Big Daddy Kane admitted he never thought about his pivotal role in the innovation of rap until he had a conversation with Eminem. The legendary rapper said he didn’t truly realize the impact of his multisyllabic rhyming for many years in an interview with Idea Generation.
“In all honesty, I never paid attention to that until Eminem mentioned it to me a couple years ago,” he told Idea Generation. “I never paid attention to it.”
Several rappers, including Eminem, provided Idea Generation with questions for Big Daddy Kane. Eminem took the opportunity to ask how BDK learned to implement multi-syllables, citing lyrics from “Smooth Operator” as an example. Big Daddy Kane noted how Slim Shady already asked him about it before regarding lyrics from the classic “Ain’t No Half Steppin.”
“I don’t know, I mean I guess it’s just the type of thing when you’re running out of rhymes, you figure out a way to mash words together to keep the rhyme going on,” Big Daddy Kane said. “The one I think that Eminem originally asked me about was, ‘Rap prime minister, some say sinister/Non-stop in the groove until when it’s the.’ He’s pointing out ‘sinister, ‘minister.’ But it’s like, OK, what else rhymes with that? So, I just put ‘non-stop in the groove until when it’s the.’ Say it fast enough – whenista. It rhymes with sinister. I just run out of words. You create your own.”
Big Daddy Kane also told stories from his storied career, reflecting on working with fellow legends such as Marley Marl, Quincy Jones and Teddy Riley. The Juice Crew member offered insight on why he stepped back from music after releasing his Veteranz Day album and told stories about his days in the studio with Prince and Rick James.
Check out the interview with Big Daddy Kane below.