Here’s Why Eminem Turned Down Nas Collaboration
In a recent interview, Nas revealed he’d asked Eminem to guest on 2007’s “Daughters.”
Screenshot from "Nas & DJ Premier on Fatherhood, Hip-Hop’s Future and Revisiting Classics | Joe Budden Exclusive."
Nas and Eminem have two of hip-hop’s most storied careers — and they had an opportunity to collaborate on one of Nas’ most acclaimed tracks. In a recent interview with Joe Budden, Nas revealed he’d tried to get Em to guest on the song “Daughters” from 2012’s Life Is Good.
Em, however, declined the offer. You can peep Nas discussing Em in the video below — at about the 52-minute mark.
“Every record I do is not a battle,” Nas explained. “I remember I sent the song ‘Daughters’ to Eminem and at the time he had spent so much time speaking on daughters, he was like, ‘Thank you, but I told my daughter I’m not gonna do anymore songs directly about daughters at the moment because it’s a sensitive issue with all the music I’ve put out.’”
Eminem has become known for songs about his daughter Hailie earlier in his career, and he did so again on his latest album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce). But Nas said the Detroit legend was honored that he’d asked him to work on something and it wasn’t driven by competition.
“I think [his] message was like, ‘Thank you ’cause most people want to do songs where they’re battling me on a record. It was refreshing to get a record where you’re not coming for me,’” Nas explained.
The icon from Queens would eventually collaborate with Eminem on the track “EPMD 2” in 2021.
