Young Zee of the Outsidaz has long been acknowledged for his role in Eminem‘s early career, but now he has gone into detail, saying that his influence is responsible for “birthing” Slim Shady.
In a recent interview with Off the Cuff Radio, the New Jersey legend recalled that KRS-One once told him, regarding his 1990s mentorship of Em: “If Eminem is a God of rap, what does that make you?”
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Zee agreed with KRS’s assessment.
“When I was fucking with Eminem…first of all, he was just a little fat white kid,” Zee began. “I started working with him. He was rhyming, of course.
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“But when he came to Jersey and stayed at my house, we started perfecting his skills. So basically, I birthed his new skills. And so, that’s why KRS-One said that to me.”
The show’s hosts pointed out that the Eminem of Infinite had a very different style than the artist who exploded into public consciousness just a few years later — something they attributed to Zee’s influence.
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“Nobody can’t take that away,” Zee agreed. “They try and hide the files, but they can’t take it away. I was there.”
You can hear the exchange below.
Eminem developed a relationship with the Outsidaz in the years prior to his 1999 breakout The Slim Shady LP. Em visited the crew in New Jersey and appeared on the track “Rush Ya Clique” with them, as well as the unreleased song “Macosa.”
The Outsidaz would receive multiple shoutouts from Em on The Slim Shady LP, and Young Zee would later have a song on the 8 Mile soundtrack.
“Em’s a great rapper. I’m happy for his success,” Zee told HipHopDX in a 2012 interview. “We’ve come a long way. Even though I’m in the underground and he’s more of a limelight artist, every time I’ve worked with him, he makes sure I get a big check. You know what I’m saying? It’s a cool thing.”
In that interview, Zee also recalled their early days rapping together.
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“We’ve had a really good relationship from the start,” he said. “We could just be somewhere at a restaurant and just start rapping. I’d be like, ‘I’ll do thirty murders/ I want twenty turkey burgers.‘ Then he’ll be like, ‘Give me a napkin before I start slappin’ the captain.’
“Then we’d go from there. That’s what we’d do all the time, just rhyme about everything we’d see and make it funny.”
