Hotstylz Releases Eminem Diss Track “Rap Fraud”

Hotstylz is pretty annoyed that Eminem didn't give them any credit for "stealing" their flow in "Rap God." Back in 2007, Raydio G, Krazee, and Meatball exploded on to the scene with a track called "Lookin Boy," which turned out to be the one hit they've churned out. When "Rap God" came out and referenced lines from the song, XXL reached out to Hotstylz to gauge their reaction, and they wanted their credit, even pumping out a diss track called "Rap Fraud." We asked why they were upset, and Hotstylz spoke about respect, proper due, and what exactly they were looking for from Em.

XXL: What were your thoughts on “Rap God”?
Raydio G: The first time we even got wind of “Rap God,” our Twitter started blowing up and people was telling us that Eminem referenced the song. At first we was like, "Aight, cool," but at the same time, we was like, "Fuck Eminem," because he didn’t reach out to us. He took so much of the record. That just don’t sit right with us. The thing is they used so much of the song, he could have reached out. He could have reached out to us directly, he could have found a way to reach out to us through some kind of channel. We just addressed that issue on a song called “Rap Fraud.” We addressed how we felt about it.

Krazee: So just to piggy back off what Raydio said, yeah, fuck him. Basically, he could have got in contact [with us] by multiple channels. I'm sure he has the resources to do so. If not, he could have had the label get in touch with us. It's more of a respect thing, from artist to artist, to just give just due. If went from cool to bad meets evil, per say.

So the main issue is that Eminem didn’t reach out?
Meatball: Yeah, out of respect, just pay homage. People are going to say, “Oh, he shouting y'all out and y'all one hit wonders and y'all should be happy that he did something.” But at the end of the day, it's all about respect. We one hit wonders, that’s the only song we had, well that’s our song. We love our song. For you to reference it, and you did so much of the record? They didn’t even reach out to us, shout us out on Twitter, say our name, do anything. Just to show respect.

Raydio: We're not dead, man, we're alive, we're still kicking. We ain't Marvin Gaye, man. So if you wanted to use the record, especially as rap community, like Krazee said, it’s a respect factor. You could have reached out. This is hip-hop, we ain't dealing with no old soul song.

Have y'all contacted Eminem's camp?
Krazee: We feel like, why should we?

Did you make “Rap Fraud” right away?
Meatball: Not really, at the time it was like Ray said, our Twitter was just blowing up and people was calling us.

Raydio: We gave him a chance. At first we talked about it amongst each other and was like, oh, that’s cool. But let's see if the man is going to reach out though. Because at the end of the day, we know that it's business but at the same time we was like damn man, he used so much of the record, maybe he reach out. Maybe he be like, “Yo man, maybe y'all can do something with the video, y'all come in,” anything, just to reach out. But he didn’t do it. So that’s when it turned to the record. So we just like, okay, let's just let it all out on wax.

How long did y'all wait?
Krazee: I don’t know how many days, but we waited a while, at least a week. I got the album when it dropped and went through the credits just to verify again, and we were absent.

Raydio: Yup, we got it at midnight.

Krazee: As soon as it dropped. We was absent. It was primarily us that was absent. Other notations were made, other interpolations were stated. Us, as Hotstylz, was just absent. He used so much of what we created on his song. It's just a slap in the face.

Raydio: Just to clarify, when we first got the news, it was at least a week before we even said we don’t even know if he’s going to hit us up or not. Then we had in our head we was going to do the record. Just to add the nail in the coffin, Krazee got the album first. I got it a little after him around midnight. And we looked inside the booklet. It didn’t even mention Hotstylz. That was basically shit on top of shit. That’s when we went in and finalized the track. So this was on the day the shit came out.

Meatball: I did the beat for “Lookin Boy.” We all did “Lookin Boy” back in the day in my basement. So for guys to create something and for somebody to take that and then not show a line of respect? That’s like a slap in the face. I did the beat, and I look around at the credits, and it say JJ Fad and you give these old women some fucking credits and you don’t give us no credit? And the part of the damn song that everybody talking about is the "Lookin Boy" part. That’s the part everybody is talking about.

If you listen to the beat, he breaks the beat down and goes right into the “Lookin Boy” beat and then his lyrics.

Raydio: On some real shit though, Eminem did not only use the beat to “Lookin Boy,” because the track had change into our beat. But he actually used our lyrics, the style of the "Lookin Boy" song. And the part that he used from JJ Fad is so minimal. For him to give them credit on the album and overlook us is a slap in the face. That was just shit on top of shit. At first you ain’t reach out through the phone. Then we look at the album. This some bullshit.

Previously: Review: Eminem Battles Slim Shady On Marshall Mathers LP 2
The 50 Best Eminem Verses
Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP 2 By The Numbers
XXL Tallies Up Eminem’s Most Frequent Lyrical References
J.J. Fad Is Honored By Eminem’s “Supersonic” Tribute On “Rap God” 
Eminem Manager Paul Rosenberg On The Evolution Of Slim Shady