The duo has collaborated on three songs: “Forever” with Drake and Kanye West in 2009, “Drop the World” and “No Love” in 2010.
Even Lil Wayne is apprehensive when he summons a superstar like Eminem.
Weezy admitted to being “scared” about asking Eminem to collaborate for the first time in an interview with The New York Times last week for a piece on hip-hop’s 50th anniversary.
“I was scared, actually, when I called Eminem for a song,” Wayne, 40, said to the publication. “That thing is a monster.”
“He must have the same gift with words as I do.” We can’t seem to get them out of our brains. Each meaning, each facet of them. “We hear things that rhyme,” the “A Milli” rapper concluded.
“I’m already aware of his gift and curse. And I enjoy hearing how he puts things together.”
Wayne has already worked with fellow rappers such as Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Drake, and Nicki Minaj at the time, but approaching Eminem seemed different.
The two rappers initially worked together on Drake’s 2009 single “Forever,” which also featured Kanye West. Their debut song as a pair was “Drop the World” off Wayne’s 2010 Rebirth album, and they reconnected the following year for “No Love” from Eminem’s Recovery album.
His nerve-racking call to Eminem was well worth it, since all of their collaborations have become successes. “Forever” peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Drop the World” at No. 18, and “No Love” at No. 24 – all four singles went multi-platinum.
Wayne also mentioned his respect for JAY-Z in his NYT interview. “Shawn Carter, Jay-Z, was the god of words to me.” “He could have rewritten English textbooks,” the rapper remarked.
“I discovered Jay by listening to Biggie.” I learnt ‘Lucky Me,’ from In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, backwards and forwards. I placed it in songs, and I still start every concert with lyrics from that song.”
“And I swear to everything when I leave this earth/it’s gon’ be on both feet, never knees in the dirt/you could try me, [expletive]/but when I squeeze it hurts/fine,” he says.
“And what’s crazy is that we stop the music on that part and the crowd sings the rest of it with me as if I wrote it,” Wayne said. But that’s all there is to it, Jay.”
