Eminem had nothing but good things to say about Kendrick Lamar ahead of teaming up with the rapper for the Super Bowl LVI halftime show.
While speaking to Sway Calloway on his own Shade 45 SiriusXM station, Em sang his co-headliner’s praises. “Kendrick, to me, is the most electrifying vocalist of this generation. Would you agree with that?” the host asked, to which the rapper responded, “I absolutely would agree. I would agree with that. Kendrick is at the very, very top tier of lyricists. Not just of this generation, but of all time.”
The two rap icons will be joined by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Mary J. Blige on Sunday for an all-star halftime performance shining the spotlight on some most influential hip-hop and R&B music ever made. Their songs “Rap God” and “HUMBLE.” were featured in the cinematic trailer for the show released late last month.
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“It’s fucking nerve-racking,” Em told Calloway about Sunday’s show. “This is like to me, there’s nothing more final than live TV. You know what I’m saying? So, if you fuck up, your fuck-up is there forever.”
He also recalled first finding out about the possible performance. “When Dre first asked, when the whole thing started going down and we were like, ‘Okay, this might be actually serious.’ I was trying to envision what Dre might do,” Em said. “I didn’t expect it to be, like the production to be like this.”
Em and Lamar previously collaborated on the album cut “Love Game” off the Detroit rapper’s 2013 studio set The Marshall Mathers LP2.
Last week, Em was nominated for the 2022 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Dolly Parton, Rage Against the Machine, Lionel Richie, Duran Duran, Carly Simon, A Tribe Called Quest, and more. He earned the nod in his very first year of eligibility.