Category: Latest News

Mac Lethal says Eminem listened Tom MacDonald, cringed & turned it off instantly

Kansas City, Missouri-born rapper Mac Lethal has recently unleashed a disstrack to Canadian rapper Tom MacDonald, best known for buying Eminem’s NFT beat and releasing “Dear Slim,” paying homage to Detroit icon.

In the description of his YouTube video, Lethal explains: “Several years ago, a rapper by the name of Tom MacDonald made a couple disses about me. I responded with one, but honestly didn’t want to engage with him because I , simply put, don’t respect him as an artist. I honestly wanted nothing to do with it. I came up battling people like The Saurus and Illmaculate. Legitimate battle rap legends. A Canadian grifter who started rapping after he heard the Marshall Mathers LP, who has super cool Slipknot braids, and looks totally scary in his oversized contacts, is not my idea of a competitor. If you like his music, great. I don’t think it’s good, edgy, controversial, or cool. If you do, go listen to it!”

The continues: “We actually squashed it, DM’d, even followed each other. Talked a few times. We moved past it. Even though his fanbase of illiterate inbred meth-heads with missing teeth still incessantly harasses me, I was impressed by his candor and moved on with my life. He’s a nice guy… at least when you talk to him 1 on 1. Unfortunately a couple weeks ago he decided to randomly diss me on wax. Asserting that he “trampled me” when we battled, and even going as far as mentioning situations in my personal and professional life. I thought it was a bummer. Apparently he took my kindness when we battled as a weakness, and thinks I’m going to sit here quiet.”

“So here’s the first half of my response. The second half is much meaner. Btw, I’ve been moving around a lot and not super active on YouTube lately. I’ll get back to it soon y’all. Moving cities right now, and my pops is very sick. p.s. I don’t give a f–k about “relevancy.” He started this s–t.” – Mac Lethal added.

In the second verse of the song, Lethal raps:
I went on tour with D12, those dudes are my new friends
They showed me some video you made for Eminem
They told me they were in the studio with Slim when he watched it
He cringed, and he cut it off thirty seconds in
Eminem doesn’t like you, he does not respect you
You made a love song about him, beggin’ him to peg you
Have you noticed that publicly he’s never even mentioned it?
I’m sorry buddy, I know that’s not how you envisioned it
You thought he’d call you like, “Hey Tom, it’s Slim Shady
You’re so controversial, how are you this crazy?
You wanna make a song about how transgender men are pretend ladies
And all the lib’ ladies havin’ mixed babies?
And how the Mexican border is being invaded
By woke Palestinians causin’ inflation?
We’ll call it “White Boyz, Pt. 12,” it’ll be awful”
And the Grammy goes to Eminem and Tom MacDonald
I’m sorry that you didn’t get to do a song with your hero
At least you got to do a song with Ben Shapiro
The dude that censored Candace Owens’ views quick
And he tried to see rap music isn’t real music
And he tried to say that pu-sies aren’t supposed to get wet.

Machine Gun Kelly revisits Eminem beef: “He did not win”

Popular YouTuber Scru Face Jean has recently reviewed “BMXXing” by Machine Gun Kelly which he dropped about a week ago. In his review, Scru said: “This reminds me Mac Miller’s “Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza.” It gives me that vibes. Now, there’s some people who already wrote MGK off. There is the most extreme Eminem fans and Stans who will never like this ni–a just because he went into a battle against Eminem which I don’t understand because I respect people who go into battles. Eminem won. I got Eminem winning but MGK really stood up and fought. There is a lot of people who were afraid to say something about Em so I gotta respect him for that.”

Scru shared a clip of his review on X (formerly Twitter) and Machine Gun Kelly replied: “To where it was shot: in Cleveland on CSU staircase and another spot on the west side of the city. And the pool – I just emptied it in my backyard. Also, he didn’t win.” One of the fans on X responded: “You live in your own fairy tale And you wrote this to get attention for one day on Twitter because you see that no one is interested in what you do, better go and cure your toxic loser syndrome!” Another said: “He whooped your a-s into another genre. You left rap for awhile after that beef now you’re trying to come back like we forgot. Continue to be in denial real ones know you’re a poser loser who picked a fight with your idol for clout.”

Shortly after the Eminem feud in 2018, Machine Gun Kelly dropped “Hotel Diablo” album which included a diss-track “Rap Devil,” and blamed Slim Shady for low unit sales. During a conversation with Interview Magazine, MGK suggested that his beef with Eminem caused his fourth studio album, Hotel Diablo, to have a lukewarm reception from fans after it was released: “As a hip-hop album, Hotel Diablo is flawless front to back, and also a hint at the evolution of how I went into a pop-punk album. But it was coming off the tail-end of that infamous beef with Eminem.”

As the conversation continued, Kelly explained how music listeners were distracted by his conflict with Eminem: “It’s like if you make a s–tty movie and then you come out with a great movie right after, but people want to focus on the fact that they hated whatever you just did. What I did in the beef was exactly what it should be, but that project wasn’t welcomed. The next album came from already feeling like I’d counted out, so I didn’t even care what the public was going to think.”

Poison Pen recalls Eminem & Proof battling at 88 Hip-Hop Station

Poison Pen and Iron Solomon have recently sat down on Uppercut Podcast where they briefly recalled the story of Eminem and Big Proof battling rappers outside the 88 Hip-Hop Radio Station.

“88 Hip-Hop was very pivotal because it was not just young motherf–kers like us. I told you Fat Joe, Pun and other motherf–kers were there. I met Eminem there. He battled my man Karate Joe. Rest in peace Karate Joe, Flatbush finest, he battled on the corner for cigarettes and Em pulled up with The Outsidaz, with Young Zee, Pace was not there but Young Zee was there. We be young, we knew who Young Zee was, we didn’t know the white boy with a hood on, we know who he [Young Zee] was. Em was ridiculous! Karate Joe and Eminem rhymed back and forth for 114 years on the corner. There is absolutely no footage of that. Things like that would happen regularly outside. That’s where I met him.” said Poison Pen.

Then he continued: “Then I linked up with Proof. Rest in peace. Proof used to come out here. Proof did the Blaze battle. Proof actually got booed cause he battled a female and he smoked her! I don’t remember the girls name but he battled shorty and he smoked her! This is also a different era so he was talking wild, disrespecting the f–k out of her so she got the sympathy vote cause he was going so hard on her, obviously he won they wasn’t having that so they booed him and s–t and shorty got the sympathy win and my ni–a proof lost. That s–t was crazy. That’s history right there. I said I met Em out there. 88 Hip-Hop is were my battle rap journey started.”

You can watch the interview below:

Birdman & Sugar Slim talk about Eminem

Birdman and Sugar Slim have recently sat down with DJ Whoo Kid on Shade 45 where the crew briefly talked about their relationship with Eminem and cleared the air of the rumor that they tried to sign Eminem back in the days.

Whoo Kid: You guys collaborated with Eminem few times, how’s that relationship with Eminem?
Slim: I met Eminem couple times. You know what I’m sayin…
Birdman: That was great. Him and Wayne traded some features before. I was on their video set. I met Em couple of times myself. Em always been cool with us.
Whoo Kid: I wanna know how does Slim talk to Eminem. How you talk to this guy?
Slim: I don’t talk much [laughs]. I just said what’s up.
Birdman: We keep it gangsta man. Say what’s happening. We definitely respect that man and show that man all respect in the world.
Whoo Kid: You guys were signing so many artists, I heard Eminem was on the list back in the days. Almost was in talks. Is that true?
Slim: Nah. It would have been great though. I’ve been living in Detroit.
Birdman: That would have been great for a fact!

Eminem and Lil Wayne have collaborated on three occasions. “Drop The World” in 2009, the third single from Lil Wayne’s seventh studio album, Rebirth. 2010’s “No Love,” from Eminem’s seventh studio album Recovery. And 2009’s “Forever,” also featuring Drake and Kanye West, the third single from the soundtrack to LeBron James’s More than a Game documentary.

Watch the new interview below:

Jelly Roll talks how did he end up working with Eminem

After joining Eminem on stage to perform “Sing for the Moment” at the Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central event on Thursday, June 6, 2024, the country star Jelly Roll talked about the background story about the performance in an interview with Howard Stern.

“Man, it was so cool. Paul Rosenberg, his lifelong manager came to my Detroit show last year with Trick Trick. And we are all hanging out backstage and I’m just like ‘hey, does Marshall even know who I am?’ He’s like ‘yeah, that’s why I am here. Marshall loves you. We’re gonna figure something out, I want y’all to get together. And I’m thinking like ‘he’s just manager, he’s just just being polite.’ He told me that day like ‘I got something cooking. When it comes out, I’ll call you.’ Sure enough, they called about the Detroit show. And the first thing was ‘hey man, will you come and honor Bob Seager, we know how much of a fan of his you are, you always put him in your top 3, would you come sing Bob Seager and they wanted me to sing ‘Hollywood Nights’ and I was like ‘yo, can I sing ‘Turn The Page’ instead? And they were like ‘yeah, we can do this medley. And I was like ‘let’s do the ultimate Rock N’ Roll.” said Jelly Roll.

Then he continued: “Then they called and they were like ‘Eminem wants to know if you would sing a song with him. First of all, I get goosebumps up my body and I thought right then Howard, I bet it’s Sing For The Moment. And I said that on the phone and they were like ‘that’s exactly what it is.’ I was like ‘dude, I’m so in.’ And I didn’t meet him till the day we did it. I met him at rehearsal when we ran through it together. Man, I was so nervous. It definitely was not my best performance. You could see the nerves on my face. This song did a lot for me in dark moments of my life too. This particular song of his and I’m lifelong fan. There is not a white kid in the world that didn’t grow up listening to Eminem rapping. It gave me hope.”

“There is not enough praises for him. He’s inarguably the greatest rapper that ever lived. Ever. That’s not an arguable thing. So you are literally meeting the greatest that his craft, the greatest person to ever do that craft, you’re meeting!”

Few days ago, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Jelly Roll said that it was the coolest thing that ever happened in his career: “When I think about coolest moments of my career, right now at the top, there has to be this thing that I got to go sing with Eminem in Detroit. I got to sing ‘Sing for the Moment’ with him, which is a record where he sampled Steven Tyler. I mean, just what an incredible night and I got to go do it in Detroit. It was unreal. When his manger called me, I was like, ‘Paul, don’t play.’ He was like, ‘I swear,’ And as soon as I met Eminem, it was like the coolest moment ever, man.”

Watch the interview on The Howard Stern Show below:

Dr. Umar goes off on rappers who defended Eminem against him

Last year, during the conversation on Joe Budden Podcast, Dr. Umar Jonson said that Eminem can never be the greatest rappers of all time because he’s white. Black hip-hop artists and celebrities, including The Game, MC Shan, Royce Da 5’9″, Mr. Porter, Swifty McVay, Kuniva, Ed Lover, Math Hoffa, Kxng Crooked, Cassidy, Tony Yayo, Orlando Brown, John Salley and Donnell Rawlings came out in defense of Eminem and in a recent interview on The Art of Dialogue, Dr. Umar responded to all of them.

“I was on a podcast interview. The topic came up. I think it was Joe Budden who suggested that Eminem maybe one of the greatest and I said he could never be considered THE GOAT. If you wanna say he’s one of the greatest, make that argument, but you will not call him THE GOAT of a black cultural icon. You are not doing that! Our culture is our culture. We don’t share it. If you want to give people privilege to participate then they have participation privilege but you can not be the face of something my people made. This is not only true for me, this is true for most groups. But because black people suffer from post-traumatic slavery disease and we crave white validation more than oxygen, we are always looking to annoy some non-African as the face of something African people created.” said Dr. Umar.

Then he continued: “So, when I said, Eminem can not be GOAT, I never said he couldn’t rap. I never said he didn’t have talent. I simply said he can’t be the GOAT. No more than DJ Khaled could ever be considered as a DJ or producer cause you are not African. So, a lot of hip-hop artists took offence, they came out of the woodworks with their unlicensed law degrees and served as Eminem’s expert lawyer and publicist to the black world and they defended better than Johnny Cochran defended OJ Simpson and basically told me I have no right to speak on the topic because I’m not a rapper. I don’t have to be a drug dealer to speak about drug dealing. I don’t have to be a surgeon to speak on the racism that black suffer in the medical industry and I don’t have to be a rapper to speak on rap music but as an African who grew up in hip-hop, as an African who partakes in hip-hop, as an African who is a safe-guard of all African culture, I will speak on anything my people create and anything my people are affected by and I’m just disappointed brother. Because just like we talked about snow bunny Barkley and snow bunny Shannon and LeBron James earlier defending Caitlin Clark, we saw the same thing happen with this so called gangster rappers who took Eminem’s against your good brother Dr. Umar, and you know what bothered me the most? About all of these rappers defending Eminem without him even asking them to, without him even paying for them to do it, what offended me the most about it, I never seen any of them defend black women the same way. Not one of these rappers who defended Eminem against me, I never seen a single one of them defend black women as ferociously as they defended Eminem. What did I say earlier? Politically effeminate. Our gangsta rappers are politically effeminate. Our basketball layers, NFL players are politically effeminate. Whenever it comes to holding white people responsible for appropriating black culture, here comes the gangsta rappers to defend their white Jesus. It’s absolutely insane. Black celebrities never defend us. They never defend black America but whenever white folks are offended by black people, they are the first people to pop up.”

“I’ll take it to the culture-vulture DJ VLAD. After that interview I did with Joe budden, Vlad brought all these rappers and celebrities on his platform and he asked everybody ‘do you agree with Dr. Umar who said Eminem could never be the GOAT og hip-hop and and I think 99%, if not 100% of these celebrity black men defended Eminem and reinforced the integrationist colorblind narrative and anybody can be a GOAT of hip-hop…When I said Eminem can’t be the GOAT, hip-hop’s most popular rappers came out and tried to chastise Dr. Umar in defense of Eminem but when Beyoncé came out with the Cowboy Carter album, those country musicians and their fanbase attacked her vehemently. They tried to destroy that sister’s credibility in the country music world even though the roots of country music go to the slave plantations of America.” Dr. Umar added.

Eminem recalls the time when “The Eminem Show” was leaked in a new doc “How Music Got Free”

Back in the 90s, when Stephen Witt was attending the University of Chicago, he stumbled on to something many kids did at the time. “One day, I turned on the computer, went into a chat channel and discovered all this music out there ready to be downloaded,” he said. “I never once asked myself: ‘Is this a good thing or a bad thing for me to do?’ It was free music!”

Today, everyone knows just how bad a thing that turned out to be for the music industry, nearly destroying it by the early 2000s. What most people don’t know, however, is the story behind the people who created the technology that made this revolution possible, as well as the group of kids who first figured out how to use its tools so enticingly. That’s the tale told by a thought-provoking and highly entertaining new docuseries titled How Music Got Free.

“When we think of this era, we only think about Napster and Shawn Fanning, who’s celebrated as the punk-rock anti-hero of the whole movement,” said Alex Stapleton, who directed the two-part series. “But Fanning wasn’t inventing anything. The real innovative minds here were a bunch of rogue teenagers and a guy working a blue-collar factory job in the tiny town of Shelby, North Carolina.”

The journalist who tracked the latter guy down is none other than Witt, who, after graduating college, became an investigative journalist responsible for a 2015 book on which the documentary is based. Eager to both discover the roots of the story and to grapple with the consequences of it, Witt began by exploring a publicly available database that chronicled many of those who’d been busted by the FBI for music piracy. He investigated more than 100, but one of them, who hadn’t been publicized at all, turned out to be the most impactful by far. He was Dell Glover, an unassuming young man who lived in an obscure town in the US south. “When I read the complaint against him, I thought: ‘my God, this one guy did more damage than all the other pirates I talked to combined,’” Witt said.

While the documentary details the nearly ruinous impact that it had on the industry, it also celebrates Glover’s technological brilliance and vision, despite him having no formal training in computers. Glover was hardly alone in his innovations. The film profiles a half dozen or so pirates, most of whom were teenagers at the time, whose schemes presaged strategies later perfected by global corporations like Spotify and Netflix. “Those kids wound up creating the world we now live in,” Stapleton said.

In the first episode of the documentary, Eminem tells the story of how one of the biggest anticipated albums of all time, The Eminem Show, was leaked: “All that work, like days, months, hours that I spent writing it, recording it, tweaking it, all that s–t and now these songs leak and I’m like ‘ F–K!’ It was like, music should be free and then it’s like, okay, well, here is what you don’t understand if music should be free. I have engineer to pay. I have these entire army of people that work at Interscope that need their paycheck.” said Eminem.

Then he continues: “What do I do? Do I try to make songs like those that leaked? But then people go ‘we already heard that from you.’ That was my first album that suffered so it was devastating to me. Ah, I just did all that for nothing.”

In the second episode, Eminem and Paul Rosenberg talked about how they were trying to prevent his music to leak in future: “A majority of the world has heard your music. But your record sales, they don’t reflect that. Kids, they want the music but they don’t want you to tell them how to listen to it, where and when. We had to send music and I was not going to send it over the internet. So I was mailing s–t tp Paul so he could hear it. And I put it in the big box and it’d be wrapped ten different times and there’d be one CD. Or put it in tampon box, send it to Paul. Who’s going to look in the tampon box? Post traumatic leak disorder is what I had.”

You can watch both episodes below:

Snoop Dogg reacts to Eminem’s new single “Houdini”

DJ Whoo Kid has recently sat down with Snoop Dogg where the two talked about Eminem’s latest chart-topping single “Houdini,” from his upcoming 12th solo studio album “The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace),” due out July 5, 2024.

When Whoo Kid asked Snoop about “Houdini,” the legendary started singing the hook of the original song “Abracadabra” by Steve Miller Band after explaining who the real Houdini was: “Houdini, you know, what do Houdini do? The ni–a disappear and come back. Ain’t that what Em do? He’s a magician. Ni–a you ain’t even know that. Who do you think Houdini was? Ni–a that made airplanes? Abracadabra, Abra-abra-cadabra, I wanna reach out and grab ya.”

Then Snoop went to shout out Eminem: “That s–t bang. Shout out to Slim Shady. Welcome back, back to the block dawg. Bring some more real hip-hop back. You know what I’m talking about? Detroit! Aye, Mom’s Spaghetti got some bomb a-s food too cuz. Send me some. That garlic bread.”

Last week, Eminem returns with “Houdini,” a hard-hitting new single accompanied by a fitting video that features cameos from Snoop Dogg himself, as well as Dr. Dre, Pete Davidson 50 Cent, Jimmy Iovine, Grip, Westside Boogie, Denaun Porter, Royce 5’ 9”, Paul Rosenberg, The Alchemist, EZ Mil, Ryan Keely, Samantha Mack, and comedian Shane Gillis…Check out Snoop’s interview below:

Eminem shares hilarious behind the scenes video of “Houdini”

Eminem shows fans that he does his own stunts in a behind-the-scenes video of his “Houdini” music video from his upcoming 12th solo studio album The Death Of Slim Shady.  On Monday (June 10, 2024), Eminem gave fans an exclusive look at the making of his “Houdini” music video. More specifically, they can see Marshall Mathers jump and climb around as his superhero alter ego Rapboy.

“Don’t try this at home,” Em tells the camera. “I do my own stunts.” In a quick montage, the Detroit MC is seen scaling a building, engaging in some slow-motion fight choreography and slapping his face on the ground. The video then closes out with Em, donning his signature Slim Shady blond hair and white T-shirt, yelling about how his shoe came off. The funny clip comes after “Houdini” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Monday, marking Eminem’s highest-charting song in 11 years.

Em clowning himself in his behind-the-scenes look makes sense considering he made fun of himself extensively in the final cut of “Houdini.” The original music video dropped alongside the single on May 31, and finds Rapboy defending Detroit from an evil Slim Shady who time-traveled from 1999 to 2004. Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Royce 5’9″, The Alchemist, Boogie and more appear in the visual, which now has over 60 million views on YouTube, making it the biggest debut on YouTube in 2024.

Watch the hilarious video below:

Eminem’s “Houdini” debuts at No. 2 on Billboard Hot 100

IT’S OFFICIAL: Eminem ’s “Houdini” debuts at No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with 48.8 million streams, 4 million in radio reach and 49,000 sold, making it to sell 370,000 total units in the United States. from its release on May 31 through June 6.

For Eminem, it is 23rd career top 10 and highest-charting hit since “The Monster,” featuring Rihanna, claimed four weeks at No. 1 in December 2013-January 2014. Until Slim Shady’s latest entry, he had last reached the top 10 with “Godzilla” (featuring Juice WRLD), which debuted and peaked at No. 3 in February 2020 from Music To Be Murdered By album.

Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen, notches a fourth total and consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. The song, Post Malone’s sixth leader and Wallen’s second, is the first to spend at least its first four weeks on the chart at No. 1 since Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” logged its first six weeks on the ranking at the summit in January-March 2023.

“I Had Some Help” is also the first hit to spend four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 overall in nearly a year, since Wallen’s “Last Night” linked 10 straight frames on top, of 16 total, in May-July 2023.

“Houdini” is the biggest debut song since “Love The Way You Lie,” and highest charting song since “The Monster,” for Eminem. It’s also his biggest streaming week ever for him.

Yelawolf interpolates Eminem’s “The Way I Am” flow, shouts out Royce 5’9″, Dr. Dre, Slaughterhouse & Eminem

Former Shady Records artist Yelawolf releases “War Story,” a dynamic double album that unfolds in two distinct chapters: “Michael Wayne” and “Trunk Muzik 4ever”.

Side 1: Michael Wayne (song 1 – song 12) In the first installment, Yelawolf reunites with the acclaimed producer Malay, known for their previous collaboration on his 2015 Shady Records album “Love Story”. This album, bearing Yelawolf’s given name, delves into deeply personal narratives and captivating storytelling. The thematic choice of naming the album after Yelawolf’s real name signifies a deeper connection to the content, highlighting the album’s intimate and introspective nature.

Side 2: Trunk Muzik 4ever (song 13 – song 25) On the flip side, after a five-year hiatus since the release of “Trunk Muzik 3” under the Shady and Interscope banners in 2019, Yelawolf returns with the highly anticipated successor, “Trunk Muzik 4ever.” This installment, produced by the masterful WLPWR, seamlessly continues the legacy of the Trunk Muzik series, with beats that resonate with the signature style that fans have come to love.

“War Story” captures Yelawolf’s evolution, blending authenticity and innovation. With a mix of personal narratives and signature beats, this album invites you on a journey through Yelawolf’s musical prowess.

In the song titled “Legend,” entire second verse is dedicated to the list of artists Yelawolf has worked with over his entire career, even before being signed to Shady Records in 2011, giving shout out to Eminem, Dr. Dre, Royce 5’9″ and Slaughterhouse among others. Yela even released the music video for it.

“I put in work with Raekwon, Busta Rhymes, Twista, Tech N9ne
8Ball, MJG, Slim Thug, in ’09
Juelz Santana, Big Boi, Outkast
Gangsta Boo, Juicy J, DJ Paul, we done that
A$AP, 1 Train
Rittz, Struggle, Jelly Roll
Killer Mike, Paul Wall, Big K.R.I.T, my bro
Trae tha Truth, Gucci Mane, The Funky Homosapien
Del, yeah, Bun B, with Dr. Dre, shakin’ hands
B-Real, Cypress Hills, DJ Muggs, Travis Barker
Baldacci, that real, Estevan, the godfather
Lil Jon, Slaughterhouse, Royce da 5′9″
DJ Premier, Mr. DJ A-Trak, NY
Wiz Khalifa, three tours
Two tours with Wu-Thang
WLPWR, Grip Playz, LA’s, The Game
Diplo, Marshal Mathers
Man, the verses I laid with him
I even did a full album with Ed Sheeran, before the stadiums”

In the album, there is another song called “Cars” where Yelawolf directly interpolates Eminem’s iconic “The Way I Am” flow.

Billboard reveals release date of new Eminem album

Billboard has accidently revealed the release date of Eminem ‘s upcoming 12th solo studio album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace) while covering Slim Shady’s electrifying performance at Michigan Central Station on June 6, 2024.

“Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central” brought out the hometown hero likes of Eminem (who co-executive produced the concert with his manager, Paul Rosenberg), and who made the crowd go nuts when he hopped on stage for a surprise four-song mini-set that included the live debut of his new single, “Houdini” and a collaboration with Jelly Roll.

Diana Ross, Jack White, Big Sean, Slum Village and gospel greats the Clark Sisters and Kierra Sheard were also on hand to celebrate the refurbished Michigan Central. The former railroad station in the city’s southwest side had been shuttered since 1988 and became what Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan called “a symbol of our decline” as it fell into disrepair. The Ford Motor Co. purchased the building in 2018, spending a reported $940 million to turn it into a center for advanced technological development in transportation and other fields.

The show itself — which was streamed on Peacock and will be edited into a one-hour NBC special at 7 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday (June 9) — was a nearly two-hour party celebrating the city and its musical heritage, but with a global perspective. “We’ve been invested in trying to rebrand the image of the city and how people see it for a long time,” Rosenberg, who worked in conjunction with Jesse Collins Entertainment, explained to Billboard prior to the show. “The challenge was, ‘What kind of picture can we paint here that’s going to be interesting not just locally but nationally?’ We wanted to make a compelling program that’s going to interest people across the country, not just people who are familiar with Detroit.

Rosenberg added that he and Eminem used the adage “as goes Detroit, so goes the nation” — from a 1942 Arthur Pond essay in The Atlantic — “as a framework… all these ideas about how the city is viewed not just locally but nationally to help frame the program.”

While Billboard covered all these up, they accidently (or mistakenly) revealed the release date of Eminem’s The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace). In one of the paragraphs, we read: “And while Eminem — who filmed parts of the video for his 2009 single “Beautiful” in the then-abandoned Michigan Central — was not billed as a performer when the show was announced, it surprised few that he closed the evening. Joined by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra the hoodied rapper presented the live debut of “Houdini,” the just-released first single from his upcoming The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace) album (July 5), then “Sing For the Moment” with Jelly Roll, “Welcome 2 Detroit” with Trick Trick and a bombastic “Not Afraid,” which was followed by a short show-ending fireworks display. But later, the biggest music industry magazine removed the date from their article, but fans kept the screenshot, which you can check below and read the full article on Billboard here.

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