Eminem Says Juice WRLD’s ‘Potential Was So Off the Charts’

When Eminem sits down for an interview, it's a rare occasion. Em dealt out a myriad of gems in his latest sit-down with Slaughterhouse rapper Kxng Crooked for the latest installment of his Crooked Corner series on Friday (Feb. 21). Em addressed an array of topics throughout their hour-long chat including Lord Jamar's "guest of hip-hop" claims, keeping a closer eye on hip-hop culture than we think, remembering the late Juice WRLD, his Music to be Murdered By album, and more.

The Detroit legend was actually inspired by an old sample Dr. Dre sent him that used audio from Alfred Hitchcock's original Music to be Murdered By, which pushed Em to base his new album around the 1958 film soundtrack. "It was based off that, that I started thinking, 'I wonder if I could play off this whole Alfred Hitchcock thing?'" he explained. "I had it even more intertwined than it was, but we had to pick and choose the best pieces to put on there for sampling issues."

A couple of unexpected guests on his album included Young M.A. and the late Juice WRLD, who Em had high praise for. Shady began keeping an eye on the New York rapper following her "OOOUUU" breakout hit, and he was impressed with what he saw. "She carried herself like a star," he said. "Charisma, but she also had the bars. She's really got bars. I just went down the wormhole."

With Juice WRLD, Eminem is just sickened at the fact we won't get to see him fully unlock his potential and put his gifts to use. "That kid was so talented, like his freestyle he did on Tim Westwood — what the f—?" Em continued. "To be so young, he mastered that so f—ing quickly. His potential was so off the charts."

Crooked then set up the "Not Afraid" rapper to address his longstanding feud with Lord Jamar and his claims of Em being "a guest of hip-hop." "I don't know if I've got a chance to say this yet, but the funny s–t is with the whole beef with a certain person, I never said I wasn't a guest," he responded with namedropping Jamar. "I'm absolutely a guest. I never said I wasn't. I never said I was king of anything. I never want to be the king of hip-hop. Who the f–k is the king of hip-hop?" 

Another interesting tidbit came when Eminem revealed that his 2002 smash "Cleanin' Out My Closet" was originally a beat he was making for Bizarre. "That beat was actually a beat I was making for Bizarre," he shared. "Then I ended up taking the beat. Sometimes, if someone's there as I'm making the beat, and they start writing to it, I usually end up giving it to them. But I don't know what happened with that."

Like nearly all of us, Eminem was also a big Kobe Bryant fan. "Who wasn't a [fan]? I don't know how you could not be. It makes me sick to my stomach to even try to grasp what happened. nine people, man," he said. 

Before heading out, three other artists he made sure to spotlight were DaBaby, YBN Cordae, and Kendrick Lamar. "He's such a chameleon of styles and he can do pretty much everything and he's so proficient at it and you don't know what you're gonna get." he said of K. Dot. "That, to me, is a top tier lyricist. You can get your ass kicked any day."

Watch the entire interview below.