There is an independent New York rapper named R.A. The Rugged Man who has some interesting stories about Eminem. Namely, R.A. says several labels came calling for Em diss tracks after Slim Shady hit it big in 2000.
"What happened is a lot of the white boys at the same time had beef with white boys," R.A. told Vlad TV (via HipHopDX). "[It] was always like the white artists don't like the white artists. And I always was out of that loop for some reason. It was like I was me and then all the white guys were going at each other...When Em blew up, I had every label on the planet calling me. 'Do a diss record for us. Do a diss record. Diss Eminem. I'm telling you.' Why? Cause he's a white boy? You're calling white boy to diss white boy...They would reach out to white boy rappers."
While none of what R.A. said can be verified at the moment, it's likely that labels were hunting for diss tracks as an easy way to score listeners and popularity.
A slightly-tougher-to-believe story involved R.A. hanging out with Em at the release party for The Marshall Mathers LP, perhaps the most-hyped rap album in the history of mankind.
R.A. said Em's manager, Paul Rosenberg, was a big fan of The Rugged Man, so he was able to hop on the tour bus.
"I only met him one time," he said. "I knew Paul very well. Cause Paul and all them guys they were fans. They knew my s-- since back in the day. So, Paul would be like 'I got this new guy, Eminem. He's my artist.' So, I'd see Paul always up at Rawkus everywhere...The one time I met Em was after Em had blowed up a little bit. It was at the second album release party. And they had a tour bus outside. And it's after his album release party. So Paul's like 'Come hang out with Em and we'll kick [it]'...I go in Em's bus, but he had wifey with him. Still with the girl Kim. Some of the D12 guys are there...They was superfans."
The New York emcee put out several respected indie singles in the '90s, but has only been able to muster up two albums (2004's Die, Rugged Man, Die and 2013's Legends Never Die).
Would dissing Shady have changed his career for the better? He doesn't seem to be too worried about it. Check out one of his cuts below:
