Eminem Gets Political in a New Collab With Kid Cudi
Eminem has been hip-hops leading provocateur for over 20 years now, and in his late forties, he shows no signs of slowing down. With so much going on in the worlds of sports and entertainment, the rapper recently set his sites on an unlikely subject for his ire. In the song “The Adventures of Moon Man and Slim Shady,” the rapper performs alongside Kid Cudi. It hits on several hot-button issues, including Brees’ controversial statements about the national anthem.
The Eminem show
From the streets of Detroit, Marshall Mathers, performing under his famous stage name Eminem, made his name on the underground rap scene thanks to his intricate rhymes and scansion. After getting picked up by Dr. Dre, however, Eminem went from overnight success story to hip hop royalty, and his first slew of albums became instant classics.
From the Marshall Mathers LP to the Slim Shady LP, Eminem’s style consisted of fast rhymes, endless pop culture references, and an affinity to toe the line between humor and offense.
As a result, as big as he got in the eyes of a young generation of fans, he also drew the ire of people who found his lyrics, which often contained misogyny, homophobia, and support for socially unacceptable behavior, offensive.
This controversy only made Eminem bigger, however, and by the early 2000s, he was one of the biggest names in music. Eminem was not only behind several multi-platinum, award-winning albums, but he was also something bigger.
From his hit film 8 Mile to his non-stop place in the cultural circle, it was hard to bring him down. Unfortunately, the rapper grew dependent on pills and drugs, and his output began to suffer.
Now clean, Eminem has spent the last few years rebuilding his image and trying to grow. Still controversial at his worst and thought-provoking at his best, his latest song captures what makes him a favorite and a pariah, depending on who’s asked.
“The Adventures of Moon Man and Slim Shady”
With so much civil unrest across the world, Eminem has been using his voice not to make heavy-handed and cartoonish rap songs, but politically charged anthems about the state of our modern world. According to Complex, in his collaboration with Kid Cudi, he takes no prisoners as he speaks about the Black Lives Matter movement through the lens of George Floyd’s murder and the rampant pandemic that’s still putting the nation on hold.
However, one particular lyric has the rapper taking aim at those who refuse to hear the other side and use their voices to promote agendas that actively hurt the civil rights journey. While innocuous at a glance, the lyrics challenge a Super Bowl-winning quarterback for things he said:
Got a lil’ green (Yeah), but I don’t do weed (Nope)
Purp nor lean (Nah), that’s Tunechi (Yeah)
That’s New Orleans (Yeah), f*** Drew Brees (Yeah
The lyrics were a reference to the quarterback’s insistence that people who kneel during the National Anthem are disrespecting those who fought for freedom.
Drew Brees catches a stray
In an interview with Yahoo!, Brees spoke about players like Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the National Anthem.
“I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country,” Brees told the. Website.
However, while his comments were controversial, Brees did come out later and say that he spoke too soon and was willing to walk back on his comments after speaking with teammates and those involved in the current movement.
Still, while there is so much division in America, hearing a high-profile aim seemingly ignore the problems going on in lieu of popular talking points was a bad look.
Eminem is never going to care what people say about him. Brees, like so many others in the last 20-plus years, was simply the latest victim of lyrical attacks by a man who is now one of hip-hop’s elder statesmen. Still, this situation shows just how quickly words can be used against someone if they are not careful about what they say.
