On Thursday night, Eminem surprise-dropped his tenth album, appropriately titled Kamikaze. The fiery, tight rappety-rap project is a return to form, after last year's bland, bloated, poppy Revival. Best of all, Slim Shady is 45 and furious. This time, he talks trash and names names, firing shots at Tyler The Creator, Joe Budden, MGK, and of course, President Donald Trump.
Last year Em dropped The Storm, a scathing four-minute diss to America's lying, idiot president. It started off clunky, with that weird "awfully hot coffee pot" couplet. (What was that about?) But what followed was brutal: "From his endorsement of Bannon / Support for the Klansmen / Tiki torches in hand for the soldier that's black / And comes home from Iraq / And is still told to go back to Africa / Fork and a dagger in this racist 94-year-old grandpa." Savage.
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Eminem used to excoriate harmless pop artists like N'Sync; it was thrilling to see him aim his pen at the most powerful man in the world. In the most famous passage, he alienated half of his fanbase, telling Trump voters to stop supporting him.
"Any fan of mine who's a supporter of his / I'm drawing in the sand a line, you're either for or against / And if you can't decide who you like more and you're split / On who you should stand beside / I'll do it for you with this: F*ck you!"
On his new song The Ringer, Eminem says that he regrets making that 'line in the sand' ultimatum. But not because he lost album sales - because it was too abrasive. Marshall says he empathizes with Trump voters, who got swindled by a charismatic con man. It's not the first time that's happened in politics. And let's face it, if you're going to try to change a Trump supporter's mind, "F*ck you" is a bad place to start.
"That line in the sand, was it even worth it? / 'Cause the way I see people turning's / Makin' it seem worthless, it's startin' to defeat the purpose / I'm watchin' my fan base shrink to thirds...if I could go back, I'd at least reword it / And say I empathize with the people this evil serpent / Sold the dream to that he's deserted"
On Twitter, President Trump has clapped back at countless critics - Jay-Z, Alec Baldwin, LeBron James, Arnold Schwarzenegger. But he never said a word about Eminem. Maybe that was smart; responding to Eminem's diss is the exact response that would annoy him the most. Or maybe he didn't hear the freestyle at all, due to his busy schedule of golfing and watching Fox and Friends.
However, a few bars later on The Ringer, Eminem says he knows Trump heard the diss, because he got a visit from the Secret Service.
"But I know at least [Trump has] heard it / 'Cause Agent Orange just sent the Secret Service / To meet in person to see if I really think of hurtin' him / Or ask if I'm linked to terrorists / I said, 'Only when it comes to ink and lyricists.'"
If true, this wouldn't be the first time Secret Service agents questioned Eminem. In the 2003 track We As Americans, Eminem rapped, "I don’t rap for dead presidents / I’d rather see the president dead / It's never been said, but I set precedence." 'Apparently, that couplet spooked the White House.
Well, love him or hate him, Eminem is a wizard with words.