The Detroit rapper, who started a conversation about the absent relationship between Eminem and younger rappers, finally met Marshall in person backstage at Fifty’s show in Michigan. Has he changed his mind?

Let’s rewind a little bit. Vezzo mentioned several years before that young rappers in Detroit knew that they lived in the same city as one of the world’s most important hip hop artists but did not benefit from his support. Then the discussion started where more experienced rappers, like Royce 5’9, scoffed at the feeling of entitlement, saying that Eminem doesn’t have to play a kind uncle. And other young artists who apparently shared this feeling of being abandoned by a rap god.

Obviously, Marshall didn’t take part in this conversation.

However, when 50 Cent brought The Final Lap tour to Michigan last autumn, Eminem and Icewear Vezzo met backstage, as photos prove. None of them said much about that at the time. So when Vezzo recently sat down with Kid L on his podcast, this question came up. A host wanted to know how the meeting went and what the younger rapper felt. Vezzo appeared to be nonchalant about that and seemingly accepted that as a logical step on his pathway.

It was normal and organic. Fifty had tapped in with me, asked me to come out at the show. He ain’t telling nobody Em was going to be there. Right before I got ready to go on stage, I had seen him walking out. We literally bumped into each other and we just had a quick conversation, chopped it up. I told him it’s all love, it’s all respect. Obviously, I know he done seen shit that I said and shit that all us said. I just wanted to get him to understand exactly what I meant. I was waiting for that moment to be able to express how I really felt. ’Cause it was never no situation where we felt like dude owed us or anything. He doesn’t owe nobody shit. He done did what he had to do for Detroit. That’s why we got people like D12 and Royce 5’9, and all that. Me and Em, we grew up on the same exact block. Went to the same exact high school, not at the same time, but still. Our backgrounds are kind of similar to a certain extent. I’ve been rapping for so long, I’ve been fighting to stay in the game for years. I’ve been through hell and back. And I know he heard of me. He heard of all of us.

And here, Vezzo got back to this same topic he presented years ago. It seems like his stance has not changed, just the rhetoric got milder:

For me, every time I see one of the young niggas coming up, I always try to reach out; I tap in with them. What’s up? What you need? You need a verse, video? Whatever I can do, let me know. However I can enhance whatever it is you got going on, let me know. I see you, keep going, you’re doing what you need to do. And a lot of times, that shit goes far with a person. I know it went far for me hearing like people that I looked up to and respected on the rap side of things just to say that they see me. That shit had meant a lot. I just felt like not that we was entitled to that, I just thought it would have been a good gesture.

We can only applaud Icewear Vezzo’s mentorship and how he supports young rappers. But surely, he doesn’t extend this courtesy to literally every young artist. He is as selective in his favours as any other person. So, of course, it would have been a good gesture from Marshall to send some encouragement. And some do get it. Just not everybody. Even if they went to the same high school. Although Eminem put Vezzo on “Detroit Vs Everybody (Remix)” in 2014, two years after he dropped his debut album. The track featured 14 Detroit rappers, most of whom were up-and-coming artists. Marshall might not be big on gestures, but he does what he feels is right.

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