Talib Kweli: "Eminem Introduced My Daughter To Lyrics"

[yoda you can call me]

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.2 ... -to-lyrics

A few years ago, Talib Kweli says he took his daughter, who is now 14, to the BET Awards. The award show left an impression on his daughter, who told him that one emcee stood out to her from the various performers that evening.

"Eminem introduced my daughter to lyrics," Kweli says of that day in an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. "When he performed ['Not Afraid'], she was like, 'Who is that, daddy?' I think she was like 10 or 11. I was like, 'That's Eminem.' She was like, 'That's one of the best rappers I've ever heard.' And she's been on some lyrical shit ever since then.

"It was amazing to me to watch my daughter discover Eminem, and be into his lyrics," Kweli continues. "She immediately noticed a difference 'cause Eminem had kind of been missing from the scene for a couple years before then. She immediately noticed he can rap better than everybody. She was like, 'He was the best rapper on the floor tonight.' And I'm like, 'Wow. Okay. She recognizes it, too.'"
Talib Kweli On Eminem's Work With Rawkus Records & His "Shocking" Lyrics

While his daughter may have become an Eminem fan that evening, Kweli says he knew about Eminem's success long before then, dating back to the late 1990s when Em was making a name for himself in the industry.

"Eminem was in the Rawkus [Records] office," Kweli says. "He was doing songs for Young Zee and the Outsidaz and them. He was jumping on beats. He was a hungry emcee...I've watched the legend of Eminem from the beginning. I used to walk around with a Slim Shady cassette in Detroit. I was shocked. Eminem was shocking to me. I was like, 'How is this White boy this nasty and this fuckin' rude at the same time?'"

Since then, Kweli says he's continued to watch Eminem's rise in the industry with several albums, including ones that have been criticized by some.

"Eminem has been kind of ubiquitous for a long time," Kweli says. "Even the albums that people claim they don't like, you still hear those songs everywhere. Like you'll still hear 'Love The Way You Lie' on the radio now. And people say they don't even like that album [2010's Recovery]."

Eminem celebrated a decade and a half on a major label recently as his debut album, The Slim Shady LP, had its 15-year anniversary Sunday (February 23).

[Him Shadow]

Nice

[Mr Change]

dang straight

[EminemInsider]

Not Afraid got her "into lyrics?" That's like saying Roger Federer at last year's Wimbledon got you into tennis.

If Kweli doesn't show his daughter SSLP, MMLP, and TES, I think he should be imprisoned for child neglect.

[Mr Change]

Not Afraid got her "into lyrics?" That's like saying Roger Federer at last year's Wimbledon got you into tennis.

If Kweli doesn't show his daughter SSLP, MMLP, and TES, I think he should be imprisoned for child neglect.

Just noticed ur sig.

Am confused. Chloroform Rag an Before hand is definitely a rhyme

[yung rom]

Not Afraid got her "into lyrics?" That's like saying Roger Federer at last year's Wimbledon got you into tennis.

If Kweli doesn't show his daughter SSLP, MMLP, and TES, I think he should be imprisoned for child neglect.

Just noticed ur sig.

Am confused. Chloroform Rag an Before hand is definitely a rhyme

Godamnit don't start this up again EminemInsider and I have finally reached a peaceful disagreement

[TranSlucEnt]

Peeped this.Prompted me to go back and listen to Any Man (Haven't listened to that in forever). Man! What a song.

[TheGentlePlayer]

Wow Not Afraid? If that was the first Em song I heard I would never have listened to him again.

[TranSlucEnt]

Wow Not Afraid? If that was the first Em song I heard I would never have listened to him again.

[DetroitSkills]

lol not afraid

[slims]

She was a ten year old girl, why is everyone being shocked it was "Not Afraid"...every fan gets reeled into Em's music at one point or another.

was just about to say this. i'm sure everyone listened to corny music at ten. you can't expect a ten year old to see the flaws older people see.

[VINTAGƎ]

You guys are underestimating how wack other commercial rappers are. They said she discovered him at the BET awards. Not an underground battle scene. Not Afraid, though not one of Em's best lyrically is still better than a lot of what's out there.

[DetroitSkills]

im not dissing not afraid, nor did it surprise me of the song

[SliK]

Not Afraid got her "into lyrics?" That's like saying Roger Federer at last year's Wimbledon got you into tennis.

If Kweli doesn't show his daughter SSLP, MMLP, and TES, I think he should be imprisoned for child neglect.

There's a 9 syllable multi in Not Afraid.

The writing is poor, but his lyricism (which is a word nobody uses the same way twice anyway) is alright.

I would say writing includes more than just the words (lyrics), like sentence structure etc.

[kkaniff]

^ This.