The Game Goes Off On Eminem In Absurd 10-Minute Diss Track “The Black Slim Shady”

The Game Goes Off On Eminem In Absurd 10-Minute Diss Track “The Black Slim Shady”

The Game, an extremely silly rapper, has an extremely silly new album called Drillmatic – Heart Vs. Mind out today. It’s 30 tracks over two hours, with tons of guests: Kanye West (twice), Lil Wayne, A$AP Rocky, Big Sean, Rick Ross, Ice-T, Pusha T, Cam’ron, etc. There’s an interlude called “DRAKE with the BRAIDS” that’s literally just a voicemail of Drake explaining that he’s too busy to give the Game a feature. But the song that’s already got the most attention — the song that seems explicitly designed to get the most attention — is “The Black Slim Shady,” a 10-minute diss track aimed at the Game’s former collaborator Eminem.

The Game has a long and tortured relationship with Eminem’s buddies Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, but his history with Eminem is limited. Em produced and rapped on “We Ain’t,” one of the songs from the Game’s 2004 debut The Documentary. On that song, Game rapped about Eminem being “one of the greatest.” But as Pitchfork points out, the Game has been teasing an issue with Eminem for a few months. In an interview back in April, Game said, “Because 50 can’t rap, so I’ve gotta go a level up and challenge the better rapper… Nobody really takes shots at Eminem off this pre-conceived notion that he’s better than everybody. Well, I want action, and I want it today.”

“The Black Slim Shady” is a full-on Eminem parody, with Game imitating Em’s voice and cadences, making constant references to Eminem songs. There’s a narrative spine to the song. In a number of mid-song skits, we learn that the Game is taking an Uber to Eminem’s house in Detroit, and the driver is Matthew, the little brother from Em’s song “Stan.” On the track Game namechecks Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, and he also implies that he’s kidnapped Eminem’s daughter.

The Game talks about Eminem’s mother: “She was only 15, so how could one not sympathize with her havin’ you as a teen?/ She had to lose herself in the moment, give up her dreams/ Just to see her son out here lookin’ like a w****r in jeans.” He accuses Eminem of racial envy and cultural appropriation: “All I got is my word, my dick and my Mac 10/ One thing you can never have is my motherfuckin’ Black skin.” He gets in at least one good punchline: “I was in the white Rolls Royce with five nines/ When you was pretendin’ to be the white Royce Da 5’9″.”

Game ends the song by nakedly begging for relevance: “Mr. Shady, don’t be shady/ Pick that pen up, don’t be lazy.” That last part really illuminates the motive of this whole stunt. The Game figures that he can make some noise if he kicks off a feud with Eminem. He might not be wrong. We’ll see if Eminem takes the bait. Listen to “The Black Slim Shady” below.

The last time Eminem got into a rap beef, his song “Killshot” went top 10, and his target Machine Gun Kelly almost immediately reinvented himself as a pop-punker.

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