DVLP
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Last night at the inaugural YouTube Music Awards, Eminem was the star of the show, taking home the Artist Of The Year award. That wasn't all for Slim Shady as he also closed the night by shooting a live video for his hit single "Rap God" off his newest album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2. XXL recently caught up with DVLP, the producer for "Rap God," who said that the beat for the song had a mind of its own. "When I made it, I honestly couldn’t even picture where it would go," DVLP said. "It's not your normal type of typical hip-hop production. I didn’t know here the hell it would go. I didn’t even know if it would find a home. I just knew I was happy with it, and I knew it would kick ass wherever it ended up."

Thanks to DVLP's manager, Stephen Hacker of Hebrew Hustle, it ended up in the hands of Eminem. Hacker had an in with Eminem's camp because another one of his clients, STREETRUNNER—a producer who worked on the second part of "Bad Guy" off of The Marshall Mathers LP 2—worked on Slaughterhouse's last album. "I had been involved with Eminem’s management in doing those deals with STREETRUNNER," Hacker said, "and once that stuff got done, Em’s manager reached out to me that Marshall is working on his album and if I have anything from my guys, Em is interested in hearing it." One of the tracks Hacker sent came from DVLP.

DVLP came up with the track in 2011 while he was spending a lot of time in Europe, and even then, he knew he had crafted an upper echelon beat for only the best MCs. "I didn’t know who I would hear on it because it's just out there," he said. "It's not a typical formatted record. It’s hard to even imagine anyone on there." Eminem was the only one who could measure up to the challenge. "I definitely didn’t make it for no a B-list client."

In an interview with MTV News, DVLP said the beat almost ended up with Fabolous or T.I., neither of which DVLP could imagine on the track. "Just cause those guys don’t rap to music like that," he explained to XXL. "I just think [other rappers] are not ready to take a risk or take a step going into that record. That’s why I couldn’t hear it."

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