Dear Slim

5.17.21

Tom MacDonald via Dear Slim Music Video

If you are like me, you have never heard of Tom MacDonald until this weekend, and were absolutely shocked to find that this guy has millions of views, on all of his YouTube videos. Tom MacDonald is a Caucasian male rapper from Canada, with a previous life of a professional wrestler named, AllStar. For the past three years, Tom has been dropping some of the most controversial songs of all time, but his latest, to some hip-hop fans may be the most controversial one yet. This is the man that has purchased Eminem’s produced beat NFT for $100,000. Tom already dropped his song recorded over the beat, and it is all about his thoughts on the rapper.

Prior to me doing my research, I saw a lot of people actually comparing the two artists in the comment sections of every post or headline about the Tom MacDonald track. I was so confused to see so many people giving Tom his flowers, and even saying that he was a better lyricist than Eminem. I had no idea he was actually even a real artist, so of course, I did some research. Not only are all of Tom MacDonald’s tracks pretty controversial, they all have millions of views on YouTube. One of his tracks, Politically Incorrect from 2018 has almost seventeen million YouTube views. His track Straight White Men, which is about white men being demonized and said to have an easy life, has over ten million YouTube views. A recent video with a clear controversial topic, No Lives Matter, has almost fourteen and a half million views. It truly does not matter if the video is three years old or three months old, these are doing tens of millions in number. It is truly crazy. So now, if he has all of these things to say about so many hot topics we are experiencing in the world, what would he dare to say on an Eminem beat?

In order for Tom MacDonald to prepare everyone for what were to come, he let his followers know that he was “in possession of an Eminem produced beat.” Without any further clarification, people were definitely shocked and confused. Some, perhaps concerned. If there is one thing about a Stan, they are going to protect Eminem at all costs, and there were some headlines going around that the Stans would boycott whatever Tom MacDonald planned to do with this beat he claimed to have had. Well, come to find out, Tom MacDonald claims to be a Stan himself. For those of you whom are paying attention to Eminem and his current endeavors, you may recall the NFT fair that he held a few weeks back. Fans could bid to purchase a number of Eminem NFTS. From comics, to figurines, short video clips, and more. What one may have called, “the grand prize” was a whole beat, produced by Eminem himself. Tom MacDonald purchased the NFT Eminem beat, using $100,000 of his own money.

If I were to describe what Tom MacDonald sounded like, I would honestly say his voice kind of sounds like G-Eazy, but he puts a Hopsin flow on his delivery and rhythm. What it reminds me of, besides the Hopsin piece, is kind of like, Hollywood Undead. A bunch of punk kids that have crazy things to say and put it in a form that is more rapping lyrics than singing. Tom sings during the chorus of many of his songs, but is clearly a different type of artist than you typically see in hip-hop. Besides being a white male, he is completely covered in tattoos and piercings, and has super long braids in his hair.

For me, the music taste and interest is just not there, but of course I would need to listen to the track and see what he does with it. Similarly to King Crook, who took to Instagram to say that he heard the beat previously from Marshall, decided to check out the song to be informed, but overall, it just was not for him.

First, let us talk about the beat. Eminem produced a beat that was made specifically for this NFT bidding war, that would soon be left in the hands of whichever individual wanted it first. Tom MacDonald, was the lucky one who got to take it away. It is so clearly an Eminem beat. One that reminds you of Fight Music, or the true beginning to Eminem and the D12 days. The drums are heavy, the sound is deep and eery. Every four count leads to a higher level of intensity and suspense, which can old lead to a lot of crazy storytelling from the lyricist to hop on the beat.

What Tom MacDonald did with the beat was certainly interesting, from the music video to his lyrics. Tom basically made the video look as much as the Stan video as he possibly could. From the garage which Stan is writing a letter to Eminem, with scraps of notebook paper all around the desk and the room, to buying the same car and painting it, with water rushing down the windows, just as Stan had driving to the bridge in his music video. There is no doubt about it, that Tom put a lot of thought into his craft here. In the song, he managed to compare himself to Eminem several times, but in the end, it was a true nod to his favorite artist. Tom acknowledged that not only did Eminem “change the world with a pen,” but he saved Tom’s life, like many Stans would claim. In the end, Tom said he just wanted to use this opportunity to say “Thank You.”

Being the controversial rapper that Tom MacDonald is, he even mentioned that he was unsure what Eminem would think, finding out that this is the guy who purchased his beat. However, he knows what the artist did for him, and this was really an incredible moment in his life as a fan, and as a business move. It does not seem like King Crook is rocking with Tom MacDonald to the full extent, but no word so far from Shady.

In order to find out a bit more about Tom himself, I decided to watch the NoLifeShaq reaction video, where Shaq actually had Tom on the video, and they watched played the track and music video together, as Shaq asked plenty of questions. For me, the beginning was a bit shaky, when Shaq asked Tom if had any beef with Eminem, to clear the air before going into the music video. He stuttered, but ultimately responded “not yet.” To me, this guy knows he is controversial, and that is automatically going to drive some click bait. He also seemed very self aware that Eminem may not love his song, but I did start to feel Tom after we got a bit deeper into the breakdown of everything he did.

From the music video set, to some of the bars. “I never would've thought when I was bumping Biggie and 'Pac
That I would buy bleach in a box and become the product of Shady.” It was so very clear that Tom MacDonald was an Eminem Stan, in his own right, as he knew so many details and were able to apply them to his music video. He was able to answer a lot of questions, and he answered them with a poise that seemed like he did have a relatively good head on his shoulders, opposed to this guy that just loves to stir the pot and having ignorant opinions of everything, as we see in most of the music videos.

Again, I am not a big fan of the music, this sound is not for me. However, I was able to learn a bit more about him during this mini interview, and really understand that he is just like a lot of Stan Eminem fans out there. I mean in the end, if Eminem gave a beat away and it was not controversial, did Eminem really give a beat away?