Eminem sat down with the New York Times for their celebration of Hip-Hop's 50th anniversary, where they contacted 50 artists and asked them to share personal stories and inspirations.

Eminem revealed that his uncle was instrumental in introducing him to Hip-Hop culture. "My Uncle Ronnie had the 'Breakin'' soundtrack," he shared. "He played me Ice-T's 'Reckless' before I saw the movie. He used to breakdance and he taught me some moves. From that moment, I knew there was no other music that I would ever like again."

Eminem also shared that his after moving from Missouri to Detroit he would record radio broadcasts from WJLB's DJ Wizard. "I would just hit record on my tape and go to sleep and get up for school and see what I got," he explains. "'Go See The Doctor' by Kool Moe Dee, UTFO - I just wanted everything that rap has: Run DMC, Fat Boys LL COOL J."

Em shares that he admired and studied MCs who used multi-syllabic phrasing. "I was a sponge," he says. "I would gravitate to Lord Finesse, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Masta Ace, Redman and Special Ed. Treach from Naughty By Nature too. When that first Naughty By Nature album dropped, that whole summer I couldn't write a rap. I was so depressed, I thought I'd never be that good and I should just quit. Proof thought that he was the best rapper too."

Eminem cites Nas' Illmatic and "Live At The Barbecue" verse as inspiration as well. "I remember The Source gave Illmatic five mics," he explained. "I liked Nas from 'Live At The Barbecue' with Main Source because that was one of the most classic verses in Hip-Hop. But five mics though? I had to see what this was. I put it on and heard ['New York State of Mind']. He was going in and outside of the rhyme scheme, internal rhymes. That album had me in a slump too."