Eminem Insults Caitlyn Jenner, Returns to Tired Old Territory in Freestyle
Eminem has been using his rapid-fire verbal skills to habitually skewer celebrities since the late '90s — but his searing lines can still draw controversy, and he proved it in a six-minute freestyle on Sway Calloway's "Sway In the Morning" show yesterday (July 23).
The rapper appeared on the radio show to promote the film Southpaw, the soundtrack for which he executive produced. Fun fact: Eminem was initially meant for the lead role before Jake Gyllenhaal was cast, the Daily News reports, because it was partially inspired by the obstacles the rapper overcame — not to mention the way Em continues to position himself as a defiant underdog in his songs, despite the fact that he is now very popular and rich.
Like most of Eminem's verses, the session is a deft and dizzying collage of brags and insults and, predictably, it takes him less than 90 seconds to hilaaariously rap about hitting a woman: "I'm coming through like a wrecking ball / You would swear I think highly of Miley / And I respect her, the way I backhand her." He makes some confusing, outdated references to Cindy Crawford and Foxy Brown, then says he wants Amanda Bynes to perform oral sex on him (um, she's really more of a Drake girl).
Eminem stans eagerly awaiting Mr. Mather's take on Caitlyn Jenner weren't disappointed. "I invented prick, and that’s a true statement, I see the b---tch in you Caitlyn / I keep the pistol tucked like Bruce Jenner’s dick." But then, in a rare lapse of affected intolerance, Em backtracks a bit. Sort of: "No disrespect though, not at all, no pun intended / that took a lot of balls." That "takedown" was probably inevitable, and likely passes for clever to some.
He then claims fallout from Azealia Banks' tweeted displeasure at last year's controversial Eminem-hitting-a-woman lyric ("I’ll punch Lana Del Rey right in the face twice / Like Ray Rice in broad daylight"), rapping, "Oh and Azealia Banks, just wanna tell you thanks / Now I got trailer skanks sending me ballpark franks in the mail as pranks /And hot pockets, thanks a lot." Sounds delicious.
Eminem also takes shots at Bill Cosby and Donald Trump, among others, and you can listen to the entire ramble in the video above. Most of the name-checked celebrities have abstained from responding on their mention, but the always-outspoken Azealia Banks found the time to issue her honest and entertaining take:
Eminem wishes people wouldn't take his endorsements of man-on-woman violence so darn seriously, saying at the end of the interview, "it's all in fun, man," and then Sway Calloway and Peter Rosenberg both audibly marvel at the very idea of everyone taking his "funny" freestyles to heart.
Though, by that logic, couldn't anyone spew whatever hate speech they wanted and then call it a "funny freestyle"? Where does "artistic liberty" end and "endorsing the perpetuation of a common, destructive social problem" begin? Eminem's (lucrative) zest for lady face-punch raps will likely continue for as long as his career does. But in a world that's beginning to celebrate Caitlyn Jenner's call for transgender tolerance and takes even its non-famous citizens to task for questionable tweets, will more people begin to hear Eminem's purported genius differently?
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