Eminem fans were given plenty to get them through the weekend on Friday. In addition to dropping his new Beyoncé-assisted single "Walk on Water," Em joined producer Rick Rubin and journalist Malcolm Gladwell for the inaugural episode of the new Broken Record podcast.

During their nine-minute chat, Em and Rubin discussed the very personal themes at the center of the Revival single's lyrics and how new waves of hip-hop have left Shady feeling frustrated. "When you start out in your career, you have a blank canvas, so you can paint anywhere that you want because the shit ain't been painted on yet," Em, at around the 1:27 mark, said of the freedom of being an artist on the rise. "And then your second album comes out, and you paint a little more and you paint a little more by the time you get to your seventh and eighth album you've already painted all over it. There's nowhere else to paint.​"

For "Walk on Water," Em was influenced by both the pressure of divided fan expectations with each new release, as well as so-called "mumble rap." According to Rubin, Em first heard the chorus—written by co-producer Skylar Grey—by chance. Rubin and Em had just been discussing mumble rap, and the chorus words stuck with him. "For him, it's a little bit of culture shock because there's a new wave of hip-hop that's not really what he's about, so he was just talking to me about how that felt," Rubin said around the 3:50 mark. "I could see he was frustrated by it."

"It's a very mortal song," Em said at the 8:30 mark of his intentions for the track. "It's, you know, not being Superman, and what if I can't come up with the best shit I've ever wrote every single time?" Rubin, sensing that he might have "the same feelings" expressed in Em's verses, played Jay Z a rough version of the track prior to Beyoncé's involvement. He loved it.

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Watch Zane Lowe’s Hour Long Interview With Rick Rubin

The final version of "Walk on Water" was captured at Rubin's Shangri-La studio in Malibu, the coveted minimalist-friendly spot where pitch-perfect creations by everyone from Adele to Third Eye Blind have been recorded.

Eminem and Rick Rubin also discussed first rhymes, 2Pac, Ice-T, Beastie Boys, Frank Zappa, and more.

Check out the full conversation below.