Eminem and Kid Rock’s Relationship, Explained: How “Heal My Faith” Happened

In 1990, Kid Rock was holding an in-store event at the Dance Room at Record Time, a Detroit-area record shop, to promote his debut album, Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast, when a blue-eyed local rapper stepped up and challenged him to a battle.

That rapper was Eminem. Rock was a regional name with a major-label deal; Em was unknown. Neither knew it yet, but the moment would spark a friendship that’s now lasted more than three decades.

Thirty-six years later, they’re still tight, even after both reached massive heights and ended up on opposite ends of the political spectrum. That divide came back into focus when Kid Rock announced that his Christian album, Halfway 2 Jesus, would feature Eminem on “7 Sins.” Em is no longer on the song—Lil Wayne is—but it’s a good excuse to look back at the highs and lows of their relationship.

“He was really cool about it. He goes, ‘Today is my day, your day might come. But this is my in-store right now,’” Bunner said. “‘I heard some of your stuff and you go way too fast. You need to enunciate. When you enunciate, people understand you, and maybe you can have an in-store like me.’”

Both had long roads ahead.

Kid Rock was dropped by his major label, Jive, and embraced the indie grind, his sound gradually shifting from straight hip-hop toward rock. His commercial breakthrough didn’t come until 1998’s Devil Without a Cause, which went diamond. Eminem spent most of the ’90s in obscurity, releasing his debut, Infinite, in 1996 to little fanfare. Things didn’t change until he met Dr. Dre and signed to Aftermath. His major-label debut, The Slim Shady LP, arrived in 1999, and he went on to become one of the most famous rappers in the world.

Fittingly, Bunner is thanked in the liner notes of both Eminem’s and Kid Rock’s albums.

Kid Rock recorded Devil Without a Cause at the White Room in Detroit, then took it to the Mix Room in Los Angeles to be mixed. Another Detroit rapper happened to be there finishing his own album: Eminem, who was putting the final touches on The Slim Shady LP. Em asked Kid Rock to add scratches to “My Fault,” and in exchange, he jumped on “Fuck Off.” It was the start of their musical relationship, though not a particularly prolific one.

And although Kid Rock made an appearance in Eminem’s "Berzerk” video in 2013, they haven’t released much music together since. Until now, the closest thing to a reunion was Trick-Trick’s 2013 song “From the D,” which featured both Em and Kid Rock, though the two never recorded it together. As Trick explained to Metro Times in 2015, it was a mashup.

“It was actually a mashup of a record called ‘Together Forever’ with Esham, Kid Rock, and Proof,” he said. “Then me and Em did a record called ‘Who Want It,’ so I took Em and Kid Rock’s vocals off those records and created a whole new record.”

So Em fans in particular were confused, and Kid Rock seemed to want to get ahead of it. Complex got an excerpt from the album’s foreword, and in it Kid Rock explains the idea and intention behind the collaboration.

“I’m proud of the guests who joined me, especially my old friend Eminem,” he writes. “His verse speaks to something we’ve talked about and that really needs to be heard: we differ politically and on other things, but we’ve stayed friends through it all.”

“We hope that sets an example for people who’ve lost friends or stopped talking to family because they think differently,” he concludes.

The fact that Em and Kid Rock have maintained a friendship despite their differences in politics has been known for a while now. In 2009, Em talked about their relationship in the Metro Times, saying:

“I mean, you know, we hang out every now and then. We probably haven’t hung out during the past year or so. Maybe two years. But, you know, I see him quite a bit. He’ll come over my house, I’ve played basketball with him, you know? But, yeah, me and Bob are pretty good friends.”

When the tracklist was released, Em was featured on “7 Sins.” But on Wednesday, October 14, Kid Rock posted a video addressing the controversy and a change he’d made to the album. He took Em off “7 Sins,” replaced him with another “old friend,” Lil Wayne, and put Em on a song called “Heal My Faith” instead.

“I just want to reiterate that thinking differently and having the freedom to do so is what makes this country great,” he said. He went on to say, “The musicians, the songwriters, the engineers, everybody involved with this record, we all don’t think the same…plenty of us think differently…we’re able to come together and make this beautiful body of work that I’m so proud of.”

As it turns out, a bunch of changes happened at the last minute. According to the Detroit Free Press, “Heal My Faith” came about last year, when Kid Rock was struggling with what to do with the material. He gave it to Em hoping for some help writing it, and Em sent back an entire verse, which Kid Rock wasn’t expecting. Rock sat on it.

“We’ve been friends for like 40 years, and I really didn’t want to drag him into my political world,” Rock said.

The two linked up again months later, and Rock played him some of the album. When they got to “7 Sins,” Em was in on the track right away, according to Rock: “Man, could you send me that? I want to try something on that.”

Em sent a verse, and they agreed that would be the one on the album, since neither wanted Em on two songs and both verses were about the same thing: their friendship.

Then, at the very end, Em hit Kid Rock: “Hey, man, when’s the last time you listened to that first song?” He suggested “Heal My Faith” be the song instead. Rock agreed, pulled the “7 Sins” verse, and scrambled for a replacement. He reached out to Lil Wayne and Chuck D but didn’t hear back. Then, at the eleventh hour, he got a message from Wayne: “Holler at me.” And Wayne knocked out his verse.

Kid Rock also talked to the Free Press about all the discourse.

“If there are two people who understand the noise—who have created a lot of noise in their careers—it’s us,” Rock said. “You’re upset that two old friends did something together? I mean, you’re essentially confirming the problem to us. And he understands that. We both understand that.”

Em’s verse is actually quite good, with the rapper telling the story of Kid Rock popping up to the release party for The Slim Shady EP in ‘97. Later, he raps about the two of them recording at the same studio and doing “Fuck Off” for Rock’s Devil Without a Cause, and that foundation being why they’re still so close.

At one point he raps, “From shock rap to the rock rap, my homie and me / He is my brother, not my political enemy.”

Here is the verse in full:

“I probably used to bump The Polyfuze Method

Like every two seconds, the "Prodigal Son" was a huge record

Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast, this rhyme reminds me

The year was 1997 when I was grinding

A silver lining, finally, a tiny light is shining

But it's so bright, it's blinding, yeah

The Viper Room release party for my CD

The Slim Shady EP, Kid came to see me

I was nobody, he came to my show to see me

Was dope 'cause it seemed like a sign from Jehovah to me

'Cause then I got signed, Dre ultimately

Saved my life, but what Kid did emotionally

When he showed up was he gave me hope, told me to keep

Going, I did, fast-forwarded three

Months later, we both in California and we

Are staying at the same apartments, The Oakwoods, and he

Was recording at the same studio, could it be

Another sign? I don't believe in coinci-dinks

Brought us closer to each other, we did the "Fuck Off" track

And never got the fuck off track, we both from the D

And I never forgot that, so when you see

Someone like me having Rock's back 'cause both of us be

Off our rockers, how far back we go 'cause if we

Were tippin' over, R.I.P. to Joe to the C.​

From shock rap to the rock rap, my homie and me

He is my brother, not my political enemy

B.O. to the B., we wrote this for those who believe

In G.O. to the D, however you voted or lean

Liberal and evangelical can agree

It's God first, home of the free, Saint Joseph to V.-.A., shout-out to Nashville, good old Tennessee

But don't need a Bible Belt to turn the Devil over my knee”

Listen to the song below.”