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Sometime around 2001, Eminem (along with the rest of D12) made one of many appearances on the BET show Rap City, dropping a crazy verse about drugs, arson, and bestiality (aka just a regular day in the life of Slim Shady)

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James Todd Smith is the real name of rapper LL Cool J. In Smith’s 1998 autobiography I Make My Own Rules (which Em claims in his own autobiography, The Way I Am, as being one of the only books he’s ever read in his whole life), Cool J recounts how he was physically abused by his step-father Roscoe, who would beat him with the hose from a vacuum cleaner

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Dr. Kevorkian refers to Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan pathologist who, in 1998 (around the time that this song came out), was charged with second-degree murder for helping suicidal terminally-ill patients end their lives. Until 1998, Kevorkian helped 130 patients commit suicide

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A slam poet turned rapper, Watsky first gained attention through ‘Russell Simmons’ HBO Def Poetry,’ and a later burst of viral success for his fast rapping. At every turn, Watsky has refused to be pigeonholed, following up his speed rap success with 2013 LP Cardboard Castles, an eccentric ode to creativity, and 2014’s Anderson. Paak-produced All You Can Do. After a hiatus to work on new material, Watsky pivots again, this time to prose, returning simultaneously with the essay collection How To Ruin Everything, published by Plume/Penguin-Random House, of which Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda writes, “funny, subversive […] you find yourself nodding your head in wonder and recognition.” How To Ruin Everything debuted in the New York Times best-selling list. In total, he has created five studio albums and two live albums. Watsky released his fifth album, x INFINITY in August 2016, describing it as his most ambitious project yet. Most recently, in 2020, he released his 6th studio album, Placement.

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Hopsin used to be signed to Ruthless Records, a label run by Eazy-E’s widow. Although Hopsin recorded his debut album for the label, Gazing at the Moonlight, in 2005, it took four years for it to actually get released, and the label failed to promote the record, leading the record to fail miserably in terms of album sales.

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The Source magazine (the most prominent hip hop magazine at the time) infamously gave The Marshall Mathers LP a two-mic rating (out of five mics) while nearly every other magazine gave it a perfect or near-perfect rating. This doesn’t phase Em, because he isn’t writing for the critics – he’s using hip hop primarily as an outlet for his emotions, thoughts, and ideas

Em also needs two microphones so he can record more things to piss off the The Source with

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Ramone Johnson, better known by his stage name Ca$his is an American rapper who was born and raised in Chicago, but moved to Irvine, California. He was featured on the Shady Records album Eminem Presents: The Re-Up with Eminem and his record label, while performing solo on songs “Everything is Shady” and “Talkin' All That”, and released The County Hound EP in 2007.His debut album The Art of Dying after many delays, was released on October 30, 2012.

Best songs:
“You Don’t Know” (with 50 Cent, Eminem and Lloyd Banks)
“We Ride For Shady” (with Obie Trice)
“Syllables” (with Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent & Stat Quo).

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“Shit hit[ting] the fan” is a phrase meaning that things are out of control. When this happens, Tyga will repeatedly punch his opponents, much like basketball player Ron Artest infamously did during a 2004 game

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5 Ela (short for 5 Elamentz) is a rap group featuring Thyme and Proof, along with rapper Mudd.

Thyme and Eye-Kyu are fellow Detroit rappers, featured on multiple songs on this album.

Proof was Eminem’s best friend and co-founder of D12 and was tragically killed in a nightclub shooting in 2006.

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An old phrase made popular by Carl Perkins‘ 1956 recording of “Blue Suede Shoes” where he sings:

Well, it’s one for the money
Two for the show
Three to get ready
Now go, cat, go

Em uses the phrase as a countdown till when he comes “stomping” and “stampeding” into the rap game like a bronco—which connects to the opening lines of the song—or buffalo soldier.

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