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While the country has been engulfed in dealing with disaster relief, NFL protests and the occasional post-tweet firestorm from our orange-tinted POTUS, one tiny glimmer of positivity has come from the music world.
Over the last few weeks, rumors have spread like the unfortunate California wildfire with regards to Detroit's finest, Eminem, who has reportedly been back in the studio working on his ninth studio album.
Last week however, longtime producer Denaun Porter "confirmed" in an interview with XXL Magazine that the album is "finished," with a possible release set for later this fall. This came as big news to fans, who haven't heard from the emcee since his last release in 2013.
So naturally, we expected the next time we'd see Eminem's name in the headlines it would be for an official announcement or release regarding his forthcoming project.
To our pleasure, however, Eminem's resurgence into the limelight comes at the expense of none other than Donald Trump, who was eviscerated by Mr. Slim Shady at last night's BET Awards.
Only a few days out, it was announced that Eminem would be featured on the awards show with a special cypher/freestyle, presumably to hype up the new album.
On a night meant to honor so many influential and inspiring African-American performers for their musical achievements over the past year, Eminem's four-and-a-half minute tirade was set on defending their equality, equality that is disparaged daily by a "ratings" President.
A President who, when he isn't tweeting at athletes, prefers to sympathize with white supremacists groups in Charlottesville and ignore stranded people of color suffering in Puerto Rico.
Taped days before in a vacant Detroit parking garage, Eminem opens his acapella freestyle ominously with, "It's the calm before the storm right here," a phrase used vaguely by the President as he met with military advisers last week.
Sporting a light beard, the now 44-year old rapper tore into the president with both rhyme and wit, covering everything from North Korea to Twitter feuds.
"We better give Obama props 'cause what we got in office now is a kamikaze that will probably cause a nuclear holocaust while the drama pops, and he waits for shit to quiet down, he'll just gas his plane up and fly around till the bombing stops.”
In a raw and spellbinding performance, the hooded rapper ponders in rapid-fire about the current state of our country.
"Intensities heightened, tensions are risin’. Trump, when it comes to giving a shit, you’re stingy as I am… Yeah, sick tan. That’s why he wants us to disband. ‘Cause he can not withstand. The fact we’re not afraid of Trump."
Playing off of Trump's explicit misappropriation of attention towards whether or not athletes stand for the anthem, Eminem called on not only athletes but all Americans to stand up… against Trump.
"The rest of America stand up. We love our military and we love our country but we f***ing hate Trump."
He even called out his own fans that may have dual interests, saying," I’m drawing in the sand a line: you’re either for or against. And if you can’t decide who you like more and you’re split. On who you should stand beside, I’ll do it for you with this:“Fuck you!”
The freestyle has been dubbed "The Storm (Freestyle)" by Eminem, and is featured on his Twitter account. It is not confirmed whether or not it will be featured on his new album, which is now rumored to be released in November.
What we do know for sure, Slim Shady and good ole' Donald wont be hitting the golf course together anytime soon.
This article appears in Oct 5-12, 2017.