Entertainment
For the first time since 2011, Eminem performed on the BET Hip Hop Awards. And as you likely already heard, the Real Slim Shady used his time to throw shade at President Donald Trump. From a parking garage in Detroit, Eminem called out Trump in a blistering four-and-a-half minute a cappella performance known as "The Storm." The rapper condemned the president and his actions, or more specifically, his inaction. He also went after Trump supporters. Ultimately, Eminem's Trump freestyle asked his fans to choose sides. Yet whether you realize it or not, Eminem has gone after Trump before, often using Trump's own words against him.
This time, Eminem really got a reaction for his diss track. Billboard reported that more than 2 million people tweeted about Eminem's BET cypher. The politically charged freestyle had people split down party lines with support coming from LeBron James, Ellen DeGeneres, and Colin Kaepernick, who Eminem raised a fist for. "I appreciate you Eminem," Kaepernick tweeted. Meanwhile, Trump supporters weren't too happy with Eminem's expletive-filled takedown of the current POTUS. Some called Eminem a hypocrite for condemning Trump's extravagance while he's a wealthy entertainer himself. Others vowed to never listen to Eminem again.
With such a split, it's worth taking a closer look at Eminem's criticism of the president, especially since the two seemed to be on good terms back in 2004 when Trump made a cameo in the Eminem MTV concert special, The Shady National Convention. Trump even jokingly endorsed Slim Shady as a presidential candidate during the special. “Donald Trump is telling you right now Slim Shady is a winner," Trump said then. "He’s got brains, he’s got guts and he’s got Donald Trump’s vote.”
However, Eminem wouldn't show the same support during the 2016 election, and he wasn't the only rapper who went after Trump. According to CNN, between 1989 and 2016, Trump was mentioned at least 318 times in rap lyrics, but after announcing his candidacy for president, 83 songs between 2015 and 2016 mentioned Trump, most of which criticized him.
Over the last two years, Eminem has come up with various ways to go after the man who's said he's going to Make America Great Again. Take a closer look at how Eminem references Trump's worst moments over the past two years.
1
"He'll just gas his plane up and fly around 'til the bombing stops"
In his BET cypher, Eminem points out that Trump seems flippant with his decisions, "a kamikaze," who's going to start a nuclear war and let everyone else clean up his mess.
2
"Trump, when it comes to giving a sh*t, you're stingy as I am"
To go after Trump, Eminem didn't shy away from the fact that they have things in common. Perhaps a callback to the fact that before Trump was POTUS, Eminem didn't seem to have a problem with him. But, even Eminem can't stand back and pretend he doesn't care what's going on.
3
"Racism's the only thing he's fantastic for / 'Cause that's how he gets his rock off"
Eminem's clever nod to the Fantastic Four's The Thing makes the case that Trump isn't some great hero, but someone who's here to tear things down.
4
"Instead of talking Puerto Rico or gun reform for Nevada / All these horrible tragedies and he's bored and would rather / Cause a Twitter storm with the Packers"
Eminem remarked on Trump's apparent inability to handle the real problems Americans are facing, by instead taking on seemingly petty fights with the NFL over whether or not players are kneeling during the national anthem.
5
"Unless you're a POW who's tortured and battered / 'Cause to him, you're zeros / 'Cause he don't like his war heroes captured"
To call out Trump's apparent hypocrisy when it comes to support for the troops, he throws his own words right back at him. Trump might talk a big talk about how kneeling is a sign of disrespect to soldiers who fight for it, he's disrespected war heroes like Arizona Senator John McCain for being a POW during the Vietnam War.
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said in 2015, according to Politico. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
6
"Then says he wants to lower our taxes / Then who's gonna pay for his extravagant trips / Back and forth with his fam to his golf resorts and his mansions?"
Trump is currently pushing his tax reform plan, which he says is "pro-family, pro-business and pro-growth." But CBS reported that when Trump previewed his plan in Pennsylvania his goals "only apply to company owners and the most wealthy members of society."
So he probably won't have to worry about funding those trips to his properties. According to TrumpGolfCount.com, he's made 67 trips to his golf courses, which reportedly cost tax payers over $73 million.
7
"Fork and a dagger in this racist 94-year-old grandpa / Who keeps ignorin' our past historical, deplorable factors"
After the violence in Charlottesville that led to the death of Heather Heyer, Trump didn't directly condemn those who marched with tiki torches through the city spouting anti-Semitic messages, carrying Confederate flags and Nazi paraphernalia. Instead, he said that there was violence on "both sides."
"You had some very bad people in that group," he said during a press conference in August. "But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of — to them — a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name."
While Trump said the march was about protecting Southern culture, Eminem disagreed, pointing out that "from his endorsement of Bannon / Support for the Klansmen / Tiki torches in hand for the soldier that's black," Trump had made it clear he had chosen a side.
8
"A f*ckin' loose cannon who's blunt with his hand on the button / Who doesn't have to answer to no one — great idea!"
In his 2016 freestyle track "Campaign Speech," Eminem made reference to Trump being a dangerous candidate who was in over his head. But, he took aim at those who thought he would be a good leader. Clearly, he hasn't changed his opinion on Trump.
9
"I'm anti, can't no government handle a commando / Your man don't want it, Trump's a b*tch! / I'll make his whole brand go under"
On Big Sean's "No Favors" from earlier this year, Eminem made it clear that he was not a Trump supporter and was hoping to use his power to take him down.
It seems Eminem's a man on a mission and it's likely his BET freestyle isn't the last time he'll use Trump's name in vain.
