‘Campaign Speech’ by Eminem – Trump Tight or Trumped Up?

Just a short while ago on October 17, 2016, Eminem's birthday made the news. Hundreds of thousands of fans, celebrities and friends came together to celebrate the rapper's 44th birthday.

The most popular social media platforms, like Twitter and Facebook, were filled with all sorts of buzz as Eminem's devoted fans sent out an endless barrage of birthday wishes to the superstar. But not to be outdone by his birthday, Eminem also made headlines again by releasing a track from his upcoming album. The song is none other than ‘Campaign Speech’

Just in time for 2016 General Election, Em goes after Trump in Campaign Speech expressing his strong sentiments towards presidential nominee, Donald Trump. On his Facebook page, Eminem said that he is working on something good but is not quite done with it yet. So, as his diehard fans waited for the album's completion, he gave them a little something to wet their appetite—Campaign Speech.

Slim Shady disses Donald, in the song, referring to him as a "Loose Canon" before going on to scrutinize various aspects of the candidate’s personal life. Some of the more heated verses of the song appear in the fourth minute of the track where he says:

"Consider me a dangerous man, but you need to be afraid of this dang candidate. You usually say Trump do not kiss ass like a puppet as he runs his campaigns using his own cash for the funded. And that is what you just wanted? A f--ing loose cannon who is blunt with his hand on the button who does not have to answer to anyone. Great idea."

All in all, the song has generated tons of buzz on social media. In fact, the first time I ever heard the track was when I happened to be on Twitter for something else.  After noticing that the tweet received more than fifty thousand retweets, I decided to check it out.

In addition to attracting lots of interest on Twitter, the song has also done well on YouTube, garnering over six million views since being published. Of course, at the end of the day what this really means is that once his new album is officially released, it should sell like hotcakes.

While some claim that Slim Shady has a genuine beef with Trump's policies, many others have questioned his Eminem's sincerity. Some are even asking if this isn't a case of the pot calling the kettle black. After all, how many times has Eminem said even more demeaning things about women or how many times has he been the one accused of playing the part of a loose cannon?

There's also the publicity angle to consider. Am I the only one who finds it 'convenient' that Mathers dropped 'Campaign Speech' a few weeks away from the General, just in time to also announce the release of his upcoming album, 'Roots'?

If you think it far-fetched, consider how many fake and contrived beef or controversies the hip hop industry has given us just to move units. So, is what we see now, simply a 'trumped' up controversy? We may never know the answer, but it's certainly food for thought.

Although no one knows for sure whether Campaign Speech reflects a genuine disagreement with Trump - on Slim Shady's part - in no way is this meant to convey that the rapper is without negative press. To the contrary, Eminem is no stranger to controversy. Moreover, it is abundantly clear that the Mid-Western rapper won't hesitate to speak out his mind. 

With over 15 of his songs making highly opinionated references to various issues like rape, contempt for women and more, Eminem has left no stone unturned, while proving that he really doesn't care what others might say about him or his music.

Industry sources have been pressing Slim Shady for details relating to his upcoming album for months. Surprisingly, there is still much that we don't about the project. For instance, at one point the release date was rumored to be some time before 2017. However, recently there has been talk that he may be pushing it back to 2017.

Likewise, it's not 100% clear which other artists might appear on the album with him. At one point Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Xzibit, and possibly even Snoop were said to have guest appearances on the album. However, none of it has been confirmed. Which means we're as much in the dark today as we were when Roots was first announced.

The now 44-year-old Marshall Mathers still can't seem to draw enough criticism from the media.  And with his long-awaited new album, he's sure to return to the charts with a bang! In fact, Memphis native, Juicy J, has expressed a deep interest in working with Eminem on a future project. So, if Em takes the Tennessee mogul up on his offer, then we could be analyzing controversial lines from Mathers for years to come.