As in years past, BET’s annual Hip-Hop Awards have been overshadowed by the excellent pre-recorded rap cyphers. While this year’s event celebrated the wins of Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B and DJ Khaled who won most of the night's major awards, much of the talk on newsfeeds and timelines revolved around Eminem’s four-and-a-half-minute takedown of Donald Trump. The internet was quickly flooded with hot takes on Marshall’s cypher verse. Many were quick to point out that Em wasn’t saying anything that hadn’t been said over the course of Trump’s presidency. Lines like “Racism's the only thing he's fantastic for (Fantastic Four) / 'Cause that's how he gets his f***ing rocks off and he's orange / Yeah, sick tan,” hardly passes for commentary in 2017. Others credited him for calling out his fan base: “And any fan of mine who's a supporter of his / 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.”

Titled “The Storm,” this isn’t the first time the Detroit emcee forayed into politics. Slim Shady didn't stay silent in the following elections either. In a viral 2023 clip, Eminem accused Trump of brainwashing his supporters, saying, "Watching him play to his base that thinks that he cares about them — and it's actually the people that he cares about the f****** least... If you're talking about his core being, you know, a majority white middle class, what I don't understand is how in the f*** do you feel like you relate to a billionaire who has never known struggle his entire f****** life?"

GET THE REST AT OKAYPLAYER