Icewear Vezzo says the Detroit Hood doesn’t relate to Eminem.
Eminem might be the best-selling, a global star, and one of the greatest rappers ever, but when it comes to the hoods in Detroit, people are not rocking with Slim Shady anymore. One of the leaders of contemporary Detroit rap, Icewear Vezzo sat down with HipHopDX where he reveals that Eminem doesn’t have a connection to the hood anymore like he once had in the past.
“People like me and other rappers like Tee Grizzley, Peezy, Babyface Ray, and Snap Dogg grew up on Chedda Boyz, Street Lord’z, Blade Icewood, Rock Bottom, the Lost Boys, the real underground gangster rappers in Detroit,” says Icewear. “If it wasn’t for them, I literally wouldn’t be rapping. Those guys were rapping about shit, and you were able to see them in the hood passing money out, or giving back.”
“We’d see them in our hood pulling up in cars they actually rapped about, being at clubs that they were actually at, wearing jewelry that we actually saw. Like, for us it was like Eminem was out of touch, so he wasn’t anybody we could actually relate to.”
HipHopDX asked Vezzo if the hood in the Detroit still bumps Em, Icewear said that you would be lucky if hear even one Slim Shady song playing. “I can honestly speak for other rappers like Tee Grizzley, Peezy, Babyface Ray, Snap Dogg and they would all say the exact same thing.”
Icewear Vezzo continues, “We were never in touch with Eminem. In the hood, in our ghettos and shit, back when he first came out yeah, Em was like a hero for us, So we expected to see him, to be able to touch him, and we’re like ‘yeah we got somebody that got out from Detroit. This about to go down, he opened the gates up.’ But it didn’t go that way.”
He continues and said that Em is not a hero for the hood anymore. “We always wanted Em to play the position that Royce Da 5’9″ played but he doesn’t, so he’s not a hero for us no more. Royce Da 5’9″ is like the president of the Marshall Mathers Foundation, and he’s from the hood. You’re able to see him, he going to come out. He fu*ked with niggas and he reached out, he checked on us, he’d pull up to the studio, he’d pull up to the club. We can call and he pulling right up. Royce the real OG man.”
“The whole point is to make it out of these streets, and he did just that,” says Vezzo. “He doesn’t owe anybody anything. He did what he was supposed to do, which was just taking care of his daughter. He took care of his responsibilities. He was addicted to drugs, he rapped about it and he told us about his life. He got through that shit and he came out clean. He still lives in Detroit at the end of the day too. So he did exactly what he was supposed to do and we have to admire that.”
Interview courtesy HipHopDX.
