Eminem has stopped dissing and punning for a few bars on his new song in order to give flowers to one of today’s top rappers, J. Cole.
The song, “Doomsday Pt. 2,” appears on the new Lyrical Lemonade compilation album All Is Yellow, which dropped on Friday (January 26).
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On the track, Em shouts out Cole World alongside Lyrical Lemonade founder Cole Bennett.
“And that’s why I’m back with Cole Bennett/ And I been at the level J. Cole been at,” he raps.
Cole’s longtime manager Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad was thrilled with the reference, writing on X (formerly Twitter): “That’s fire.”
That’s fire https://t.co/JidsAU7Huz
— Ibrahim H. (@KingOfQueenz) January 26, 2024
The nod is notable because a decade ago, J. Cole took a small swipe at Eminem on the song “Fire Squad,” comparing him to Elvis as a white man who “stole the sound” of a Black genre.
Cole said at the end of the track that he was joking around, but that “all good jokes contain true shit.”
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“Doomsday Pt. 2” is a sequel to a Lyrical Lemonade song first released last year, Cordae and Juice WRLD’s “Doomsday,” which also appears on All Is Yellow.
The original “Doomsday” used Eminem’s intro and the beat from his 1999 track “Role Model.” The new version uses aspects of the “Role Model” beat while adding different drums and additional music.
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Elsewhere on “Doomsday Pt. 2,” Slim Shady takes shots at Benzino, the former publisher of The Source with whom Em feuded in the 2000s.
The self-proclaimed Rap God pulls no punches as he mocks his rival’s financial woes and physical stature.
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He raps: “Now I got a riddle, one condition, you mustn’t laugh/ What is the opposite of Benzino? A giraffe/ ‘Go at his neck,’ how the fuck is that?/ How can I go at something he doesn’t have?
“Arms so short he can’t even touch his hands/ When they’re up above his head doin’ jumping jacks/ Sorry, I don’t mean to upset you, Ben/ When I talk about all the debt you in/ I hear that you been creeping on the low/ In them cheap hotels, that they catch you in.”
He continues: “Jesus Christ, dawg, when you said two-ten/ Never guessed you meant at the Red Roof Inn/ In a room with one single bed, two men/ Shady, man, you can’t – yes, you can.
“Well, I guess then I regret to inform you, hate to spoil the day/ But this doesn’t bring me no joy to say/ Guess that Coi Leray feat.’s in the toilet, ay?”
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“Doomsday Pt. 2” is Eminem’s first major shot at Benzino since the height of their feud two decades ago. Em released two separate songs about Benzino during that period: “The Sauce” and “Nail in the Coffin.”
Benzino had claimed that the beef was over in March 2022 but has continued to take digs at Eminem in public.
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Later that year, he criticized the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for inducting Eminem ahead of Black artists such as Nas and Lauryn Hill and also slammed the rapper’s fans.
