Tim Westwood took a walk into his seemingly endless vault of freestyles and came out with a gem: a previously unreleased clip of Eminem and late D12 member Proof.
The freestyle was released in honor of the anniversary of another Em freestyle, the fan-beloved back-and-forth between Eminem and Mr. Porter, another member of D12. That freestyle was on Tim Westwood's show in 2009 and has been pored over by stans for years. The new clip with Proof is from even further back, showcasing Em at the height of his early hip-hop enfant terrible powers.
The rhymes on this freestyle from Westwood's New York Live in 1999 are peak Slim Shady, dealing with the fallout of his early celebrity-lampooning antics.
"Forget the controversy surrounding me, And all these fake ass press people surrounding me, hounding me," he rapped. "But I don't give a damn because I smoke a pound of weed, Y'all don't want none of me!"
Eminem was a regular on Westwood's show around this time, frequently dropping by with members of D12 in tow to freestyle in studio. In fact, the new Proof and Eminem freestyle is the second one from Westwood's show in 1999. Westwood had previously shared a freestyle with Proof that featured plenty of lines that would go on to be famous (and Proof absolutely did his thing on Nas' "Hate Me Now"). Take a look at the newly released — and helpfully animated and transcribed — freestyle up top before returning to the older track below.
