Brand Nubian emcee Lord Jamar may have criticized fellow rapper Eminem months ago after the Detroit artist took home a win in the Hip Hop category during the MTV EMAs last year, but in a recent interview with Vlad TV, Jamar expressed his respect for Em.
The topic of Eminem was discussed during Lord Jamar’s conversation with Vlad as the rapper criticized the likes of Macklemore and Yelawolf for what he feels is there lack of knowledge when it concerns the origins of Hip Hop culture. He then credited Eminem for coming up as an artist who worshipped black emcees and put in an effort to do his research.
“Eminem is a different kind of story, you know? He came up—He came up worshipping black emcees,” Lord Jamar said. “So, now he was the first one that white people were able to look up to and worship. But you gotta look where he—the altar that he originally worshipped at was of the altar of the black emcee. He did the study…Putting in that time to do the knowledge to the history that you’re coming to. See Eminem is one of those dudes. That’s why I can respect him in a way. When you got dudes talking about ‘Who are you?’ when they talking about me. Like they don’t know who I am, that’s your fault for not knowing that. And it’s also our fault for not enforcing that you know who I am…So, how the fuck are you gonna claim to be a citizen of Hip Hop and you don’t know the history?”
Prior to speaking on Eminem, Jamar addressed Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ recent win at the Grammys, which included taking home a Grammy for Best New Artist and Best Rap Album. According to Jamar, the Seattle duo wasn’t worthy of winning all four awards.
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“I’m gonna have to say no and here’s why,” Jamar said when asked if Macklemore deserved to win four Grammys. “Because how the fuck are you gonna circumvent the creators of the genre—like I don’t know any black people that have Macklemore’s album. Not a one. Nobody that you would call a real Hip Hop—what I know as to be a true Hip Hop fan or Hip Hop enthusiast [of] where Hip Hop truly comes from, nobody has a Macklemore album.”
After stating that there aren’t any true Hip Hop fans who own any of Macklemore’s albums, Vlad then informed Lord Jamar that both ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul own music Macklemore has released.
“I was just gonna say whoever it is has a connection to either them or some other white rappers that would make them fuck with that,” Lord Jamar said. “But anybody normally who just organically fuck with Hip Hop don’t have the Macklemore album. So, I’m saying we’re in a climate now where we have people like the Macklemores and the fuckin Pussy Wolf and fuckin—all these other mothafuckas who black people have never heard of. Never heard one song…It’s no longer saying we have to come through the channels of real Hip Hop to be accepted. They’re like ‘Fuck y’all mothafuckas. I got all these white ass fans. I don’t need y’all black mothafuckas.’”
Late last year, Lord Jamar criticized Macklemore due to his The Heist record, “Same Love.” The New York rapper felt that the song pushed an agenda and used Hip Hop to do so.
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“Making a song like that is like feeling that you have the same footing as any other Hip Hop artist and to me you don’t…To me when people like Macklemore come out with songs like that, I know he loves Hip Hop and all that, but he’s trying to push an agenda that him as a white man feels is acceptable,” he said during an interview with Vlad TV last September.
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