Late Thursday night, Eminem dropped a new project out of the blue, and after a few listens it's clear he's got a lot to get off his chest. Throughout Kamikaze, the Detroit native mentions a number of rappers and comes after those who criticized his previously released album, Revival. Lil Pump, Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean, J. Cole, Tyler, the Creator, Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Yachty, Lil Wayne, Ja Rule, Joe Budden, and others are name-dropped on Kamikaze, and while some get a positive mention, there are also a handful of shots.
On the opening track, "The Ringer," Eminem takes a jab at Lil Yachty:
Get this fuckin' audio out my audio, adios
I can see why people like Lil Yachty, but not me though
Not even dissin', it just ain't for me
All I am simply is just an MC
He continues:
Lil Pump, Lil Xan imitate Lil Wayne
I should aim at everybody in the game, pick a name
I'm fed up with being humble
And rumor is I'm hungry
I'm sure you heard rumblings
I heard you wanna rumble like an empty stomach
I heard your mumbling but it's jumbled in mumbo-jumbo
The era that I'm from will pummel you
That's what it's comin' to
What the fuck are you gonna do, where you runnin' to?
I'm gonna crumble you and I'll take a number two
And dump on you if you ain't Joyner
If you ain't Kendrick or Cole or Sean then you're a goner
On "Greatest," he mentions longtime associates and friends Royce da 5'9" and Denaun Porter:
Revival didn't go viral!
Denaun and Royce tell me that I should take the high road
Elsewhere on "Greatest," he fires back at Ja Rule after Ja brought up Kim and Hailie on "Loose Change" back in 2002.
God forbid I forget, go and jump out the window
Somebody better child-proof it
'Cause if I lose it we can rewind to some old Ja Rule shit
And I can remind motherfuckers how I do shit
On "Lucky You" featuring Joyner Lucas, Eminem goes after mumble rappers:
And mumble, oh fuck it
I'm goin' for the jugular
This shit is a circus
You clowns that are comin' up don't give an ounce of mother fuck
about the ones that were here before you that make raps
On "Stepping Stone," Eminem talks about Proof's passing and D12 breaking up.
I just noticed the oomf was gone when we go in the booth
'Cause the truth is the moment that Proof died, so did the group
[...]
I know we kept up our hopes
But the longer we spend livin' this lie that we live
The less is left for closure, so let's let this go
It's not goodbye to our friendship, but D12 is over
On "Not Alike" featuring Royce, Eminem has some words for Machine Gun Kelly:
But next time you don't gotta use Tech N9ne if you wanna come at me with a sub-machine gun
And I'm talking to you but you already know who the fuck you are, Kelly
I don't use sublims and sure as fuck don't sneak-diss
But keep commenting on my daughter Hailie
On "Kamikaze," it sounds like Eminem makes reference to Chance the Rapper and Drake.
Put me on a track, I go cray on it like a color book
You got some views, but you're still below me
Mine are higher so when you compare our views you get overlooked
And I don't say a hook unless I wrote the hook
Nearly 24 hours after the album dropped, Paul Rosenberg hopped on Twitter to say that Eminem wasn't taking shots at Drake.
He isn’t dissing Drake. Dead that.
On "Fall," well, just take a look for yourself:
These rappers are like Hunger Games
One minute, they’re mocking JAY
Next minute, they get their style from Migos
Or they copy Drake
The album, which was executive produced by Dr. Dre and Eminem, boasts features from Joyner Lucas, Jessie Reyez, and Royce da 5'9". Take a listen to it below.
