Hopsin Speaks on Eminem's Influence

If you have listened to any Hopsin song, the first thing you notice is how much he sounds like Eminem. In a recent interview with XXL, the 28 year old rapper spoke on how he learnt to rap from listening to Eminem's second album, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000). 




"Had to be The Marshall Mathers LP, the original one. The album, it was just—I used to listen to it religiously, and everything that Eminem said on it was just ill. It taught me how to rap. It guided me on how to get my mind right after dropping out of high school. I read between all the negativity on the album and saw the positive stuff. That he actually came from nothing, and it really inspired me. Just knowing that he came from nothing and made himself into one of the biggest rappers." 







I have great memories from listening to that album with my friends back in the day. We would always hit the rewind button, cos Eminem's thought process on that album was just out of this world. In my opinion, no Eminem album comes close to MMLP.

Nas Names His Musical Influences

Nas might have influenced a lot of rappers of this generation, but he also has people he looked up to while he was getting into the game...artists who influenced him. He was recently being interviewed about his new documentary (Time Is Illmatic), and he took time to speak on his musical influences.






"I've influenced [a few artists] for sure and I've been influenced by a lot of artists as well... Slick Rick, Ice Cube, LL Cool J, Eric B and Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, A Tribe Called Quest, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra. [It's a] wide list."  (Interview with Charlie Rose on PBS)









Definitely, Nas is a big Slick Rick fan...he got his story telling skills from Rick The Ruler; I still get mesmerized anytime I listen to The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988). Nas also definitely got that rapid flow, and mafioso rap style from Kool G Rap. He got the fly side of him from Big Daddy Kane, and he got his complex rap scheme from Rakim. He definitely studied those before him, and that't why he is so great. I hate to admit it, cos his fans annoy me sometimes, but Kendrick Lamar is similar to Nas in this way. I mean, in that they both, thoroughly studied the ones that came before them, took a lil here and there, and then made their own thing.  

Kendrick Lamar Says Lil Wayne Influenced Him

Kendrick Lamar is on the rise right now in Hip Hop, and at the recent Power 106 Christmas Cali Live concert, Lil Wayne joined him on stage during his performance. In a recent interview, he said Wayne had some influenced on his current style of rap.

"The craziest thing about Wayne, what people don't understand is that you get a lot of younger cats that's listening to him now and feel he's a new artist," he said. "I go all the way back to the Hot Boys days and being 13, listening to this dude. Just remembering the staple he put on the game back then all the way to now, to have that longevity years beyond it. For him to actually acknowledge what I'm doing right now and seeing it as a path, the same way the longevity he created, it's a great feeling to share that same stage and a moment with him. Wayne ain't no new jack to this game. He influenced a lot of styles and a lot of sounds. I would say I was influenced by a certain sound and flow and cadence that he brung to the game."



It's true that Lil Wayne has longevity in the game...he has been on the scene for the past 14 years, but people think he got on the scene 4 years ago after Lollipop. For the record, I started listening to Wayne during the time of Hot Boys back in the late 90s, but didn't really fancy his style. He caught my attention in 2004 with his Carter 1 album, and I started riding with him....till Like "Father Like Son" in 2007. After that, he added that clownish/poppish flow to his style, and I haven't been one of his biggest fans since then. He is cool with the Punch Line thing, but I need more than that.

Meek Mill Says The L.O.X Were An Inspiration To Him As A Kid

To those who don't know, The L.O.X is a rap group that consist 3 rappers, Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, and Styles P. They were signed to Puff Daddy's (Diddy's) Bad Boy Records back in the mid 90s, but do more of solo individual works now. Meek Mill has stated their lyrics as source of inspiration and guidance when he didn't have a father figure around growing up.





Read what he had to say in a recent interview below-


"In Philly, a lot of people die; most people they die from is people the grew up with they whole life," he explained. "My dad was dead since I was five, so I tell [Jada]kiss, Styles [P], all them guys - I was out in the streets at a young age with no guidance, and so I was listening to 'Kiss and them, and some people say them guys say a lot of bad things or whatever, but them guys can teach you how to stay alive. Like 'Kiss said: 'Them niggas that you went to school with/Will catch you while in your new whip/And turn your brains into Cool Whip.' In Philadelphia, most of them guys are really untouchable. They're so wild that nobody could get up on them and when they end up dying, nine times out of ten it's their friend…just seeing that, you grow cold to making new friends and trusting people now...I've seen so many people die, I fe[lt] as though I needed a gun and I had to survive, so I was doing anything, any means necessary."












I am happy these guys are getting props from the new breed of rappers; i can remember Drake saying he also was a fan of Jada's raps when he was younger. The L.O.X still remain my best rap group- I like them as a group, and individually.

The Influence of Hip Hop Music on The Black Community

Hip Hop music and the people involved in it have received a lot of bashing in the past, and they continue to receive it, and will continue to get blamed for every bad thing that happens in the society. The question is if rappers should be blamed for all the ills of the society. Music of all sorts greatly influence the people that listen to it. Music motivates, uplifts, entertains; and since hip hop is just another genre of music, it does the same. Now, talking about its influence on the black community; I would recognise the positive more than the negative.




I would like to focus on the positive, then we can now observe the negative, that is if it really can be considered negative. There are a diverse number of rappers out there, and all of them seem to carter for their particular niche well enough. You have the gangsta rappers, you have the ones that kick knowledge, you have the ones that make music for the ladies, and you also have the politically inclined rappers. There are many other niches, but I think this can serve as a major classification.



All these niches treat the music as an art; so, whether they are trying to make people feel good, or educating people on their political rights, or educating young black men on how to live good lives, they all are making a living one way or the other. There is a great influx of people from the streets making that transition to rapping.  This, I see as a great positive of hip hop music. Hip Hop music continues to create an avenue for young black men to make a living without being illegal about it.



You have rap moguls like Sean "Diddy" Combs, Russell Simmons, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, J.D...these black men started from the streets, and used hip hop music as an avenue to achieve greatness. Now, you have them being idols and models that the young people of today can look up to and say- "I want to be rich and successful, but i don't have to go through with the drug game, cos i know i can do it with music." I see this as a positive influence.



The negative that is blamed on rappers is the influence that their lyrics might have on young listeners who don't know any better. Well, the way I see it is that kids will gravitate to anything that feeds a desire in them. What i mean is that the kid is already who he is, lyrics don't really make people do what they do. They do what they do because that is who they are, and the work really falls back on the parents and how they raise their kids. Rappers tell stories of the community they live in; so, if they are talking about sex, or gang banging and selling drugs, it might not really be that that is what they do all day, that might just be a way they depict what they see all day. Why don't movie directors like Quentin Tarantino get blamed for the violence of the society? If you have watched any of his movies, you would know that they show more violence and blood than any rapper can depict with words. I think visuals have more effects on humans than words.



And, as I said earlier, there are different rappers in the industry, with their different niches. A Talib Kweli who is more conscious with his rap can't be tagged along with a young Chief Keef who is the direct opposite. As I said, the work lies with the parents, and also on the community itself, and not just hip hop music. I remember back when I was in high school, I listened to a lot of Puffy and Mase music; they were really feel good music. And if you ask me what influence they had on me, i would say they made me want to look good, and have and enjoy the good things of life. I really don't think this is a negative influence.



All those years, i was just listening for entertaiment. But then, one day when I was 18, i was sitting in the living room just listening to the radio, and a song came on that just changed everything for me. I had always loved writing stories, and the song i heard that day was Nas's Undying Love off his I Am album. The way he depicted that story was just so vivid. And then, after that, the same year, I heard New World, and the way he educated me on the future of humanity without being a bore, I knew i had to listen to more of his music. This illustration is just to stress on the point i made earlier; kids will gravitate more towards what they already are, than being influenced by whatever is one the radio. The hip hop music they listen to only make them more of who they already are.