Over the weekend, Eminem updated his list of greatest rappers ever for fans on Twitter, including more recent additions such as Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and Joyner Lucas. The latter — with whom Eminem previously collaborated on the Kamikaze track “Lucky Me” and the aborted, admittedly ill-advised “What If I Was Gay?” — reacted to his addition on Instagram, sharing a post with Eminem’s original tweets and an analogy that compared Eminem to Michael Jordan.
Joyner compared the feeling to being a basketball player given Jordan’s (rare) blessing, writing, “If you played ball and studied Michael Jordan as the greatest and then Michael Jordan name drops you as one of the greatest ball players of all time, that’s how this feels to me.” Lucas, who recently released his debut studio album ADHD in March, is no stranger to receiving high praise from his rap idols, though. His standout single “Will” received the ultimate compliment when its subject, Will Smith, applauded its creative video then appeared on the song’s remix a few weeks later.
Eminem’s updated greatest of all time list received plenty of attention, which could lead to a lot more exposure for Lucas on his next big release, whenever that comes along. The veteran rapper’s co-sign featured heavily into the careers of titans like 50 Cent and Royce Da 5’9, so there’s no telling what effect it could have on Joyner’s future, but one thing is for sure: He’ll have to perform at a high level pretty consistently to live up to the lofty expectations such a co-sign could bring.
Check out Joyner’s reaction to Eminem’s co-sign above.