On October 6, BET (Black Entertainment Television) Hip Hop Awards debuted Eminem’s anti-Trump freestyle that would spark a mixed movement of rage and awe from his listeners. The rap is nearly five minutes long, with no instruments and no beat, just Shady (aka Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers) and his raw words. In the freestyle, Mathers starts off immediately by asking if he should drop a hot pot of coffee on Trump. The lyrics go on and on to call out Trump on his foreign policies, his hypocrisy concerning Hillary Clinton, attacking his overall orange physical appearance, and breaking down his use of Twitter wars to deflect attention from more pressing political matters.

Eminem is not the first celebrity to speak his mind about Donald Trump in a public manner. Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, YG, Aminé, and many other rappers have had lyrics that fired shots at the President. But there’s an evident difference between Eminem and these other rappers. Mathers is (arguably) the first white rapper of great influence to openly speak his mind about Trump. His demographic expands to a larger and different crowd than those of the previously mentioned rappers (more white people, and probably more Trump supporters), and Mathers made sure to touch on this near the end of his freestyle: “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.”

Many of his fans vowed never to listen to Eminem again. But many more cheered in response. Even Colin Kaepernick (and tons of other celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, LeBron James, and Ellen DeGeneres) tweeted positively and with praise towards Shady after his rap debuted.

Whether agreeing or not  with Eminem’s stances spit in his freestyle, most rap-admirers will have to admit that even an aging Eminem has not lost one bit of his lyrical touch that emerged from his Slim Shady days. On the bars from the rap itself, “Fire. Straight fire.” says Parker Ljung (’18).