Eminem is known for coining the word "stan," and of course, Em is a stan himself when it comes to LL Cool J.
The 45-year-old rapper, who just dropped his surprise album Kamikaze, went on the first episode of LL's radio show, The Influence of Hip-Hop, on SiriusXM's Rock the Bells Radio and couldn't stop gushing about how much LL played an influence on his rap career. When LL asked him "how does a little kid in Detroit get into this rap thing," Em said the "I'm Bad" rapper was one of his biggest influences.
"You, Run-DMC, Beastie Boys, Ice-T...Fat Boys. I don't know," Eminem responded. "It's just something about the music spoke to me. It was so new and different and refreshing and you also didn't really have to be able to sing, you know what I'm saying? It just spoke to me as a kid. I wanted to be like you. I hope that doesn't sound weird...I absolutely wanted to be like you. I wanted to be like Run-DMC. "
At another point, Em spoke about how watching LL's progression as a rapper pushed him forward.
"You could make a love song, you could make a song for the dudes," he said. "You know what I'm saying? And your range as a writer was so incredible. And then when you didn't drop an album for a couple of years, then rap started advancing a little more. Then you came out, advanced it again. You know what I'm saying? It was so crazy to just watch it."
Eminem namedropped LL cuts like "Mama Said Knock You Out" and "Damage" as he continued to gush. "'Damage!' I'm like 'Yo, did he?" You wrote that?" Em said. "I always wondered that 'cause I'm like, 'God damn.' He's just in the middle of the song screaming ,'damage!' And the energy of it was like 'God damn. I want to fuck my room up.'"
But the ultimate moment came when Eminem got to meet his fave in person. He recalled that he was in Foot Locker with Curtis Tucker to get outfits for the "Just Don't Give a Fuck" video when he saw LL. "I'm like, 'Yo, he's in here by himself.' I was buggin' the fuck out. You quoted a lyric back to me. You said, 'Yo, how can I be white, I don't even exist.' And you quoting that lyric back to me...I think I shit myself." Ultimate stan level achieved. Check out the interview tidbits and listen to the full radio show here.
