a human being. He would let you see that. I used to be fascinated with his interviews like, “Yo, what he’s saying is so true.” He would also be able to trump people who were interviewing him when they would hit him with hard questions — it was incredible. He was a superstar in every aspect of the word. You just wanted to know that guy. Like man, I wanna hang out with Pac.
Read the full essay here.
The post Eminem: “Tupac was the first one to really help me learn how to make songs that felt like something.” appeared first on Pigeons & Planes.
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