(L-R) V, Suga, Jin, Jungkook, RM, Jimin, and J-Hope of BTS attend the 2021 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 21, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.
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DX EXCLUSIVE - Yelawolf once toured Europe with Eminem and Odd Future in 2013, and he vividly remembers Tyler, The Creator flexing how deep his admiration for Em went.
Talking to HipHopDX‘s Jeremy Hecht in a conversation published on Tuesday (June 25), Yela laughed as he recalled Tyler rapping every single word to every song Em performed on the trek – joking that it was as if Tyler was looking to prove that he knew the Detroit legend’s music better than his tourmate, despite Yela being signed to Shady.
“I remember Tyler mouthing every single word of every song Marshall played,” he said. “I remember that vividly. We were all by the soundboard and Tyler just knew every word to every song and he made sure that I knew he knew.
“[It was as if he was] like, ‘You’re signed to Eminem? I’ll rap this whole song right to your face. You don’t know this song.’”
The Grammy-winner appeared on an episode of De La Soul‘s Apple Music 1 show Art Official Intelligence Radio in March to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the group’s classic debut 3 Feet High and Rising.
During the conversation, Tyler reflected on coming of age in the early 2000s and how Roc-A-Fella and Shady Records subconsciously laid the blueprint for his own future rap crew.
“Man, I grew up in the year 2000,” he began. “So I’m looking at like eight, turning nine. So let’s say it’s 2002, 10 turning 11.
“You’ve got Jay with the whole Roc-A-Fella, you’ve got Shady, Aftermath, you have all these different crews that felt like family. Nas was bringing Queensbridge group like Jungle and them out. N-ggas had this thing. So in my formative years, I’m just watching these crews.”
He added: “And I’m from Los Angeles, so gang culture is already a prevalent thing, but I feel like just the main layer of that is a family-knitted thing like, ‘No, these are my boys, you come with me.’”
Tyler, The Creator went on describe Odd Future — which also counted Earl Sweatshirt, Frank Ocean and Domo Genesis among its ranks, as well as side groups like The Internet — as a collective of “outcasts” who were all “black sheep.”
“So when I was making Odd Future, outside of the magazine thing, it just actually felt like family for a bunch of outcasts,” he said. “Everyone in Odd Future was the black sheep of their family. So us coming together and just like, ‘Nah, fuck y’all.’
“Who’s getting the opportunity first? It’s the person right next to me. It’s the family right next to me. And I was really on that for a while, and a lot of that is just because of growing up with the idea of rap crews.
“I was too young for the Native Tongues, all of that stuff in real time. I had to learn about that as I got older.
“So seeing people get Roc-A-Fella chains was like, ‘Oh, you’re part of the family.’ So I think just subconsciously emulating the sentiment that they held was easy.”
