One thing we're going to see a lot of over the next four years are musicians using their craft to write politically-conscious music. Rapper Eminem is leaving behind his bad-boy past and is embracing his voice in Donald Trump's America — and featuring some of today's most potent voices, like Beyoncé, to get his message across.
Eminem (real name: Marshall Mathers III) previously captured the country's burning Trump dissatisfaction with a scathing freestyle at the BET Hip Hop Awards in October called "The Storm." Now, he's taken it up a level by recording a new anti-Trump anthem with none other than Alicia Keys, which appears on his new album Revival.
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It's a brutal takedown of the historically unpopular President. In the song, Eminem doesn't just vent his anger with Trump, he cites specific policies and statement by the President that he finds objectionable. "Why you think banned transgenders from the military with a tweet?/ He’s tryin’ to divide us/ This shit’s like a cult," he says, while Keys croons in the background.
He further punches back with lyrics like "This man just praised a statue of General Lee/‘Cause he generally hates the black people, degrades hispanics" and even references Colin Kaepernick, the former football player who protested police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem. Kaepernick has been a target of Trump's ire. "Cause like a dictionary, things are looking up/ So much, got a sprained neck, know we would rise up/ Against this train wreck and take a stand/Even if it mean sittin’ when they raise the flag."
Ultimately, the song ends on a hopeful note. Eminem believes that Trump represents a side of America that he does not know, and does not like, but wants to see this country renewed in the wake of this presidency. It's a fascinating change for an artist who has previously been somewhat of a chaotic nihilist in his music, but when he raps "A sacred land/We cherish and stand for, so/Hands in the air, let’s hear it for/The start of a brand new America."
You can listen to the song below.
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