Bubba Sparxxx says he “failed being the second coming of Eminem”

Bubba Sparxxx has opened up about failing to live up to the expectations of Interscope Records executives, who thought the Georgia rapper was going to be the next Eminem.

Speaking to Vlad TV, Bubba (real name Warren Mathis) revisited the making of his second album, Deliverance, which he released via Timbaland‘s Beat Club imprint under the Interscope Records umbrella.

There were areas where I was maybe stronger than him, but there were also areas where he was more experienced,” Bubba said. “First of all, he was older than me when he started…we were on different paths. Yeah, I didn’t get to live to be the second Eminem. And he couldn’t be the second Dr. Dre in that situation.” Unfortunately for Bubba, the album didn’t do too well commercially, but he still considers it a classic album and called it a “foundation” for much of his later music.

“It was a different sound,” Bubba said of the 2003 LP. “Tim and I had really went in and did some soul searching and we decided to swing for the fences, you know what I’m saying?

“I had just did the ‘We Ready’ Archie [Eversole] joint; it was the biggest I had ever been in Atlanta. People was hyped in the streets about Bubba Sparxxx and I was ready to go get with Lil Jon and come like that. But Tim was like, ‘Think about this: what if we made the music that sounded the way the ‘Ugly’ video looked?’”

Referring to Bubba Sparxxx’s breakout 2001 hit, the accompanying raucous video celebrates the stereotypes of southern life, and Timbaland wanted to make an album that best represented that part of American life while blending country, bluegrass and Hip Hop.

While Bubba was initially opposed to Tim’s idea as it was a huge departure from the sound of his debut album, Dark Nights, Bright Days, once he was sent the beat for “Comin’ Round” he was ready to buy into what Tim was selling. “When he played me that beat, that beat was so jammin’ and so original; I had never heard anything like it,” Bubba said.

Although Bubba was initially against Tim’s idea as it was a big departure from the sound of her debut album, Dark Nights, Bright Days, as soon as she heard the beat of “Comin ‘Round” she was ready to give it a go.

Although Bubba was initially against Tim’s idea as it was a big departure from the sound of his debut album, Dark Nights, Bright Days, as soon as he heard the beat of “Comin’ Round” he was ready to give it a go.

He then went on to explain what he felt were the main differences between him and Eminem, and how he and Timbaland felt like they were competing with Em and Dre as a duo, especially with both signed to Interscope.

Speaking to Vlad TV, Bubba (real name Warren Mathis) relived the making of his second album, 2003’s Deliverance, which he released through Timbaland’s Beat Club label under the Interscope Records umbrella. “It was a different sound than what we’re used to,” Bubba said of the LP. “Tim and I really got into it, and after some thought we decided to try something new,” he said of the project, which Timbaland envisioned as a kind of Southern American sound, a mix of country, bluegrass, and hip-hop.