Tech N9ne Says Losing J.I.D.'s 'Animals' to Eminem Hurt. He Also Has Two New Pitches Ready.
In a new interview with Acton Entertainment, Tech N9ne opened up about missing out on J.I.D.'s “Animals” to illness, only for Eminem to take the spot. He also laid out two concrete pitches for a new Eminem song, one built on a beat tied to “Abracadabra.” Here is what he said, what checks out, and what we could not independently confirm.
By @bradleymines ·
Tech N9ne sat down with Acton Entertainment and, in between talking about Nelly and Playboi Carti, explained how he lost a verse on a J.I.D. song to a months-long illness, and to Eminem.
Tech N9ne has a long history with Eminem: a shared credit on Sway's "The Anthem" back in 1999, and the 2015 posse cut "Speedom (WWC2)," where Eminem, Tech and Krizz Kaliko traded bars at a sprint. What he does not have is a credit on "Animals (Pt. 1)," the J.I.D. and Eminem track that closed out J.I.D.'s surprise mixtape GDLU (Preluxe) in July 2025. According to a new interview with Acton Entertainment, first reported by eminem.news, that is because Tech was supposed to be on it first, before months of illness took him out of the room.
The full Acton Entertainment sit-down. The headline topics are Nelly and Playboi Carti, but the Eminem and J.I.D. section runs through the same conversation.
We checked the quotes below against the video ourselves. The "Animals" story starts around the 20:45 mark, and the embed above is cued to it.
What actually happened to the verse
As Tech tells it, per eminem.news, he missed his window on the J.I.D. song because he was sidelined by an illness that kept him out of commission for months.
Tech N9ne: "I missed the J song, and then he put Eminem on it, and it was called 'Animals.'"
He did not pretend the swap felt good.
Tech N9ne: "Oh man, this is one that hurt."
Part of the sting, per the interview, is that J.I.D. himself was not fully satisfied with how the finished record came together.
J.I.D.: "Man, the song didn't turn out how I wanted to."
Tech says the stretch of illness is also what pushed him to rethink his health and his eating habits, and that he is now working without the interruptions that cost him the verse in the first place.
The two pitches he has ready for a real Eminem song
The interview is not just a look back. Tech laid out two specific ideas he has for an actual new Eminem collaboration, which lines up with a habit he has repeated in interviews for years, including an earlier sit-down with the same channel, Acton Entertainment, in 2019, where he first floated recruiting Eminem and Billy Joel for the same kind of concept.
The first idea is built around the pressure of staying at the top of hip hop, originally planned years ago with producer Seven before the beat got shelved when Seven lost his mother. Tech says he recently found the beat again, in part because of Eminem's own 2026 single "Abracadabra":
Tech N9ne: "Damn, because he did 'Abracadabra.'"
The second idea, which Tech reportedly called the stronger of the two, samples a vintage Portishead record on a beat he says sounds like something Eminem could have produced himself. His condition for either one: it has to be about something. Not necessarily political, in his words, just not empty rapping.
What we could and could not verify
The pieces that check out independently of eminem.news's report: "Animals (Pt. 1)" is a real, released song credited to J.I.D. and Eminem. Tech N9ne and Eminem really have a shared history going back to "The Anthem" in 1999 and "Speedom" in 2015. And Tech has pitched Eminem and Billy Joel-adjacent concepts to this same interviewer before, which matches the pattern described in the new interview rather than contradicting it.
What we could not verify: whether Tech was ever formally attached to "Animals" beyond his own account, since neither J.I.D. nor Eminem's camp has addressed that claim on the record.
Why this one matters beyond the gossip
Tech N9ne missing a song is a small story on its own. What makes it worth tracking is the pattern underneath it: Tech keeps showing up in interviews with fully formed pitches for Eminem, the same way Quavo got a collab pitch thrown at him on DJ Whoo Kid's show and Hit-Boy once watched a whole relationship end over an Eminem feature that never happened. Eminem's guest verses are rationed enough that every artist with history seems to be carrying a pitch in their back pocket, on the chance the phone rings. Rapsody and Busta Rhymes went through something similar earlier this fall, describing songs that almost happened and unreleased material still sitting with Paul Rosenberg.
Whether either of Tech's ideas, the Billy Joel-pressure concept or the Portishead sample, ever becomes a real song is its own question. For now, what is confirmed is simpler: there is one more name on the list of people who had a seat at the table and watched Eminem take it instead.