If you thought Eminem spoke the last word on his new album Music To Be Murdered By when he posted an open letter to listeners on Instagram arguing that his critics just didn’t “get” the album then today, the Detroit rapper proved you wrong with an appearance on Crook’s Corner. Crook’s Corner is Kxng Crooked’s (aka Crooked I’s) YouTube show where the Long Beach rapper nerds out about bars with his colleagues in rhyme. Today, the two posted up in the studio for an hour-long conversation about Eminem’s new album.
In between defending Eminem’s propensity for rapping fast and again insisting that folks who didn’t like the album just didn’t get it, Eminem and Crooked actually share some interesting nuggets. For one thing, Em reveals that despite his attention to detail when it comes to intricate rhyme schemes and double entendres, one of his guests actually used a rhyme he himself failed to catch until after he saw the response to it online. Young MA, who appears on the album opener, “Unaccommodating,” throws out one line so casually that it took Em several repeat listens to catch it.
“Disrespect that life and I’m in gang mode,” she says mid-way through her lead-of verse. “You can leave this earth, b*tch, I’m in rake mode.” Em says that at first he didn’t really understand the response to the line, but eventually caught the double entendre in “leave” — meaning both “to depart” and as the mangled multiple form of “leaf.” Em, who loves a good dad joke himself, expressed amazement as how the wordplay slipped his personal rhyme radar, while his employee agreed with him that relistening to raps to catch such wordplay is an engaging pastime.
Watch the full conversation above.
