Kid Rock Says Reaction to Eminem Joining Him for New Song Is 'Confirming the Problem to Us'

Yes, Eminem and Kid Rock, both closely tied to the Detroit area, have a new song on the way. But there’s a good bit more to the story than that, and not just for the obvious reasons.

First came word that Em would be joining Rock on a track titled “7 Sins,” leading many Slim Shady fans to react with outright disbelief. Despite speculation among some that the news could have been the work of a nefarious fabricator, Complex later confirmed the news as wholly legit through a rep from Em’s camp.

The confusion, of course, stems from the glaringly apparent fact that Em and Rock, to say the absolute least, do not see eye to eye on where the U.S. is headed. Rock, for example, was spotted as recently as this month stumping for Trump in Tennessee ahead of midterm elections, while Em has been a vocal critic of the MAGA infrastructure at large.

As it turns out, Em will actually not be appearing on “7 Sins” after all. On Wednesday (Oct. 14), Rock informed fans of a down-to-the-wire change: Lil Wayne would appear on “7 Sins,” with Em moved to a different track, “Heal My Faith.” Both songs will appear on Rock’s new album Halfway to Jesus, out Oct. 17.

Brian McCollum, writing for Detroit Free Press, has now shared some insight into the fourth-quarter tweaks behind both “7 Sins” and “Heal My Faith.” Rock is also quoted in the resulting piece, seen in full here, as reiterating what he’s billed as a mutual intention behind the Em collaboration.

“If there are two people who understand the noise — who have created a lot of noise in their careers — it’s us,” Rock told Freep this week. “We understand [that] empty wagons make the most noise, right? Who are these [complainers]? … 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.”

This is in line with what Rock says in the album’s foreword, as seen in an excerpt recently shared with Complex.

“I’m proud of the guests who joined me, especially my old friend Eminem,” Rock wrote in the foreword, as previously reported. "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.”

To be clear, Em and Rock have collaborated in the past, including on the 1998 Devil Without a Cause track “Fuck Off.” The Halfway 2 Jesus collab also isn’t the first time the two have showed mutual respect for each other, vastly different ideologies notwithstanding.