Yesterday, the ever vocal Tyler, The Creator, made an appearance on Funkmaster Flex' show (where he spat some pretty insane bars may I add), where he explained why his opinion of Eminem’s music changed despite growing up a huge fan of the Detroit MC. In the past, Tyler has frequently credited Em’s early work as a huge influence, even naming him as the reason he started rapping. But (for you old school Tyler fans), you may have realised that Tyler's sound, as well as the topics he addresses in his music, have greatly evolved from using violent, and even slightly homophobic lyrics, to be open to expressing his vulnerability and sexuality (such as on his most recent works, Flower Boy and IGOR). Tyler doesn't however, see the same evolution in Em, nor does he recognize a sense of authenticity to the work he's been putting out, believing that his work was swayed by fans' opinions.
Tyler explained that although he personally loved 2009’s Relapse, he could see how unfavorable critical reception led Em to switch up his sound on Recovery. He was disappointed, however, when Em accepted fans' requests for the “old Em” on subsequent albums. "[Recovery] was like, ‘This is the aesthetic and what I wanna go with.’ And he went 100 percent with what he liked on there," began Tyler. "People trashed it, and he came with the Recovery shit with the pop hooks. The shit worked, and everyone gave high fives. The fans that didn’t really like it [said,] ‘I want the old Em. I want the Marshall Mathers LP Em.’ It feels like he read that, and was like, ‘Damn, you know what? Fuck, let me go back and try to rehash a moment.’ And when people go back, that is the grossest fucking thing. Move forward, get what you’re into for real." To further elaborate on the point he was trying to make, Tyler brought up JAY-Z’s 4:44 as an example of an OG rapper showing growth. “[It’s] an album very specific to what’s really going on in his life. And it’s a perspective that no one else could have,” said Tyler. “I don’t want you to be like, ‘Fuck, I'mma go back to the old shit 'cause that’s what they want. Fuck what they want, give them what you want. This is just from a fan’s perspective.”
Back in 2017, Tyler, The Creator posted a tweet calling Eminem’s single “Walk On Water” “horrible,” causing Em to diss him on 2018’s Kamikaze - calling him a "f***ot". He later regretted it though, saying: "I realized [it was wrong] when I said it, but I was angry when I said the shit about Tyler. In my quest to hurt him, I realized that I was hurting a lot of people by saying it.”
