A Manchester woman is chastising Eminem for his recent “Kick Off” freestyle. At the beginning of the track, Em references the deadly 2017 bombing that occurred during an Ariana Grande concert.
“Like an Islamic regime, a jihadist extreme radical/Suicide bomber that’s seeing/Ariana Grande sing her last song of the evening/And as the audience from the damn concert is leaving/Detonates the device strapped to his abdominal region/I’m not gonna finish that for obvious reasons,” he spits.
Charlotte Hodgson, who lost her 15-year-old daughter Olivia Campbell-Hardy during the attack, spoke to the Manchester Evening News about Slim Shady’s perceived lack of empathy for the victims and their families.
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“I didn’t think anybody could do this and be so disrespectful to us all,” Hodgson said. “It’s vile and he is a vile human for doing it.
“Why would anyone compare themselves to a Jihadist or a bomber? I think he needs help if he sees himself like that. Why would anyone want to listen to it for entertainment? Ariana did a very respectful song in memory of everyone there and that was lovely, a fantastic gesture, as she was involved too, but why would people want to make money out of such a horrific event?”
The bombing took place on May 22, 2017 and 22 people lost their lives. Following the incident, the Detroit-bred rap god made an undisclosed donation to help the victims and their loved ones. He implored his fans to follow suit. Perhaps that’s why the “Kick Off” freestyle came as a surprise to Hodgson.
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“It kills me every day,” she said. “At times it’s worse as at the beginning we were kept so busy. Now that things are quiet and we have time to think it’s hitting hard. Olivia would have been 17 on November 28 and we had a little party for her and raised a glass but it’s just not the same.”
At the beginning of the “Kick Off” video — which he said was inspired the battle rap satire BODIED — Shady explains how he approached it.
“I’ve always looked at battle rap as competition or war,” he says in the visual. “And the main objective is to destroy. Completely fucking obliterate your opponent. By saying anything and everything, whatever the fuck you can, to get a reaction from the crowd. So nothing’s off limits.”
