Grammy-winning rapper Eminem continues to expand his ventures by partnering up with lyric-decoding website Genius this week.
According to reports, Em and his Shady Records powerhouse has linked with Genius to give it access to a mountain of memorable lyrics.
Genius will also serve as the official lyrics engine for Eminem.com and all of Shady Records’ online properties. “Coming up we would always obsess over the lyrics from our favorite MCs. Picking everything apart, trying to get into their heads,” Eminem said in a statement. “I still do that today and Genius helps to make it a worldwide conversation. Pretty amazing to me.” (Billboard)
Genius co-founder Ilan Zechory has confirmed the big business move.
“Any discussion of the greatest rapper of all time has to include Eminem, so working with him and Shady Records is just incredible as a fan,” said Zechory, Genius co-founder and president. “With Genius we’re trying to create something like a museum of songs — we want to give all the great ‘behind the music’ stories from Eminem a permanent home for fans to enjoy.” (Billboard)
Outside of this, Em recently dished on his admiration for late hip-hop mogul Tupac Shakur.
“The first time I ever heard Tupac was his verse on “I Get Around” with Digital Underground. I was 18 or 19 years old and I remember thinking, “Who is this?” He stood out so much. Once I heard that, I got his first album, 2Pacalypse Now. I saw the video for “Brenda’s Got a Baby” and I remember thinking, “Holy sh*t.” By the time he got to Me Against the World, it was him at his pinnacle. He’s off and running. He knows what he wants, and he’s figured out how he wants to be and how he wants to sound — everything. I would probably put that up against anything as far as a classic hip-hop album goes.” (PAPER Mag)
Em also reflected back to working on Pac’s 2004 posthumous album, Loyal to the Game.
“When his mother, Afeni (Shakur), let me produce one of Tupac’s albums — the Loyal to the Game album — I wrote her a letter thanking her for letting me do it. You wouldn’t be able to tell the 18/19-year-old Marshall that he would ever be able to get his hands on some Tupac vocals and have that opportunity. It was such a significant piece of history for me and so much fun. I’m like a kid in a candy store; going nuts with the fact that I’m putting beats under his rhymes.” (PAPER Mag)