Eminem is one of the most revered rappers of all time, but for Tony Yayo, his respect for Slim Shady was solidified for reasons beyond his musical output.
The G-Unit soldier sat down for a lengthy interview with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN’s Drink Champs this past weekend, where he recalled the moment he knew Em was “a real n-gga.”
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Yayo’s story took place in the early ’00s at 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” video shoot in Los Angeles, where he said Eminem backed down Suge Knight, who had pulled up to the set with an army of Mexican gangsters.
The Queens, New York native remembered how chaos erupted when the infamous Death Row Records co-founder initially arrived. “Cameras are falling, dancers are running, everybody’s running,” he said. Eminem, on the other hand, was apparently not afraid (excuse the pun).
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“This is why I always respected Eminem, 50 and n-ggas that was with us,” Tony Yayo began. “Suge came, he had some Mexican n-ggas. Now, we from New York; you ain’t never seen a n-gga with a tattoo on his forehead.
“We like, ‘Damn, what we got to lose? If we don’t pop now, we going back to the hood!’ So it’s like, fight these Mexican Blood n-ggas, killer n-ggas, or go back home to the crib. Might as well go all out and fight right here! We around Dr. Dre so it’s like, ‘Yo, we gotta do what we gotta do.'”
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He continued: “[Suge] lights his cigar and he trying to see what you gon’ do … This is when I knew Eminem was real. He was like, ‘I don’t give a fuck, man!’ That’s when I knew, ‘Damn, Eminem is a real n-gga.’ 50 n-ggas outside. ‘What’s up?!’ And then the n-gga Suge just walked away. The Mexican n-ggas looked kinda confused, they didn’t know what was going on.
“Eminem came outside, 100 percent. Eminem was like, ‘I don’t give a fuck, man!’ Remember, it’s documented, Proof told Suge, ‘Yo, you killed 2Pac!’ in the middle of a party. Them Detroit n-ggas are kinda crazy, bruh! Them 7, 8 Mile n-ggas always been crazy … You could ask anybody, Proof was a wild boy. Rest in peace to Proof.”
Former G-Unit rapper Bang ‘Em Smurf previously spoke about the tense exchange on Instagram Live last year, where he added more color to the story by claiming Eminem had pulled on a bulletproof vest before confronting Suge.
“Eminem came back with the vest,” he said. “Eminem was outside with them. Dre wasn’t outside. 50 wasn’t outside, but Eminem was outside. I guess they had to protect they breadwinner. Eminem put on his vest and ran back outside with us. Shout out to Eminem.”
Smurf, who admitted he was a “hyper n-gga” at the time, also said he picked up a 2 x 4 and was ready to kill Knight, but was told to back off.
“I ran to the side, like, ‘Yo, this n-gga Suge outside. What do you want me to do? Blow his head off?’” he recalled. “Because I already knew if I blew Suge head off, I’m playing like I’m scared for my life ’cause remember, Suge had that image already, so I knew if I killed him I would’ve done like five years.”
