By Aaron Miller-
Unbeatable lyrical U.S talent, Emenem, is joining forces with rap star, Damien Hirst to build a school in Los Angelis.
Emenem is looking to join his discography which became the most-streamed catalog of any act on Spotify, with 11 of his albums, each surpassing over a billion streams on the platform, to be revamped in a major transformation to build a new Los Angelis school.
The Detroit rap legend has joined forces with renowned artist Damien Hirst to reimagine 12 of his album covers as part of Interscope Records’ 30th anniversary.
Hirst counts Kanye West as a fan, with the Chicago native attending his “The Veil Paintings” show in Los Angeles in 2018. Ye also reportedly bought Hirst’s “The Incomplete Truth” sculpture for £1 million (around $1.3 million) last year.
The U.S rapper’s 1999 Slim Shady LP, 2000’s diamond-selling The Marshall Mathers LP and 2002’s 8 Mile soundtrack through to Eminem’s most recent offering, 2020’s Music To Be Murdered By have all been outstanding hits that have seen Hirst apply his psychedelic paint skills to Marshall Mathers’ iconic covers.
Fans will be able to access the redesigned album artwork’s signed limited edition vinyl copies go on sale from January 27 to 31 via NTWRK.
Profits from the vinyl sales will go toward building a school in South Los Angeles, as supported by Interscope co-founder Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre‘s Iovine and Young Foundation
The redesigned album covers will be on display at a groundbreaking exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) from January 30 to February 13.
Dr. Dre earlier crowned Eminem as the hardest rapper in the U.S when it comes to lyrical ability, as he showcased a video showing Slim Shady rapping his Godzilla lyrics with incredible speed, causing the music producer to ask who could challenge him on VERZUZ.
VERZUZ is the popular entertainment series created by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland that pits producers, songwriters and artists against each other in a rap battle style format that is broadcast via Instagram Live, Triller, YouTube, Facebook, and Fire TV. Swizz Beatz replied in the comments that Busta Rhymes is the ideal opponent for Marshall Mathers.
Busta named Eminem alongside Jay-Z as two of his potential dream opponents for a battle.
Dr Dre and Eminem have long been collaborators and after sharing the clip on Sunday, January 23, Dre has fanned flames that the rapper could take up a battle on the Verzuz stage, which has seen other iconic rappers battle it out.Dr Dre’s Instagram post read ‘Marshall Mathers vs Who???!!’, with the clip showing Marshall Mathers rap the lyrics from his song Godzilla.
In under 30 seconds he rapped: ‘Fill ’em with the venom, and eliminate ’em. Other words, I Minute Maid ’em. I don’t want to hurt ’em, but I did ’em in a fit of rage. I’m murderin’ again, nobody will evade him. I’m finna kill ’em and dump all the f*ckin’ bodies in a lake. Obliteratin’ everything, incineratin’ and renegade ’em. And I make anybody who want it with the pen afraid. But don’t nobody want it but they’re gonna get it anyway. ‘Cause I’m beginnin’ to feel like I’m mentally ill. I’m Atilla, kill or be killed, I’m a killer, be the vanilla gorilla. You’re bringin’ the killer within me, out of me.
‘You don’t want to be the enemy of the demon. Who went in me, and be on the receiving of me, what stupidity, it’d be. Every bit of me is the epitome of a spitter. When I’m in the vicinity, motherf*cker, you better duck. Or you finna be dead the minute you run into me. A hundred percent of you is a fifth of a percent of me. I’m ’bout to f*ckin’ finish you b*tch, I’m unfadable. You wanna battle, I’m available, I’m blowin’ up like an inflatable. I’m undebatable, I’m unavoidable, I’m unevadable.’
While Dr Dre didn’t specifically mention Verzuz, his post attracted the attention of Swizz and Timbaland who produce the show.
Swizz replied to the post, ‘BUSTA!!!!!!!!!!! Let’s go’, with Timbaland reposting the video to Twitter with the caption ‘👀👀👀 @drdre said @Eminem vz who?????? Happy Monday!!!!!!!’
Fans were thrilled by the suggestion, but warned that no one would want to challenge Eminem.
One fan wrote: ‘nobody. Honestly you would just be sacrificing someone. I don’t see any big name wanting any part of that’.