Eminem dropped a bombshell in a surprise interview with Paul Rosenberg’s SiriusXM show “Shady Edition” Thursday, declaring Rakim “the single biggest influence on how I rap” and breaking down bar-for-bar how the God MC’s 1987 classic Paid in Full shaped everything from The Slim Shady LP to his latest technical flexes.

“Rakim made it okay to be a nerd about this shit,” Em said, voice cracking with genuine reverence. “Before him, cats were just rhyming end words. Then this dude comes through with internal rhymes, compound rhymes, breath control like a jazz sax player – I was 14 and my brain exploded. I had every Rakim verse memorized before I ever wrote my first rhyme.”

The revelation came during a 45-minute segment celebrating the 38th anniversary of Eric B. & Rakim’s debut, where Em played rare acapellas and dissected specific techniques. He pulled up “I Ain’t No Joke” and slowed down Rakim’s legendary opening: “I ain’t no joke, I used to let the mic smoke / Now I slam it when I’m done and make sure it’s broke” – then showed how he mutated that same internal structure in “The Way I Am”: “And I am whatever you say I am / If I wasn’t, then why would I say I am?”

“That’s DNA, man,” Em continued. “Rakim gave us permission to treat rap like calculus. Multis inside multis inside multis. He made technical rap cool.”

The interview featured never-before-heard stories: how Em’s mom found Rakim tapes in his room mixed with N.W.A and LL Cool J, how he practiced Rakim’s breath control by rapping entire verses underwater in the bathtub (“Mom thought I was trying to drown myself”), and how Dr. Dre initially resisted Em’s dense rhyme schemes until he heard the Rakim influence.

“Rakim was the bridge,” Em explained. “He took the simple boom-bap and made it sophisticated without losing the street. That’s why I could be white, from Detroit, talking about trailer parks and still get respect – because I was speaking the language Rakim created.”

Rakim himself responded on X Thursday night: “Appreciate the love, Slim. You took the torch and ran laps around the planet with it. Respect forever.” The tweet garnered 2 million likes in hours, with #RakimToEminem trending worldwide.

Hip-hop scholars are calling this moment generational closure. Dr. Todd Boyd, USC professor and author of Rapper’s Deluxe, told Fox News Digital: “This is bigger than beef or battles. Eminem just passed the official baton. Rakim invented modern rap vocabulary – Eminem weaponized it for the mainstream. Without that lineage, there’s no Kendrick, no Cole, no Drake.”

The technical breakdown went viral: Em showed how Rakim’s “My Melody” used seven internal rhymes per bar – then played his own “Godzilla” verse with 11. “Rakim made 7 feel like a lot,” he laughed. “I just got greedy.”

Fans flooded timelines with side-by-side comparisons: Rakim’s “Follow the Leader” vs. Em’s “Rap God,” both using the same “as I digress” transitional phrase. TikTok exploded with “Rakim vs Eminem” challenges, garnering 50 million views in 24 hours.

Even newer artists paid respect: J. Cole posted a throwback photo studying both MCs, captioned “Homework never ends.” Ice Spice quoted Rakim’s “I ain’t no joke” in her story with heart emojis.

The interview ended with Em revealing he’s producing a Rakim tribute track for his next album: “Not a remix – something new where I just try to honor the architect. Might be the hardest verse I ever wrote.”

As Paid in Full streams jumped 400% on Spotify Friday, one thing became clear: In hip-hop, real legends don’t compete – they connect. Rakim built the church. Eminem brought the congregation.

And the culture just said amen.