Fredro Starr thinks Sticky Fingaz should have been included on Billboard and Vibe‘s Top 50 Rappers of All Time list as a result of “bodying” Em back in 2000.Sticky’s show-stealing guest spot on Em’s track “Remember Me?,” which appeared on the Detroit rapper’s third studio album The Marshall Mathers LP, remains highly contested as one of the few times Eminem might have been beaten out on his own song
In an interview with the website Rap Reviews back in 2008, Sticky recalled Em telling him that he spent two months chipping away at his own bars in order to compete with the Onyx MC.“First Eminem told me, he was like, ‘Yo dude, it took me like two months to write a verse to come after that verse,’” Sticky said at the time. “I was like, ‘Yeah right, get outta here, stop tryin’ to gas me up, n-gga.’ I figured he was just talking shit because he’s a big joker.”
He continued: “Then Dre came behind like maybe two weeks later like, ‘Yo Sticky, you know it took Em two months to write that verse, right?’ That’s when I believed him. I was like, ‘Word?’ It’s all good. I heard one time Eminem was saying that I was his favorite rapper. He’s definitely one of my favorite rappers.”According to Fredro Starr, this sentiment alone should have warranted Sticky Fingaz inclusion on Billboard and Vibe‘s recent list, which saw the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Nas, 2Pac, Eminem, The Notorious B.I.G., Lil Wayne, Drake, Snoop Dogg and Nicki Minaj make the publication’s Top 10, in that order.
I don’t know who made this list,” Fredro said in an interview with Vlad TV. “Listen, I ain’t gotta be on the list, I know I’m nicer than a lot of the n-ggas on the list. I know that, but Sticky Fingaz not on the best 50 rappers is kinda bugged out to me. Jadakiss was like 46. 46 out of 50? Jadakiss? Rick Ross was No. 50 on the list. Who wrote this list?“I’m gonna speak up. That’s crazy, and Sticky not on the list? C’mon son. Sticky would burn half them n-ggas. I would burn half them n-ggas but Stick is that dude. That’s why he’s on records with Eminem and I think the record he did with Eminem.”
He continued: “I think he bodied Eminem on that particular record. That’s just my opinion, and I’m not being biased. I think Eminem put that competitive thing inside of Sticky and he came out with one of the illest verses ever, and Eminem brought that outta him.“You saying Eminem is one of the best rappers ever? The n-gga rocking the Onyx shirt in that documentary? ‘Sticky one of my favorite rappers,’ he’s always saying that. So if he’s part of his favorite rappers, how he not on the 50 list? We should let Eminem write the 50 list.”
This isn’t the first time Fredro has sided with Sticky Fingaz in regards to his verse on “Remember Me?” Back in 2014, Fredro made similar claims in an interview with HipHopDX‘s ill Will.“The record that Stick did, ‘Remember [Me?]’ was a great record. I think Sticky bodied the n-gga personally. But it was a good record. It was a competitive record, and that’s what Hip Hop is about. So fans could say, ‘Oh I think Em bodied him.’ That’s what Hip Hop need to back to. It used to be like that. Now n-ggas is getting on a record being cool with each other. Fuck all that. You get on a record, body me. I’m gonna try to body you. That’s what Hip Hop is about.”
Fredro wasn’t the only rapper unhappy with Billboard and Vibe’s list. Ice Cube also expressed disappointment about the list, which had him at No. 18.TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the West Coast rap legend while he was leaving Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) this week, and Cube at first didn’t seem to be phased by his ranking.
Who?” he asked rhetorically when the reporter mentioned Billboard‘s list. “I don’t fuck with Billboard or the editor. Billboard ain’t Hip Hop so their opinion don’t matter. So who gives a fuck?”Cube added that his Mount Westmore contemporary Too $hort not being included on the list was definitely an undeserved snub.“It’s an irrelevant list,” he continued. “It’s like assholes: everybody got one and they all stink.”
Ja Rule also expressed his dismay at the list, which ranked JAY-Z as the greatest rapper of all time.“There ain’t 50 rappers dead, alive or waiting to be born better than me… #ICONN #Vibes,” he tweeted at the time. “@billboard congrats to everyone on the list well deserved but check my resume… #ICONN #Vibes.”
