Eminem rapped about stealing music from Black artists in a new collaboration with CeeLo Green for the Elvis soundtrack.
The rapper compared himself to The King in the song from the upcoming biopic in which Austin Butler stars as Presley.
In the track, which samples Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock”, Eminem says: “I’m about to explain to you all the parallels between Elvis and me.”
The following verse goes: “It seems obvious: one, he’s pale as me/ Second, we both been hailed as kings/ He used to rock the Jailhouse, and I used to rock The Shelter.
“I stole Black music, yeah, true, perhaps used it / As a tool to combat school kids / Kids came back on some bathroom s*** / Now I call a hater a bidet / ’Cause they mad that they can’t do s***.”
During his career and in the years since his death, Presley was accused of taking influence from Black artists without credit. In their 1989 anthem “Fight the Power”, Public Enemy rapped: “Elvis was a hero to most / But he never meant s*** to me...
“Straight up racist that sucker was, Simple and plain.”
For his part, Presley was open about his close relationship with Black music, telling Jet magazine in 1957: “A lot of people seem to think I started this business. But rock ‘n’ roll was here a long time before I came along.
“Nobody can sing that kind of music like coloured people. Let’s face it: I can’t sing like Fats Domino can. I know that.”
Elvis will be released in cinemas on 24 June. Read The Independent’s four-star review here.
