Appearing On Hard Knock TV with Nick Huff Barili, New York rapper J.I. spoke about Tupac, Eminem and Big Pun as his top 3 Hip Hop artist who inspired him at an early age.
The self-proclaimed Prince of NY came up from a household where Lain music, R&B, and old school Hip Hop was the background music for his early up bringing. But, it was three Hip Hop artists who inspired the young rapper.
“Tupac, Big Pun. Definitely Big Pun. Eminem for sure, that’s why I mentioned that 8 Mile. That’s my favorite movie too,” said the 19-year-old rapper. “It was between those three because I looked at those artists for different things. For Tupac it was more like a leader. This guy is a leader. He can make the street music, he can make the love music, but he can also make the music that can open up your eyes a little bit to what’s going with the government.”
As explained by J.I., he was also inspired by all the obstacles Eminem had to overcome throughout his life. The young rapper has watched Em’s movie 8 Mile a million times. “The odds were stacked up against him and he still went through it and ended being in my opinion one of the best rappers of all time.”
For J.I.’s final inspired artist is Big Pun, who J.I. had plans to redo Pun’s ‘It’s So Hard’ 2000 hit single. According to J.I. that idea was stolen. “I had a Big Pun sample I was using. I’m a big Big Pun fan. You can sit here and ask many artists and ask and they’ll probably lie to you and say they listen to Big Pun,” J.I. explains. “It’s weird because you put out certain ideas and (brothers) copy you. But that was just an idea that I wanted to do. I wanted to remake the Big Pun It’s So Hard and now there is mad b.s. going on.”
J.I. also listed Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP, Big Pun’s Capital Punishment, and Kenrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City as his top 3 Hip Hop albums which inspired him.