Eminem on His Career: 'I Don't Know What I'm Going to Do When I Can't Rap Anymore'

In a new interview, Em talks his career, forefathers of hip-hop, and his lifelong love of rap music at large.

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Eminem outlined a few listening recommendations for younger artists in a new interview with French outlet Skyrock. The water-walking revivalist also reaffirmed his love of rap music at large, pondering what he would possibly do with the downtime if he ever walked away from the spotlight for good.

"Rap music is really, I don't know anything else, you know?" Em said in the interview, spotted by HipHop-N-More Wednesday. "So I don't know what I'm going to do when I can't rap anymore. I'll probably fucking jump out a window or something. I don't know what I'm going to do. But I always try to stay inspired, and I'm always listening to what's new. In my own competitive spirit, I always wanna be in that mix and at least in that conversation."

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Asked how he felt about newer generations paying homage to veterans of the craft, Em revealed he understood both sides of the debate, but still advised those on the come-up to give Rakim and other artists a spin. "I don't know, I mean, as far as the new generation I think that some of the artists coming up do and some of them probably don't really care," Em said. "Me, in particular, I just, I don't know, I've always been such a fan of rap too. My heroes will always stay my heroes. And the people who especially, like, paved the road for someone like me, you know, I always pay homage to the ones who came before me because they made hip-hop what it is today. They are responsible."

For someone "young in the game" who doesn't yet respect that history, Em suggested giving the music a chance to possibly inspire them. "It's one of the things that I'm able to do by feeding off that old energy and the new energy that's out right now and able to try to intertwine those," he said. "So I would suggest, just for the fun of it if anything, going back and listening to, if you have maybe heard of Rakim but you don't know his music, go listen to Rakim. Go listen to Kool G Rap... You need to listen to Big Daddy Kane, you need to listen to Masta Ace, you need to listen to tracks from Naughty by Nature."

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Next for Eminem, who's headlining multiple festivals this summer, is the satirical hip-hop film Bodied. Written and directed by Joseph Kahn, the Em-produced movie just scored a global rights deal with YouTube ahead of its Sundance Film Festival sneak preview.

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