Eminem Responds to Vince Staples’ Criticism of Him

In his new Complex cover story, Eminem weighs in on plenty of topics that have been worrying him—most notably, the state of the nation under Donald Trump. But he also discusses some things that don't bother him that much, like criticism.

Em is aware of critiques from other rappers, in particular Vince Staples. Staples, lightheartedly but not entirely un-seriously, called Shady's Trump-bashing BET freestyle "trash."

"The reason I don't trip off that is because I feel like regardless of whether you rap or you don't, or you're in the game or you're not, I feel like everybody's entitled to their opinion," Em said of criticism from his rap compatriots. "I don't really trip off people critiquing what I do."

The rap god went on to say that he's not making his music for other artists who aren't fans to begin with.

"In some cases, I feel like there's peers that don't really listen to my music anyways and they're not fans, so I'm not making my music for them," he continued. "I'm making my music for me first obviously, so I can be happy with something. At the same time, try to give the people that do appreciate my music, give them something to listen to basically and try to meet whatever expectations are placed."