Music News

During a sitdown interview with Charlamagne Tha God, LL Cool J was asked about his rumored battles with Jay-Z.

One such rumor that has floated around for years was that they ran into each other in a random parking lot in Manhattan and started battling. Supposedly, LL was laughed at for using a verse from his 1993 song “Funkadelic Relic” off his album 14 Shots to the Dome.

When asked about that very rumor, the Queens legend had this to say:

“Okay let’s talk about what it really is. First of all, I didn’t rap a verse from ‘Funkadelic Relic.’ Okay? That’s the first f—ing thing. It’s bullsh—t. It’s not true. What did happen, though, is I see the guy, he’s in the club trying to flash money to get my attention and I’m looking like, okay. And then his man Sauce [Money] came up to me and was rappin’. So, I had a couple of rhymes… remember, I’m albums in now.

“You know, these are guys that ain’t had that deal. So, when I ain’t had a deal, I had a suitcase of rhymes. Now I’m albums in. Sauce said some rhymes. I said a couple of rhymes. Then I said a little bit of a song, ‘Ain’t No Stopping This.’ A little bit. Then Jay came up rapping. I was out of rhymes, b. In no scenario was I fully loaded and ready to rhyme. If I was, I’m not exactly the first rapper that you wanna get into that shit with.

“So yes, did I run out of rhymes? Was I finished rapping? Abso-f—ing-lutely. Was it their peanut gallery? Absolutely. But do you really wanna get into some of that shit with LL? You really want that? You dudes want those problems or it’s just a nice story to have?”

The two legends have been cordial at times publicly, but have also dissed each other on various records over the years. Jay got at LL on this Tim Westwood freestyle back in the late ’90s and LL took a shot at Jay’s Def Jam presidency on the track “Queens.”

On the other hand, Jay shouted the rap legend out during his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame speech saying LL helped rappers like him feel more comfortable about being vulnerable and “gave us emotional intelligence.”

LL is on a promo run for his 14th solo album entitled The FORCE which is scheduled for a Sept. 6 release date.

You can watch the full conversation with him and Charlamagne here.

Eminem fans have been waiting quite some time to get a new album from the rapper — four years to be exact. So when he finally dropped the 19-track The Death of Slim Shady Friday (July 12), longtime admirers were quick to rejoice on social media.

“im speechless,” one person tweeted a few hours after the album dropped. “25 years later & its a full circle moment. eminem delivers one of his best albums & showing us what slim shady does one last time.”

Another fan added, “he just dropped the best album within the last decade … Your favorite rapper can’t f–king compete,” while someone else raved, “Lyrics, word play, message, beats, production, all TOP TIER.”

And though the album — which follows 2020’s Billboard-200 topping Music to Be Murdered By — has only been out for a few hours, listeners have already come together to elect a few songs as fan-favorites. There’s the project’s closer “Somebody Save Me,” featuring Jelly Roll, as well as previously released singles “Tobey” featuring Big Sean and BabyTron and “Houdini,” but the most beloved track appears to be the emotional “Temporary.”

Featuring old recordings of Em’s daughter Hailie Jade, who’s now 28, the song finds the hip-hop titan giving his kin something to remember him by once he’s died. “I wrote you this song/ To help you cope with life now that I’m gone … How should I start? Just wanna say look after Alaina, Stevie, and Uncle Nate/ And sweetie, be strong,” he raps, referencing his two adopted children, 31-year-old Alaina and 22-year-old Stevie, as well as his half-brother Nathan.

Suffice to say, fans are pretty much a bucket of tears. “Me hearing ‘Temporary’ and ‘Somebody Save Me’ after laughing and vibing for 45 minutes,” one listener wrote on X, sharing a gif of Matthew McConaughey sobbing in Interstellar.

Keep reading to see some of the best reactions to Eminem’s brand new The Death of Slim Shady below.

Jelly Roll checked a historic item off his bucket list when notching a collaboration with Eminem on “Somebody Save Me,” which served as The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce)‘s poignant closer.

Hours after the track made waves on streaming services, Jelly Roll reflected on Friday (July 12) in an emotional post to social media about having the chance to contribute to one of his “childhood hero’s” projects.

“I always say my childhood hero’s lived somewhere between Willie Nelson and Eminem,” he began. “As a teenager (and still today) I could recite every song on the Slim Shady album, the Marshal Mathers album and the Eminem show. When I bonded out of jail at 17 years old and was sneaking into cyphers and battles in Nashville they would also play the ‘lose yourself’ beat when I came out on stage at the freestyle battles. I related to every word Eminem wrote. I understand him and felt like he understood me, which was rare cause I spent most of my life feeling misunderstood.”

Jelly Roll continued: “So you can imagine how I felt when I got that the call that Eminem would be sampling my song “Save Me” on his new album. And for him to use the song to discuss the other side of what could’ve happened if he would’ve allowed his demons to win brought me to tears. If you haven’t heard it yet, check out “Somebody Save Me” on Eminem’s new album ‘the death of slim shady’ special shout out to Paul Rosenberg , you’ve been nothing but kind to me and treated me like family and gave me opportunities I didn’t deserve, forever grateful.”

Rapper Chris Webby hopped into his comments to put the seminal moment in perspective. “Legendary my brother,” he wrote. “I had such a moment listening to that album last night and then when I heard your voice it stirred up crazy emotions in my soul. Hard to even explain it honestly, but I’m so damn proud of you dude.”

“Somebody Save Me” heavily samples Jelly Roll’s “Save Me,” which reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November following a Lainey Wilson remix.

Jelly Roll’s angelic chorus surrounds Eminem vulnerably opening up in a candid letter to his children where he admits his faults as a parent and expresses regret about the past. “They say my lifestyle is bad for my health,” the country star sings. “It’s the only thing that seems to help.”

The Nashville-bred star met Eminem for the first time before hitting the stage together outside the Michigan Central Station venue. The heartfelt embrace was captured by Jelly’s wife, Bunnie XO. “When the goat meets THE GOAT,” she captioned the clip soundtracked by Eminem’s “My Name Is.”

Jelly Roll joined Em on stage at the June show where they performed Slim Shady’s Aerosmith-sampling “Sing For the Moment.”

Check out Jelly Roll’s post below.