Bang Uncut

6.23.20

Eminem, Conway the Machine ‘Bang’

Eminem signed Griselda to Shady Records back in 2017. Since, the rap trio from Buffalo have been gaining a lot of traction in hip-hop, being the few artists left who sound is that of old school hip-hop, much different than younger artists today. Fast forward to Summer of 2019, Conway the Machine drops his own album, God Don’t Make Mistakes, with his own Eminem feature on the project’s first single, Bang.

Conway the Machine remembers the moment. He tells us that he had recorded the album, and flew out to Detroit for Eminem to listen to it. Knowing the album was dope, he knew he was going to get Em’s approval and had planned on asking him to lay a verse. This must be the verse that keeps on giving, because not only did Eminem get on this track, but it apparently was even longer and called out more artists than we thought, as an uncut version leaks on the internet overnight.

The original version was already pretty aggressive. We have a classic dig at Iggy Azalea, advances towards some of Em’s favorite females in the industry, P!nk and Nicki Minaj and we reminisce on one of the longest rap beef’s of all time, between Eminem and Ja Rule. Conway felt great about the feature, and the song went over really well. But just like movies have bloops and scenes that did not make it, so do rap verses. Eminem must have felt that he needed to bring all his ammo to a verse with The Machine, because the released cut is playing nice to compared to the original.

By now, the original verse is on Genius Lyrics, it is on YouTube, you can find it anywhere. We’ll see how longs it lives on the Internet, though hopefully no ones feelings were too hurt in the making of this verse. On this new verse, Eminem praises Diddy, but goes after his Revolt TV, mainly for hiring former Slaughterhouse member, Joe Budden. On top of this, we have an additional Machine Gun Kelly nod, and a shout out to the late Mac Miller.

Let’s begin with the Machine Gun Kelly bars, because we could have anticipated this coming.

Shady meets Griselda
Yeah, we linked up and we inked a deal
I got a beast, I will leash Godzilla
How can we be so hella— copped a motherf**in' attitude?
I'm gonna need propellers
The chopper, the Machine Gun killer
Gunn and The Machine, the simi—larities
Stop there between Kelly and Conway
But fuck that little blond b**h too

Shady meets Griselda, I got a beast, I will leash Godzilla. This is already crazy. Griselda is known for their super raw bars about being on the streets, selling drugs, being involved in multiple acts of gang violence, it’s all real stuff that many rappers are falsely claiming in their music today. These guys are not afraid to say anything, which remains true with what Eminem writes. Leashing Godzilla, could mean that he is giving Griselda a bigger platform in hip-hop, in which they deserve - but also could simply be referring to himself, after he did release a song titled Godzilla on his last album, MTBMB.

How can we be so hella-copped, I’m gonna need propellers, the chopper. Helicopters have propellers to make them fly. Choppers are a form of helicopters, or, they could be guns. The chopper, the Machine Gun killer. What a crazy transition into this quick MGK diss. Conway The Machine and Machine Gun Kelly each use machine’s in their rap names, but that is where the similarities stop, only after nudging at another weapon reference as he pauses “simi-” in similarities.

Did you catch all that? Well how about these Joe Budden bars.

Yeah, shout to Puffy Combs, but fuck Revolt
Y'all are like a f**ed up remote
Now I get it why our button's broke
'Cause you press him but he don't do nothing though (Damn it)
'Specially when it comes to punches thrown
You motherf**ers keep wanting smoke, so the blunt is rolled
Take another toke of the spliff and inhale
'Cause all you're gonna get is an "L," and smoked like a f**in' roach
So we don't got nothing in common, not even a f**in' cold
Or nasal issue if it comes to blows
Wasted tissue, tell this journalist stick to the stuff he knows
Like always runnin' from Migos

I do not really think that Eminem and Diddy have problems with each other, as they are both men doing business in the music industry. After spending so much time as two of the top artists in the game, they have formulated their own teams, and it seems that Diddy’s camp just happens to fall on Eminem’s bad list.

Killshot was a track that Eminem put out two years ago to respond to Machine Gun Kelly for some negative comments he has made in the past. In doing so, Eminem made several shots at Diddy, as the man whom signed MGK to Bad Boy Records. However at the end, Eminem says “I'm just playin', Diddy, you know I love you.” Similarly, on the original verse of Bang, Eminem calls out Diddy who owns Revolt TV, specifically for hiring Joe Budden as the host of one of their shows, State of the Culture.

Basically, the entirety of this verse goes into Joe Budden taking multiple L’s. Once an artist of Eminem’s Slaughterhouse, Joe Budden has retired as a rapper, and is now hosting some talk shows, such as State of the Culture. The bad blood from Eminem, Joe, and the rest of the Slaughterhouse team comes from when Joe Budden spoke out negatively against Eminem’s Kamikaze album, and I am sure many other things from overtime. Since, shots have gone back and forth a few times, so it does not seem like a reunion is in our near future.

Revolt is pretty much a television network. Eminem saying their remote’s buttons are broken, is him saying Joe Budden is broken. When you press the remote button, Joe Budden, does nothing. Not only have their issues been made public, with no real response from Joe Budden other than criticizing Em’s work without coming out anything new of his own, but he also has a had a very public, potentially embarrassing reaction to an almost feud, with the Migos. As DJ Akademiks tries to ask Take Off about being left off of Bad & Boujee, things get a bit strange. Joe Budden tells Akademiks to wrap it up, and Quavo mocks him a bit. Akademiks goes on to close out the interview, calling Migos one of his favorite rap groups, and Joe Budden slams his mic on the ground and walks away shaking his head, as the Migos get up ready to defend. Words were thrown and a crowd was drawn, as Joe Budden is now known as the Everyday Struggle host who ran aways from the Migos.

Revolt TV took offense the notion of Eminem’s uncut Bang verse, almost immediately responded with a Tweet and an in-feed Instagram post, stating f** you too Eminem, with a tag and all. I am slightly surprised that a brand would share this message. I am hoping it is a joke and was not taken super seriously. Joe Budden, whom usually responds with anger, simply shares a tweet that he loves everybody. Perhaps he realized the ridiculous word play, that was later taken out of the verse for whatever reason, and decides to let it slide. Or, maybe he just wants to let that Migos situation be in the past.

All in all, Eminem’s Bang verse continues to wow us with every bar, new and old. His word play, delivery over this interesting beat, attention to detail and remaining on top of what is happening in the industry, is outstanding. One of my favorite things in music, is hearing how a song came about. I’d love to hear what Conway and Eminem thought about the original verse, why certain parts were cut, and how they feel that it was leaked now. Personally, I think the new verse was just better. It may not have directly called out all the same people, but it was still some crazy jaw-dropping lyrics. I am sure Em is not overly concerned with the leak of this track. If anything, it’ll spark more conversations to him to write more music towards. Who wants the smoke with Eminem? No one, I’ve heard.