The Game has returned with his 10th album, ‘DRILLMATIC Heart Vs. Mind’, which features a 10-minute diss against Eminem titled ‘The Black Slim Shady’.
The scorching track opens with a skit led by an Uber driver named Matthew, who’s revealed later in the song to be the brother of Stan, the subject of Eminem’s titular 2000 hit. With incendiary bars, The Game delivers a litany of deep references to Eminem’s career, catalogue and personal life, taking aim at his history of addiction, his family, and the debate over whether Eminem is guilty of cultural appropriation.
In a standout moment, The Game satirises Eminem’s flow on his 2002 song ‘Lose Yourself’, rapping: “Oh, he goes platinum / And, oh, I’m on the ‘Math with him / He got all the Blackest friends / He wants to be African / Me, left for dead on the ‘Doctor’s Advocate’ / Dre never executive-produced it, I just imagined it.”
Elsewhere in the track, The Game fires quips at several of Eminem’s associates – among them 50 Cent (with whom The Game already has a storied beef), Dr. Dre and Paul Rosenberg (Eminem’s manager). He closes the song out by encouraging Eminem to hit back with a diss of his own: “Mr. Shady, don’t be shady / Pick that pen up, don’t be lazy / Call up Dre and get that Dre beat / Jump off stage if shit get crazy.”
Have a listen to ‘The Black Slim Shady’ below:
Back in March, The Game hit out at Eminem during his appearance on the Drink Champs podcast, claiming he’s a better rapper and would happily go up against him in a VERZUZ battle.
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‘DRILLMATIC Heart Vs. Mind’ was released today (August 12) via 100 Entertainment/MNRK, and features 31 tracks spanning 119 minutes. Taking up 10 and a half of those, ‘The Black Slim Shady’ is the lengthiest song on the disc, and is more than twice as long as its two runners up – the A$AP Rocky-assisted ‘Money Cash Clothes’ and ‘Ruby’s Rose’ (which features Twista and Jeremih) – combined.
The first preview of ‘DRILLMATIC’ landed back in January with the Kanye West joint ‘Eazy’. The song was controversial for West’s verses, which took aim at his estranged ex-wife (Kim Kardashian) and her then-boyfriend (Saturday Night Live mainstay Pete Davidson), and also caught the ire of PETA for its graphic cover art.
Two videos for the song were released – both animated, one with clay figures and the other with 3D avatars, both featuring violent attacks taken out on Pete Davidson – and West appeared onstage with The Game to perform it at the ‘DRILLMATIC’ album launch last month. The second ‘DRILLMATIC’ single, ‘Violence’, was released back in June.
The full album features a wide range of big-name collabs – in addition to the aforementioned A$AP Rocky, Twista/Jeremih and Ye joints, artists with guest spots on ‘DRILLMATIC’ include Ice-T, 2 Chainz, Lil Wayne, Big Sean, Rick Ross, YG, Pusha T, French Montana, Meek Mill, Ty Dolla $ign, Roddy Ricch, Fivio Foreign and YoungBoy Never Broke Again. West also makes a second appearance on the song ‘Fortunate’ alongside Dreezy and CHILLER.
Meanwhile, last week saw Eminem drop a previously unreleased collaboration with 50 Cent, titled ‘Is This Love (’09)’, which was produced by Dr. Dre. It appears on Eminem’s just-released compilation album, ‘Curtain Call: The Hits’.