In a recent interview on the Zach Sang Show, Big Sean gave his Detroit OG Eminem his props by comparing him to Goku from Dragon Ball Z.
When asked what he’d learned from Em, Sean answered, “What dedication is.” He added, “Eminem is the biggest rapper in the world and he be in the studio every day, every day he can be in there. He’s dedicated to it. He care about rapping like Goku care about fighting. Eminem is in that mug, in that studio, every day, dawg.”
Sean then told an anecdote about one of the first times they worked together when he was hesitant to ask the Detroit legend for his autograph. “We were eating Jet’s Pizza in the studio watching South Park,” he began. “At the end of the session, I was almost finished with my verse, and he was like, ‘I’mma get outta here,’ it was getting late. And I’m a huge Eminem fan, clearly. I still got Marshall Mathers LP, Slim Shady LP, Eminem Show — actual CDs, and I was going to bring them to sign, and I didn’t ’cause I thought, ‘That’s probably a little f—in’ lame.’”
He continued: “So, at the end of the session, [Eminem] breaks out my CD and he’s like, ‘Yo, can you sign ‘em?’” He was like, ‘They’re not for me, though,” Sean remembered. “That was a lesson then. I’m like, ‘Bro, never be too cool to be a fan of who you a fan of, dawg.’ … I couldn’t f—ing believe it. I was like, ‘Wow, what a guy.’”
Eminem’s work ethic is the stuff of legend. Akon once told a story about how Em treats the studio like a 9-5 job. “Working with him made me look at the business different because he was the first artist that I worked with that actually treated the business like a real job,” he explained while appearing on Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning. “He comes in at 9 a.m. every day to the studio, takes his lunch break at 1, and is out of there by 5 p.m. It’s like a schedule.”
Big Sean recently released his first album since 2020, dropping Better Me Than You in August.
Watch the full interview below:
