Battle rap legend Murda Mook recently shared his ultimate fan moment: meeting Eminem. He recalled the first time he met Slim Shady in Detroit and the impact of hearing his name in Eminem’s verse on Cordae’s “Parables (Remix)”.

In an interview with hiphopisreal.com, Mook dropped hilarious details about how starstruck he became when met Marshall, who has been his inspiration for a very long time. Mook gushed:

Eminem is my favourite rapper. Nobody raps like him to me. I met that man one time. I never thought I would ever be star-struck in front of somebody.

Mook described the surreal experience of being brought backstage at a Detroit event, likely hosted by Eminem himself:

My brother AK brings me to the Detroit event. I think Shady was throwing it. Em was there. Em was up on the balcony, and they were like, “Come upstairs, you gonna meet Em”. I’m like, what?!

He continued, revealing his legs giving out as he approached Eminem:

He was like, “Yo, I’m a big fan, man”. I said, “What?! That’s fire”. I just looked at him, and I didn’t know what to say. I looked dumb as hell.

Mook’s admiration for Eminem goes way back. The rapper went on to explain how he was first introduced to Eminem’s music:

In 9th grade my brother Peter Garvey put me on Eminem on the “Kim” song. I’m hearing this song, and I’m like, who is this nigga? My man Peter said, “This is a white dude”. I’m like, how the fuck is he that nice?!

Mook emphasised that Eminem’s talent transcended race:

It wasn’t that he’s white, so he’s nice. No, he was nicer than everybody *before* he was white! Rap don’t got no colour. None! He was nice from “Hi, My Name Is”. If anybody knows rap and rhyming, niggas know “Hi kids, do you like violence? / Wanna see me stick nine-inch nails through each one of my eyelids? / Wanna copy me and do exactly like I did? / Try ‘cid and get fucked up worse than my life is?” All of those patterns! You could tell immediately this motherfucker can rap.

Mook believes Eminem’s incredible skill initially threatened other rappers:

What happened was motherfuckers were scared. Cause they seen him was white and they knew he could really rhyme. So they were like, “Nah, we need to campaign against ’cause we know he nice and we know he’s on the way”.

The respect Mook has for Eminem goes even deeper:

When he mentioned my name in the song with Cordae, do you know what that meant to me, man? I’ve been waiting to hear that nigga say my name on the song or something since the beginning when I first heard of him. That shit made me feel so proud.

Mook also explained how Eminem’s music resonated with him on a personal level:

I understand his story too, even though a lot of people say he can’t relate. Me and my mom situation, growing up it was very rocky. When I listened to him rhyme, I heard me. I heard a man screaming out, feeling the way I felt. And he was just nice on top of that. So, I emulated Eminem.

With a newfound appreciation for his idol, Mook concluded:

Just to hear him say my name, I could die now. He went through it. I listened to his struggles. I know about what he had to overcome and fight. And he had hundreds of millions of dollars. So, imagine his struggle. People think more money you got, more happy you are, but that’s probably opposite. Shout out to Eminem and Royce 5’9, for being a mentor to me. Shout out to Trick Trick too.

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