Eminem had some high praise for both Nas and Naughty By Nature when reflecting on the talent those artists possess and how that nearly made him quit rapping altogether.
In an interview with the New York Times in commemoration of hip hop's 50th anniversary, Eminem spoke about how he caught a severe case of writer's block as a result of marveling at the lyrical abilities of Nas and Naughty By Nature.
"I was a sponge," Eminem said in speaking of rap more generally. "I would gravitate towards the compound-syllable rhyming, like the Juice Crew. Lord Finesse, to Kool G Rap, to Big Daddy Kane, to Masta Ace, Redman, Special Ed. I don't even think I understood why I liked it. I had a couple of friends that had to point out to me how many syllables someone was rhyming."
Em continued, "And then Treach from Naughty By Nature came along and he was doing all that, too–his image and everything. I wanted to be him. When the first Naughty By Nature album dropped, that whole summer, I couldn't write a rap. 'I'll never be that good; I should just quit.' So I was depressed, but that's all I played for that summer."
He noted that Illmatic had a similar effect on him and caused him to doubt his own abilities. "Nas, too. I remember The Source gave Illmatic five mics. I already knew I liked Nas from 'Live at the Barbeque' with Main Source, because his verse on that is one of the most classic verses in hip-hop of all time," Em continued. "But I was, like, 'Five mics, though? Let me see what this is.'"
He added, "And when I put it on, 'And be prosperous/ though we live dangerous/ Cops could just arrest me/ Blamin’ us/ We’re held like hostages.' He was going in and outside of the rhyme scheme, internal rhymes. That album had me in a slump, too. I know the album front to back. There was three or four years, maybe, where I kind of dipped out of listening to rap. I was so on the grind in the underground. I didn’t have money to buy any tapes. Every dollar, every dime that I had went to either studio time or to buy Hailie diapers."
