Just Blaze, Mr. Porter

In an exclusive interview with AllHipHop.com, the heavyweight producers Denaun Porter (Mr. Porter) and Just Blaze detailed how their production relationship with Eminem has grown since their work on the superstar’s debut album, Infinite.

“Man, now? It’s so much more fun. It was easy for us to go back to that time,” Porter told. “This will be the first time I’m producing songs for Em under me without D12 [since Infinite]. That’s big for me. I can’t let the cat out the bag yet, but one of the songs is told as if we were back in the day.”

While many fans argue rapper’s earlier work are usually stronger because they are hungry for success, Mr. Porter feels Eminem’s quality has improved with his superstardom.

“It’s no fun when you’re broke,” he stated. “We were trying to do Infinite like we had more money when we didn’t have any. We were trying to get to a certain point, but now he’s got it. The reason he’s good is not because being white worked to his advantage. It did a little at first, but all day everyday the kid is writing. I don’t know if Jay-Z is writing all day. He owns multi-million dollar businesses. Em writes all day. Jay probably comes up with lines [and] that make him one of the greatest. I’m fighting, because Just Blaze came in and kicked ass.”

After leaking Jay Electronica’s “Exhibit C” and a Nas snippet last week, Just Blaze has renewed attention on what other tracks he has in the vaults, and what he’s developed for Relapse 2.

Due to their protective natures, Blaze revealed that his time with Eminem has been challenging despite their creative highs.

“It’s a challenge for both of us in the sense we’ve never worked with each other before. We’ve both been in the business 10 plus years,” Just Blaze explains. “We’re both very self-contained. He has his own production compound, and I have my situation with Bassline Studios in New York. Sometimes I’m like I need this [song] back in New York and he’s like I need it back in Detroit. It’s interesting because we’re both protective of the work and not wanting it to leak out. I’m in the same boat, because we both would lose money. Creatively it’s a good process. When it goes beyond a business arrangement, it always works out. I’ve had cases where people just want a beat because you’re Just Blaze. But here we are 2 people that are fans of each other’s work.”

Relapse was released in May and to date has sold over 1.5 million copies.