Dr. Umar Johnson has recently sat down on The Art Of Dialogue where he slammed rappers for not defending Beyoncé after Country Music Awards snub but attacked him over saying Eminem can not be one of the greatest of all time in hip-hop because he’s white.
“Look at, when I said Eminem could never be a GOAT in hip-hop because he’s not black and black people created hip-hop. Every black rapper you could find came to Eminem’s defense against Dr. Umar. Didn’t the Country Music Association just do what I said we should do? Did they not declare Beyoncé will not be a queen of country music? Didn’t they just do that? Even though she got the highest selling country music song of the year. They said we don’t care. She’s black. She’s not white. So she can not be the face of country music. But when Dr. Umar says the same thing about hip-hop, all these fake a-s gangsta rappers come out of the woodworks and defend Eminem from my accusation.” said Dr. Umar.
Then he continued: “Look at the contradiction. Nobody said nothing when Beyoncé was not nominated. The NAACP didn’t send a letter. The Urban League didn’t send a letter. The Congressional Black Caucus didn’t send a letter. Kamala Harris didn’t pick up the phone and asked why. Joe Biden didn’t say a word. They let it go. But soon when Dr. Umar says Eminem can not be GOAT of a black music genre, I catch holy hell. Ain’t nobody say a damn word to the Country Music Association for shunning Beyoncé. Look at the double standard! Look at the racism! Look at the contradiction.”
“Why can’t we say Eminem can not be considered the greatest artist because we got people like LL Cool J! We got people like Big Daddy Kane! We got people like Kool G Rap! We got people like KRS-One! We got people like Rakim! Who been doing this before Eminem was born. Therefore, we are not gonna let him come in with his white self be the face of hip-hop when there is far more white people in America who can buy up his albums and make him appear to be a GOAT, even if he’s not. We are not going to give him that opportunity because we got veterans in hip-hop who deserve far more credit than Eminem.” Dr. Umar added. You can watch the interview below:
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“Murdergram Deux” is a song by LL Cool J, released on August 30, 2024 as the fourth single from his fourteenth studio album The FORCE. The sequel to his song “Murdergram” (1990), it features Eminem. The song is produced by Q-Tip, with Eminem providing additional production. It contains samples of “Donna’s Dilemma” by Anthony King and “Going Back to Cali” by LL Cool J.
“Murdergram Deux” finds LL Cool J and Eminem rapping back-and-forth verses in rapid-paced delivery over skittering production. Eminem uses his trademark wordplay, and ends the song with references to his song “Crack a Bottle” and LL Cool J’s “Going Back to Cali”.
An official music video premiered on September 11, 2024. It was filmed in Detroit in late August and directed by JakeTheShooter. In the visual, LL Cool J recreates the cover of his album Bigger and Deffer (in the opening scene), as well as the cover of the story “Live From Death Row” from Vibe (1996) with Eminem, who later remakes the cover of the album Long Live the Kane by Big Daddy Kane. They recreate the black-and-white fishbowl scene from LL Cool J’s “Going Back to Cali” video as well. The two also rap in front of walls covered in graffiti and speakers, including a colorful mural by New York artist Shirt King Phade.
In the behind the scenes video, Eminem expresses his astonishment about LL still owning the car he had on Bigger and Deffer album cover: “It’s so crazy that you still have it.” said Eminem. Watch the full video below. You can spot Denaun Porter too.
Since Diddy has been in jail, some people on social media think that Eminem went after him because he’s now in handcuffs but that’s not true. Slim Shady has been calling out Puff for decades now. To make sure lies don’t spread, I have listed all the songs chronological order where Em is referencing or throwing shots at Diddy, with the help from the fans on X (Twitter).
1. Rawkus Records – “Any Man,” ft. Eminem (1999) [Originally called “F–king Crazy”, recorded in 1997] Line: “Original Bad Boy on the case, cover your face. Came in the place blowed, and sprayed Puffy with mace.” Annotation: This is a twist on the line from Reel 2 Reel’s massive dance hit “I Like to Move It”: “Original mad stuntman ‘pon ya case man.” Em is “on the case” like a cop, and Bad Boys was a 1995 buddy cop movie. Bad Boy is also the name of Puffy’s record label. One of Bad Boy’s artists was Ma$e, and mace is a tear gas that is often used by police.
2. Sway & King Tech – “Get You Mad,” ft. Eminem (1999)
Line: “My attitude is worse than N.W.A’s was / I’ll battle you over stupid shit / And diss people who ain’t have shit to do with it / Like Cool J does (My tattoo) / You see me standin’ outside of your buildin’ / Screamin’, “Puffy is good, but Slim Shady is for the children.” Annotation: The last line is a reference to the infamous Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s rant when he walked on stage up to the microphone at the 1998 Grammy Awards after his group Wu-Tang Clan did not win the “Best Rap Album” award and proclaimed: “I don’t know how you all see it, but when it comes to the children, Wu-Tang is for the children. We teach the children. Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best.”
3. Eminem – “I’m Back” (2000) Line: “So I just throw up a middle finger and let it linger / Longer than the rumor that I was stickin’ it to Christina/ Cause if I ever stuck it to any singer in showbiz / It’d be Jennifer Lopez and Puffy you know this / I’m sorry, Puff, but I don’t give a f–k / If this chick was my own mother, I’d still f–k her with no rubber / And c-m inside her and have a son and a new brother / At the same time and just say that it ain’t mine.” Annotation: Eminem would rather have s-x with Jennifer Lopez than Christina Aguilera. At the time this was written, Puff Daddy A.K.A Puffy was dating Jennifer Lopez.
4. Eminem – “Marshall Mathers” (2000) Line: Is it because you love me that y’all expect so much of me? / You little groupie b–ch, get off me, go f–k Puffy.” Annotation: This line is a direct response to those who were waiting for Eminem to act out on the material dreams he had from “If I Had”, and it set the tone not only for this album, but Eminem’s blatant rejection of materialism within his rhymes. Puffy, or Sean Combs was the record producer credited with helping Notorious B.I.G. make it big on the radio, and he was regarded as a crossover king. Jay-Z even went to him for his second record, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 to boost his record sales. By name checking Puffy, and rejecting groupies, who were seen as everyday fodder for rappers during the late 90s, Eminem immediately paints himself as the anti-thesis to pop music. Not only does he violently reject the idea of pop music, he now takes it to those in hip hop who are only in it for the money. Funnily enough, despite not courting pop success, Eminem is now one of the most successful recording artists of all time in terms of sales, and he owes a lot of it to those early days of MTV playing his videos ad nauseum.
5. Jadakiss – “Welcome To D-Block,” ft. Eminem, Sheek Louch & Styles P (2004) Line: “Welcome to D-Block, the mighty, mighty D-Block / The place in New York City where Diddy won’t even walk / Its D-Block, the part of Yonkers I wouldn’t be caught / Without two pistols on me that’ll be cocked in each pocket.” Annotation: Maybe Diddy just doesn’t walk through D-Block because nobody feels like going to Yonkers. On a serious note, this song was released at about the time Diddy was doing his “Diddy Runs the City” charity campaign, to which this line is a reference.
6. P!nk – “Here Comes The Weekend,” ft. Eminem (2012) Line: “I’m prob-ably not gonna be wanting to pop bubbly or Ciroc / I’m not Puffy, but I’mma run the city tonight / When I hit it, I might act like a fricking idiot / Diddy mixed with a medieval knight / Big city lights, little indignity / Hot diggity, this Biggie is getting me hype / I don’t get some liquor, I’ll hurt you, I’ll knock your dick in the dirt.”
7. Eminem – “Not Alike,” ft. Royce Da 5’9″ (2018) Line: Only time you’ll ever say I lost / You’ll be talkin’ ’bout Fetty Wap, better call Diddy / Just to try to get me off of ya / Better hope I don’t call Trick Trick B–ch, this s–t don’t fly in our city.” Annotation: This is a play on the words “I lost,” a homophone for “eye lost,” regarding Fetty Wap. The New Jersey rapper was born with glaucoma in both eyes. Doctors were only able to save one. In 2015, Fetty Wap matched Eminem’s milestone of having two singles in the top ten on the Billboard 100. In saying “better call Diddy,” Eminem is referencing the fact that Machine Gun Kelly is signed to Diddy’s Bad Boy record label and implying that he should call his boss to save himself.
8. Eminem – “Killshot” (2018) Line 1: “Got the Diddy okay, so you spent your whole day / Shootin’ a video just to f–kin’ dig your own grave / Got you at your own wake, I’m the billy goat.” Line 2: “F–kin’ nails in these coffins as soft as Cottonelle / Killshot, I will not fail, I’m with the Doc still / But this idiot’s boss [Diddy] pops pills and tells him he’s got skills / But, Kells, the day you put out a hit’s the day Diddy admits / That he put the hit out that got Pac killed, ah.” Line 3: “You f–kin’—, oh / And I’m just playin’, Diddy / You know I love you.” [Sarcastic outro] Annotation: On “Rap Devil,” MGK claims that Dr. Dre gave Eminem an advantageous career boost: “Yeah there’s a difference between us / I got all of my s–t without Dre producin’ me (ayy).” Em reinforces his allegiance to his mentor and contrasts him with Diddy, MGK’s boss at Bad Boy Entertainment. These lines allude to the theory that Diddy arranged 2Pac’s murder. Eminem implies that MGK will never release a “hit,” much like Diddy will never acknowledge his involvement in Tupac’s murder. He might also be suggesting Diddy put out the hit song “Rap Devil,” which got MGK, who has a Pac-Man tattoo across his collarbones killed. This is reinforced by a line earlier in the song where he says: “Got the Diddy okay so you spent your whole day / Shootin’ a video just to f–kin’ dig your own grave.” “Killshot” was released on September 14th, one day after the 22nd anniversary of 2Pac’s death. On the 29th of September 2023, Duane “Keefe D” Davis was arrested for the murder of Tupac Shakur. He was allegedly given one million dollars from Diddy to kill Tupac and Suge Knight in 1996.
9. Conway The Machine – “BANG,” [Original Version] ft. Eminem (2019) Line: Yeah, shout to Puffy Combs, but f–k Revolt / Y’all are like a f–ked up remote (Ha-ha) / Now I get it why our button’s broke. Annotation: Here Eminem gives a little shout out to Puffy but disses Puff Daddy’s media production company Revolt. In particular for its association with Shady Records signee and retired rapper Joe Budden. Budden hosts his State of the Culture show on Revolt. On Killshot, Eminem insinuated as a joke that Puff Daddy had put out the hit to get 2Pac killed. Following this, Joe Budden said on his podcast that Diddy told him to leave his feud with Em to him, and that “it’s in his hands”. Also a wordplay: the “Buttons” (of a f–ked up remote) which is actually broken and Joe “Budden” who Em claims is broke (ain’t got money).
10. Eminem – “Godzilla,” ft. Juice WRLD (2020) Line: ‘Cause I caught the flack, but my dollars stacked right off the bat like a baseball / Like Kid Ink, b–ch, I got them racks with so much ease that they call me Diddy / ‘Cause I make bands and I call getting cheese a cakewalk (Cheesecake, yeah).” Annotation: Kid Ink is a play on both the artist Kid Ink and Diddy’s record label, Bad Boy Entertainment Inc.. Making The Band is a television show where Diddy forms a music group; it originally aired for 12 seasons from March 2000 to October 2009. During the 2002 season, Diddy challenged the contestants to walk five miles to grab him some cheesecake. Kid Ink is known for his signature bat-tattoo under his left eye, which represents his crew, dubbed the Batgang with whom he released the eponymous EP in August 2014. Ink responded to the name drop on Instagram by playing a snippet of this part of the track and adding a couple of mind-blown and bat-emojis. This might be also a 2012 XXL Freshman Cover reference, where you can see that Kid Ink is holding a baseball bat. On the same cover you can see that Machine Gun Kelly, one of Eminen’s later beef, is holding a golden chainsaw, that may connects the early “chainsaw” verse with this one, making it a great extended punchline.
11. Eminem – “Alfred’s Theme” (2020) Line: “But really I’m just fulfilling my wish of killing rhymes / Which is really childish and silly, but I’m really like this / I’m giving nightmares to Billie Eilish, I’m Diddy’s side b–ch / What the f–k? Hold on, wait / “I’m Diddy’s side b–ch?” Oh, I’m still east side, b–ch.” Annotation: Eminem harkens back to his September 2018 diss track “Killshot,” aimed at Machine Gun Kelly. He takes aim at Diddy several times in the song (mentioned above0. Em spins his accusations of MGK being Diddy’s side bitch on himself, before comedically rectifying the situation, apparently misreading the multisyllabic rhyme “still east side, b–ch”—housing Eminem, MGK, and Diddy—in Detroit, Cleveland, and New York, respectively.
12. Eminem – “Marsh” (2020) Line: “I could keep beefin’, f–k is the point? / I could make it really difficult for motherf–kers to come to Detroit / If you’re still looking for smoke, I already gave you an L / I’d rather just see you in Hell, but I should get Puff on the joint (Diddy) / Wait, run it back, I said give you an L, inhale / Puff on the joint, I am the blunt you avoid / Used to get jumped for my ProWings.” Annotation: Eminem is talking about Machine Gun Kelly and their beef, saying he should just get MGK’s boss, Diddy, to jump on his next track so they can diss Kelly together. Note the wordplay in the first line—a “point” is a cut of beef. Slim also uses a marijuana scheme here: smoke, L, puff, joint, blunt, etc. He uses the homophone “inhale” and “in hell.”
13. Eminem – “Antichrist” (2024) Line: “Next idiot ask me is getting his ass beat worse than Diddy did Cassie / But on the real, though (What?) / She probably ran out the room with his f–kin’ dildo (Come here) / He try to field goal punt her, she said to chill (No) / Now put it back in my a-s and get the steel toe (Ew, ah, the f–k? Yeah) Annotation: This is a reference to actress and model Cassie Ventura, an ex-girlfriend of disgraced hip hop icon Diddy. In May 2024, Diddy admitted to physically abusing Ventura after footage of him beating her in 2016 resurfaced. Em jokes that Diddy probably wanted to “punt” Cassie like a football through a field goal during s-x, prompting her to steal his dildo in retaliation. This is likely meant to allude to the popular rumor that Diddy is homosexual. “Steel toe” is shorthand for steel-toed boots, implying that Diddy is going to kick Cassie hard.
14. Eminem – “Bad One,” ft. White Gold (2024) Line 1: “And me offending you’s nothing new (Nah) / F–k it, it’s what I love to do / This is subterfuge, just to screw with you / And yeah, this much is true / This sounds like something that Puff would do / At a party with Aaron Hall ’cause I just love to f–k with you (Woah).” Line 2: “The people still seem to think that they want the old me ’til they get him / Got ’em up in arms like monkey bars / The f–king bomb, word to Puffy, I’m / I’m blowing up like Kid Cudi’s car / In front of his house where all his buddies are.” Annotation: Aaron Hall is an R&B singer who started his career in the band Guy in 1988, and had a solo career throughout the 90s. In November 2023, Liza Gardner filed a lawsuit alleging that Hall and disgraced hip-hop mogul Diddy raped her at an after-party in Hall’s apartment in the early 90s. This lawsuit was part of a series of legal proceedings in 2023 and 2024 that accused Diddy of s-xual assault on multiple people, s-x trafficking, and other criminal behavior. Em is using Hall and Diddy’s violent s-xual behavior as a metaphor for how he f–ks with the listener by offending them. The reference and comparison of himself to Diddy is in itself offensive to many. Line 2 is a reference to Diddy, allegedly rigged Kid Cudi’s car to blow up after he found out Cudi and Cassie briefly dated. Cudi went on to confirm the story, stating it was “all true.” Cassie and Diddy’s turbulent relationship was put on the forefront of media in 2024 when surveillance footage aired showing Diddy allegedly assaulting Cassie in a hotel. A scene Eminem brings up earlier in the album on “Antichrist.” (The song above)
15. Eminem – “Fuel,” ft. JID (2024) Line: “I’m like an R-A-P-E-R (Yeah) / Got so many S-As (S-As), S-As (Huh) / Wait, he didn’t just spell the word “rapper” and leave out a P, did he? (Yep) / R.I.P., rest in peace, Biggie / And Pac, both of y’all should be living (Yep) / But I ain’t tryna beef with him (Nope) / ‘Cause he might put a hit on me like, “Keefe D, get him” / And that’s the only way you’re gonna be killing me (Nah).” Annotation: Plenty to unpack here. R-A-P-P-E-R, spelled without a P, spells raper, or rapist. Em also ends the line with “P, did he”—a homophone of P. Diddy—one of the stage names of Sean John Combs. Em has mentioned Diddy before in reference to his involvement with Tupac’s death. Diddy is a controversial figure and has been sued for sexual assault on multiple occasions. He also contrasts the word rapper with raper (rapist). Em is saying that Diddy doesn’t have credibility as a rapper – so instead of forming part of the world of rappers, he should be left out, included among rapists instead. S-As, short for s-xual assaults, is a homophone of “essays” (mentioned in the previous bars) and also a homophone for “ese”, a Mexican Spanish term to refer to a friend. later Em reference to the theory that Diddy was responsible for putting a hit out on both Tupac and Biggie. Keefe D was a South Side Compton Crip who has been charged with Tupac’s Murder. Keefe was a known associate of Diddy and he hired him as security for Bad Boys West Coast tour in the height of the East Coast vs West Coast beef. Keefe claims Diddy hired him to murder Pac for a million dollars but Diddy never paid so he couldn’t be linked to the murder. Competitors have been coming at Eminem’s throne for years now. He references Biggie and Pac, who were both murdered in their prime, and says that the only way someone “kills” him would have to be a literal murder. In other words, it’s not possible for any rapper to lyrically murder Eminem.
16. Eminem – “Fuel” (Shady Edition) ft. Westside Boogie & GRIP (2024) Line: “Notorious B.I.G.’s death was the domino effects of / 2Pac’s murder, like facial tissue, whose clock should I clean next? Puff’s? / ‘Til he’s in police handcuffs, guilty, will he step up? / Like G. Dep and turn himself in, who knows all the murders they’ll pin on me next / So prepare for me to not choose none of my words carefully.” Annotation: This line is a pun that plays on the sound of “clean next,” a homophone for Kleenex, a popular facial tissue brand. Eminem extends the wordplay into a clever double entendre of “Puff’s” referencing Puff’s brand of facial tissue. Em implies he’ll continue to address The Diddler until justice is served and he is held responsible for his connection to the murder of B.I.G. and ordering the hit out on 2Pac.
LAS VEGAS, NV,U.S. — The hometown heroes IMAGINE DRAGONS are back for a concert that they call their “most important of the year.”
The Grammy Award-winning group Imagine Dragons, formed in Las Vegas, hosted their annual Tyler Robinson Foundation (TRF) Gala to raise money for families dealing with pediatric cancer. The band says this friendship started from one Facebook message and led to a difference-making movement for pediatric cancer families.
The 2024 Rise Up Gala, organized by the Tyler Robinson Foundation (TRF), features Imagine Dragons performing live. The event was scheduled for September 20, 2024, at Wynn Las Vegas.
The Tyler Robinson Foundation says its mission is to, “strengthen families financially and emotionally as they cope with the tragedy of a pediatric cancer diagnosis by offsetting out-of-pocket life expenses.”
During the performance, one of the donators in the audience offered $25,000 for donation if they could perform Eminem‘s magnum opus single “Lose Yourself,” from 2002’s “8 Mile” soundtracks album. “Lose Yourself? Oh, you have $25,000? Well, we gotta try! Don’t we?! We’ve never done this but we will try. For $25,000? pediatric cancer? let me untuck my shirt for this.I just want to be clear that we have never done this. But it’s $25,000, I can see now.” said the frontman of the group Dan Reynolds before kicking the epic performance. You can watch it below.
Eminem has been praised by fans around the world on social media after an incendiary lyrics from his song “Fuel,” featuring JID from his latest album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace), about Diddy resurfaced following his arrest this week.
Keen music lovers claimed they’ve finally realized the real meaning of one of the Detroit legend’s verses – following the shocking news that Sean Combs, known as Diddy, was charged with a slew of sex crimes. They say Eminem’s lyrics, in the song that was released back in early July, were a warning about Diddy’s sexual assault allegations.
Slim Shady expertly littered his lyrics with double meanings – a word or phrase that is open to more than one interpretation. Eminem sets up the verse by using the word ‘essay,’ then spelling out the word ‘rapper’ but he purposely leaves out an extra ‘p’ – spelling it ‘raper.’ But it’s Marshall’s next set up which left fans stunned. He twists the word ‘essay’ to refer to his friends on the West Coast as ‘ese’ – which is Spanish slang for friend. The next variation of ‘essay’ becomes ‘SA’ which is a well-known acronym used on the internet to mean sexual assault. For the final blow, the entire verse culminates in ‘wait, he didn’t spell the word “rapper” and leave out a P, did he?’ The lyric ‘leave out a P, did he?’ doubles as P. Diddy.
Fans were enthralled with Eminem’s word play, with some users pointing out the hip-hop icon had always been telling their fans about Diddy’s allegations. One person wrote: ‘Eminem and 50 Cent have been chasing P Diddy for years trying to tell us all.’ Another said: ‘Eminem has always been a lyrical genius.’ While a third added: ‘Go and listen to “Killshot” he already told us.’
The lyrics is also going viral on TikTok. One of the users uploaded a video of her reacting to Em’s lines and it already has 8 million views. Check out the video below:
In her recent episode of Just A Little Shady podcast, Hailie and her long-time friend and co-host Brittany Ednie discussed the many awkward moments at the MTV Video Music Awards and elsewhere. At one point during the conversation, Hailie briefly talked about Eminem just recently opening the 2024 MTV VMAs ceremony with “Houdini” from his 12th solo studio album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce).
“I feel like there was a lot of kind of going back to old performances and stuff. Like, even dad did the old performance, like, he brought out all the people that looks like him. The funny was, when that was going on, Alaina was also here watching with us and she looks at and she’s like ‘you should do that for the Halloween!’ Like, get a blonde wig and put on a beard and then our friend was here too and he’s like ‘you look just like him. You should have been on the stage.’ I was like ‘thank you, thanks a lot.’ So, that’s up in the air. Maybe I’ll do it and dress like that for one of the Halloween episodes. That’d be hilarious.” said Hailie.
Eminem, who appeared wearing a black T-shirt and bleached hair at the VMAs opening performance, brought out a crew of his alter egos on stage and a lookalike of his younger self, just like he did it in 2001.
The Detroit legend was later joined by Jelly Roll, who made a virtual appearance to perform their collaboration “Somebody Save Me,” the fourth single of the album. Roll was not able to attend the award in person due to his commitment to his tour but he definitely watched the live performance with his crew.
In 2014, 10 years ago, 50 Cent became the first artist to accept Bitcoin as payment for his album “Animal Ambition” — and boy, oh boy, was he a visionary?! The astronomical rise of Bitcoin has made him a multi-millionaire today (He’d be multi-millionaire without it too but hey, he added tons of Ms to his bank)
So what happened? Fif collected as many as 700 Bitcoins for his fifth album which was released on June 3, 2014. 50 Cent made about $460,000 in sales, going by Bitcoin’s per unit price of $662 at that time. Cut to 2024, and Bitcoin is a different beast now. As of this writing, one Bitcoin is equal to $62,831, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Going by this, the stash accumulated by New York legend is worth a whopping $44 million now.
Interestingly, 50 Cent, who initially confirmed the deal, denied possessing any Bitcoin in a bankruptcy filing later. The incident reiterates the long-endorsed narrative of Bitcoin being a store of value assets. Over the last 10 years, the digital asset has grown an astonishing 104 times in value, a feat that doesn’t have a parallel in modern finance. While the world’s largest cryptocurrency went through bear market cycles, the most recent of which occurred in the aftermath of the FTX collapse, it has recovered strongly every time.
You can revisit Fif’s “Animal Ambition” album below:
Television host, radio personality, producer, and television personality Carson Daly, who was a VJ on MTV’s Total Request Live (TRL) from 1998 to 2003 and a DJ for the Southern California-based radio station 106.7 KROQ-FM, was stopped by Billboard’s Tetris Kelly on the red carpet of the 2024 Emmy Awards. During the short conversation, Tetris asked the Santa Monica, California-born media legend if he had the chance to do TRL again, who he’d like to be his co-host.
“I have to say Marshall,” he said. “Because Em was there from the beginning and I saw him just the other night at the VMAs, I had been at the VMAs for years, I don’t think he’d been in a while and seeing him with all the Slim Shadys that really brought me back and we have great history and being such a fan of his beginning of the career, how it all happened at MTV, if I was to go back and do the show, it wouldn’t be right without having him there.”
Actor Mekhi Phifer, who played Future in Eminem’s 8 Mile movie, also talked about Slim Shady during his interview on the red carpet. “I worked with Eminem. When I worked with Eminem on 8 Mile, he was extremally serious and I appreciate that about him.”
WESTSIDE BOOGIE and GRIP are two names on Eminem‘s Shady Records that have shown their great lyrical abilities and they are on full display on “Fuel – Shady Edition” song from the Expanded Mourner’s Edition of Em’s “The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace)” album. If you heard the original version of the song on the album, you would remember that Eminem and JID shared the song of the same name. Overall, it’s one of the biggest highlights, if not the biggest, from the project.
WESTSIDE BOOGIE and GRIP make the most of their time on this tweaked track, rapping with elite proficiency about being counted out but never out for the count. Of course, sticking to “Fuel” “tradition”, Em’s got more bars for Diddy. We are also messing with the slightly darker and more low-key production switch-up too. In the end, we need some more listens, but the “Shady Edition” is giving the original a run for its money.
After the release of the album, both artists thanked Eminem on social media. “WOW man I’m really on an @eminem album ..Thank u @shadyrecords ..S–t wild.” he said on Instagram. “Thanks @eminem Never woulda thought.” said GRIP on Instagram. Check their posts below:
“Murdergram Deux” marks LL Cool J and Eminem’s highly anticipated first collaboration and the fourth single from LL Cool J’s long-awaited upcoming album, The FORCE. With LL’s nostalgic bravado and Eminem’s signature speedy flow and subtle wordplay, the song sees the pair boasting about their raw “unapologetic” style and credibility in the rap game. The track – a sequel to LL’s original “Murdergram” – is produced by LL’s fellow Queens rap legend and former member of A Tribe Called Quest, Q-Tip, with additional production by Eminem. Tip also produced the entire new LL album.
LL Cool J and Eminem took fans back in time as they recreated some memorable moments for their “Murdergram Deux” music video, which was released on Wednesday (Sept. 11, 2024). LL and Em traveled to Detroit to pack on the nostalgia for the JakeTheShooter-directed clip. The New York legend steps back into 1987 to remake the Bigger and Deffer (BAD) album cover art nearly four decades later.
LL puts a modern twist on his “Going Back to Cali” visual while stepping into the black-and-white fishbowl scene with his signature bucket hat. But it’s Eminem who gets the emperor treatment as he pays homage to Big Daddy Kane ’s “Long Live the Kane” album cover. The pair also salutes Death Row’s legendary VIBE cover from 1996.
Big Daddy Kane responded to Eminem on Instagram post with the caption: “AYEEE!!! Thank you @eminem for the love. This new @llcoolj project is PHENOMENAL! All my drinkers, let’s talk about that Em line ‘Crack a bottle cause this is E&J, I’m talking Me & James.'” Rapper Grafh commented: “Crazy.” Tony Yayo and legendary Chuck D commented fire emojis. Check Big Daddy Kane ‘s post below:
Eminem made his grand return to the MTV VMAs in dramatic fashion on September 11, 2024 as the night’s ceremony opener.
The show started with a quick-cut montage of people dressed up like the Detroit icon, a sea of Slim Shady clones in black crew neck T-shirts, white sneakers, dog tags, and blonde wigs. The video quickly burst into real life, as Eminem himself led the dupes through a door into the audience, and proceeded to rush the stage.
It was a reference to Marshall Mathers’ iconic performance at the 2000 VMAs, in which he led a battalion of Slim Shady clones in white T-shirts and blue jeans from the streets onto the stage. Toward the end of the first song in 2024 show’s medley, the Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) lead single “Houdini,” a spitting-image Slim Shady twin, dressed as if he’d walked back in time from the 2000 performance, joined him on stage.
The raucous energy of the ‘Houdini’ performance saw the likes of Taylor Swift and Camilla Cabello shoot to their feet and dance. But the mood grew somber and contemplative as “Houdini” transitioned into the next single from The Death of Slim Shady, “Somebody Save Me.”
Jelly Roll, who could not appear in person, was projected over the VMAs crowd onto a hanging black sphere that made him look, appropriately, like the man in moon. “Somebody save me from myself,” he sang, as Eminem paced the stage. “Me from myself. I’ve spent so long livin’ in hell.” The second half of Eminem’s opener saw him commanding the stage with the same confidence he’s always possessed, but with a new, more measured sense of security. He rapped to fans at the left and right flanks of the stage about his children, Hailie, Alaina, and Stevie.
Then actual home movies and photos began to play in a slideshow above the stage. As Jelly Roll began to croon the crescendo of the song, Eminem retired to an armchair placed next to the slideshow, as if stewing in his private feelings in a makeshift living room.
Jelly Roll watched the entire Eminem show with his teams and the reactions was shared to the public on social media. Jelly can be seeing watching the performance, saying “This is f–king crazy!” before reciting the lyrics of Eminem’s verse on “Somebody Save Me.” You can watch the entire video below:
