KXNG Crooked calls Eminem of the greatest pens to ever exist.
KXNG Crooked recently sat down with HotNewHipHop for their new “12 Days of Christmas” interview, where he opens up about the COVID impact on the rap game, which slaughterhouse member would win a four-man Verzuz battle, and much more.
HNHH is planning to do a Verse of the year competition and asked Crooked about his top verse this year, which would be nominated in it. Out of over 30 features, he did this year, KXNG Crooked named his verse on Eminem’s “I Will” and Russ’s “Stockholm Syndrome” his best bars this year.
He was also asked about his biggest competition in verse of the year battle. “There really have been a lot of great verses this year. Who would you say, in this hypothetical verse of the year battle, who would you predict to be your biggest competition?” asks HNHH.
“Something from Royce, something from Em,” says Crooked. “You know, they call us the holy trinity of lyricism, me, Royce, and Em. They put the church emoji when they talk about it. So definitely something from Royce, something from Em. I think Benny got it in this year. I think Black Thought got it in this year. That verse Black Thought did, well, any verse Black Thought did. The verse Black Thought did on Russ’ project, that’s a stellar verse. Benny too. So you got a lot of dudes out there who drop some killer verses.”
He also talks about people that love to hate him and trying to push him out of the culture. “Eminem is always in the talks,” says KXNG. “I don’t care, they love to hate him. And a lot of people have been trying to push my homie out of the culture. They have been making sly remarks, people with platforms. And this ain’t just me speaking from a homeboy level, this me speaking as a fan and a technician myself. You can’t push Marshall out of the game. He’s one of the greatest pens to ever exist in Hip-Hop, and it ain’t gon change no time soon. They always get me when I talk about Em. But Eminem is one for sho. Royce got nominated for a Grammy, so you know his pen was going crazy.”
KXNG, on the other hand, offered himself some well-deserved credit in the video for this interview, choosing his collaboration with Eminem on “Music To Be Murdered By” as his finest verse of 2020:
My fans told me that this year I did like 30 something indie features, 35-36, probably more. But there are a lot of stand-out verses out there for me. Em, “I Will” on “Music To Be Murdered By”. I feel like that’s the bar of the year. I feel like Abraham Lincoln bar – “Ayy, bruh, I go ham for dead presidents”, “John Wilkes, that’s who I’m in the booth like” – I mean, the whole scheme… I feel like nobody really tied all of that together as well. There’s been some lines about that but I feel like that’s the best that has been tied together. Let me tell you, some of my punchlines and metaphors and similes – sometimes somebody builds on it and they make it better, and I’m like “Yo, why didn’t I think about that?!” But on this particular one – I think that’s the bar of the year.
Check out the full interview here on HotNewHipHop.
