Every Eminem Feature: 2010-2013

We're back, compiling every Eminem feature throughout the course of his career. This week we tackle the years 2010 until 2013.

Eminem is one of the most prolific performers to ever get behind a mic, with his acute lyricism present in both polished studio tracks and off-the-cuff freestyles. While his talent to drop bars on a track is undeniable, Em's oft-referenced penchant for pill-popping left the rapper in a drugged-out haze that soon affected his rhymes. Fresh off of a 2007 methadone overdose that left Shady clinging to life on a bathroom floor, the rapper's subsequent stint in rehab led to a thus far unbroken and long-lasting sobriety starting April 20, 2008. Rather than hiding his substance abuse struggles behind a carefully-packaged marketing coverup, Em offered his fans complete transparency through the release of his studio albums: Relapse (2009), Recovery (2010) and The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013).

"I don’t know if I’m exposing myself, I’m kind of just coming clean and exhaling," Eminem said of his turn-of-a-new-decade comeback. Prior to the release of Relapse, Em hadn't put out a new record since Encore in 2004.

Over a decade since the release of his debut studio album in 1999, Eminem's journey into this new era showed a resurgence in the rapper's aggression, attention to detail, and lyrical acrobatics that affected both his flow and delivery. “I’m done explaining it, here’s my music. Here’s what it is. Get what you get from it. I didn’t get in this game to be a role model,” said the rapper regarding his marked return to his own brand of ultra-personal and darkly fantastical bars. Eminem's energetic return to crafting his own studio body of work applied to his ability to hop on another track as well, with the rapper racking up numerous features and guest spots during this four year block.

Some of his latest beat and lyricism madness was witnessed at this year's BET Awards where Eminem stepped back in the spotlight to deliver a chill-worthy cypher on his opinion of the U.S. President, Donald Trump.

“But we better give Obama props, ’cause what we got in office now is a kamikaze that’ll probably cause a nuclear holocaust/And while the drama pops, and he waits for shit to quiet down/He’ll just gas his plane up and fly around until the bombing stops," Eminem rapped.

He's also featured on P!nk's brand new track "Revenge" after receiving a drunk email from the singer. As for news on his own album, that we're all kind of patiently waiting for, rumours have been stirring that a project may be dropping on November 17th. 

We've made an effort to revisit each and every guest appearance Slim Shady has taken part in during his lengthy career.  

This week: every Eminem guest appearance in the years 2010 to 2013.

This series will be ongoing, keep it locked on the site for the finale, aka the last four years' worth of Em features, next Monday.

It feels like an era bygone, when Bobby Ray was still a mainstream pop-rap sensation and not deeply embroiled into underground conspiracy theories. B.o.B's second smash hit "Airplanes, Part II" followed the success of his first single "Nothin' On You" off of B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. Keeping in line with the theme of the track's first iteration, Em raps lyrical on potential missed opportunities, sticked to the well-known narrative that any Shady fan can recite by heart: a pill-popping mother and a bullied, scrawny kid that escapes into hip hop to survive in a world that has no place for him. "Now pretend they ain't just make him angry with this shit/ And there was no one he could even aim [at] when he's pissed at/ And his alarm went off to wake him, but he didn't make it to the Rap Olympics/ Slept through his plane and he missed/ He's going to have a hard time explaining to Hailey and Laney this food stamps and this WIC shit/ Because he never risked shit/ He hoped and he wished it," he rapped, envisioning a world where Slim never used his talent to rise out of the poverty he was born into. 

While this isn't an official feature as Em ultimately wasn't happy with his verse and the studio track only retains Akon with the hook, his verse was leaked online and widely circulated. Em borrows his usual dark-humor-injected particular brand of self-depreciation in his closing verse, with lyrics like: "My farts may have gotten staler ever since/I became a trailer park celebrity/Maybe my complexion became a little paler/Poster child for white trash/I'm a Garbage Pail Kid sailor, yeah."

The iTunes bonus track off of Lloyd Banks' Hunger For More 2 2010 studio album featured Eminem with the assist on the Boi-1da produced track. Eminem swaps his double-time rhythm for a more chilled-out flow on his lengthy, uninterrupted first verse before claiming the chorus as his. "But there's a cold breeze blowing over me, I'm over you/Success is the best revenge to pay you back, and that payment is overdue/I overcame odds to get even/The sober me is shittin all over the un-sober you," Em raps to the detractors spitting on his comeback, doubting his current return to the top. 

The barely-controlled chaos of "Roman's Revenge" off of Minaj's debut studio album Pink Friday comes off more like a rap battle gone off the rails than a polished, studio track. Feeding off of each other's energy, both Minaj and Em deliver memorable verses, however Shady emerges as the king of wordplay and creative disses as the rapper threatens to pee on an unidentified woman not once, but twice. "So finally I broke down and bought her an iPod/And caught her stealin' my music, so I tied her arms and legs to the bed/Set up the camera and pissed twice on her/Look, two pees and a tripod," Em raps, a display of unbelievable breath control allowing him to spit his unrelenting verse break-free. 

This collab between Eminem and Rihanna was a certified chart-topper, with the original (part one) arriving as the single from Eminem's 2010 album Recovery and staying at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks. The two would reform for a second instalment that landed on Rihanna's own 2010 album, Loud. The track transmutes the theme of an abusive relationship throughout Em's verse and Rihanna's chorus, referencing both artist's past romantic experiences and their ties to the music industry as a whole. The video for the single provides a raw glimpse into the cycle of domestic violence, the intermingling of passion and physical outburst that traps so many in its hard-to-break seal while featuring Em and Rihanna standing in front of a burning house.

"That's All She Wrote," served as the eighth single of T.I.'s seventh studio album No Mercy. One of the best songs off of the generally underrated album, Em's vicious verses compliment T.I.'s signature smooth laid-back bravado laid over staccato drum beats. Speaking of their collab, T.I. reflects on how pleased he was to secure Em for the feature: "Em personally reached out to me, and we been speaking ever since, especially since I went through my situation [with having to go to prison]. [He would] just kinda remind me that 'I've been through dark period in my life too. You're gonna make it. You're one of the ones we need, so you're gonna make it. Stand tall and walk the walk.' He just made it a point to always reassure me of the spot that I hold in this thing that we got called hip-hop. It was incredibly helpful. It was incredibly noble of him, in my eyes, to even take the time out to reach out to me." The track peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100.

For the stans: an unreleased verse from Em was later chopped into a full "solo" offering of this same record, and can still be found on these internets.

Taking the lead for the song's first two verses, Eminem doesn't offer a phoned in feature for "I Need A Doctor," as expected for any collab between the "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" and his protege. The track circles around Dr. Dre's comeback, with Em referencing Dre's unwavering support at the beginning of his career as the motivation for his pleas to bring the veteran raper back into the limelight. "Dre, I'm crying in this booth/You saved my life, now maybe its my turn to save yours/But I can never repay you, what you did for me is way more/But I ain't giving up faith and you ain't giving up on me/Get up Dre, I'm dying, I need you, come back for fuck's sake," Em raps over a spaced-out Alex Tha Kid beat.  

The song was teased as a single off the now-defunct but still infamous Detox album, and peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Die Hard," also teased as a Detox cut, was the third single off of the album, following "Kush" and another Em feature, "I Need A Doctor." The track gained attention after premiering on the "Flight Camp 360" Showtime Special, promoting the fight between Manny Pacquiao and “Sugar” Shane Mosley. In the unfinished track, Em only lends his vocals to the hook despite the fact that there is a rumored "sick ass verse" floating around in the Aftermath archives. Referencing the movie of the same name, Em sings and Dre raps about the duo's constant work on Detox.

Remixing the original version of the track, Shady added his own verse to Diddy's "Hello Good Morning" by replacing T.I.'s initial contribution on this unofficial redo. Em adds his trademark acerbic humor to his straight-diss of gold diggers, with a string of rapid fire pop culture references that demand a second listen: "Girl I'm so cheap I can turn your Happy Meal sad/You're loco, don't bother mistaking me for a mogul/I'm more like Fogell, McLovin', McDonald's McMuffin/Breakfast burritos, Fritos, Cheetos Doritos, Tostitos/That'll be the only thing I feed hoes!" While Em's attempt at humor is clear, there's still no denying this verse falls flat, sliding into Em's Recovery trope of lines that fall flat with a lack of any actual meaning. 

The first single off of Royce's fifth studio album Success Is Certain, the StreetRunner-produced track features Em in a limited capacity- only in the intro and on the hook. After Royce Da 5'9" reached out to Slim for a collab on the track, the two rappers were originally going to release "Writer's Block" as a Bad Meets Evil collab for Hell: The Sequel, which dropped the same year (2011) as Royce's own solo effort. Without a verse, Em's hook is completely shadowed by Royce's fire lyrics like, "If I didn't, I seen it first-hand like a car dealer/Give up the throne, your lease up, I am the Mona Lisa/That decoded Da Vinci Code, you throwin' your piece up/Is a waste of fake like a phony B-cup."

Shady Records' own Yelawolf nabs a verse from his boss and a Gangsta Boo for "Throw It Up," from Yela's debut album Radioactive. Speaking on the joint release, Gangsta Boo has nothing but love for her track partners. "And I think Eminem is a genius. So they knew what they were doing to create shock value, and to create the buzz that it created like, “What the fuck? Boo and Eminem?” People can’t believe it, which is funny, ‘cause I did do a record with Outkast, and at the time they were the biggest duo in the world, so … this is what I do," she said. With Slim's verse closing out the track, the rapper takes control and molds the piano-driven beat as a platform to spit lines like: "What a trailer trash pioneer?/I am here, that’s why I’m here/I don’t got a rhyme book it’s more like a muthaf-ckin’ diary of diarrhea!"

"Talk To Me," Jeezy's DrummaBoy-produced track featuring Freddie Gibbs and Eminem is a solid collab despite the frustratingly absent, elusive verse from Em. Following the controversy surrounding the track's early leak, Em's gloomy addition to the bridge and the hook: "Somebody better explain, why my ears are ringing so loud/Someone has got something to say, grow some balls and say it to my face" prove to be a sorely wasted feature. 

Despite the fact that Eminem only appears on the intro, "Murder One" is a standout track on The Lost Tape, 50's tenth mixtape. Em's voice cuts clear through the grimy, NY beat that showcases 50's talent while in his element. We had to throw it in.

50 Cent proved he was willing to try anything in his comeback, following a string of album delays, label feuds, and lackluster chart performance. Levine's nasally, high-pitched vocals provide a jarring contrast to 50 and Em's flow, an odd choice that is overshadowed by the verses delivered without pause from the two rappers. While 50 touts his comeback in: "I'm doing what I'm supposed to, I'm a writer, I'm a fighter/Entrepreneur, fresh out the sewer, watch me maneuver/What's it to you? The track I lace it, it's better than basic/This is my recovery, my comeback, kid," Em is poised for revenge with his longtime friend: "Feels like I'ma snap any minute, yeah, it's happenin' again/And I'm thinking about just saying/Motherfuck everybody that's up in this bitch but 50!" 

"Richard" is a solid contribution to Bottoms Up, Obie Trice's first studio album released since 2006's Second Round's On Me. Obie and Em deliver on the track, despite the abrasive, fife-addled Statik Selektah beat. Switching up his rhyme scheme multiple times in the same verse, Em extends far on the track to also deliver a hook in his Shady accent. Notable lyrics: "Only a ruthless bastard would do this/Take a toothles bitch with no taste buds to Ruth Chris/Give her toothpicks, stop on the way home/Pick up two Big Bufords/Girl, you got a nice pair, but you’re plum stupid!" 

After her initial appearance on Recovery, Pink and Slim collaborated once more for the pop star's "Here Comes The Weekend" from her sixth album The Truth About Love. Pink's alt-punk pop vibes mesh with Em's frantic callouts of everyone from Diddy, to Biggie, to Urkel. Successfully crossing genre lines, the track is a merging of two wildly different styles, and two wildly popular artists.

Just as in "Love The Way You Lie," Em and Rihanna dig for inspiration from their personal lives in "Numb," off of RiRi's seventh studio album Unapologetic. Both artists offer this "homage" to drugs as a vessel to numb the gritty realities of the everyday struggle, with Rihanna's "Ecstasy in the air, I don't care" echoing Eminem's "Look me in my eyeball/Do I look high? No, I love the way you lie girl."

Em's lackluster verse can do little to save Grey's blunt-force bastardization of Queen's "Bicycle" in "C'mon Let Me Ride." The rapper seemingly phones in his lines, sticking to the song's far-from-subtle sex vibes, going so far as to compare his penis size to that of Godzilla. "Got this bitch gagging, they call me the broad killer/I'm the cousin of Godzilla/'Cause I spit fire and my dick is draggin'/Zig-zaggin' up the avenue, pulling these chicks in my antagonist wagon." Radio fodder? Sure. A solid Em track? Not even close. 

Unfortunately, Em only hopped on the chorus/hook (once again) for Shady Records' hip hop supergroup Slaughterhouse track. Keeping with the trope of Slaughterhouse promoted as an insane group willing to spit anything on a track, Em's "The lunatics now run the asylum/The doctors are dead, nurses are tied up/They've taken it over and barricaded themselves inside it/The lunatics now run the asylum" hook is well-placed. 

While each verse on the track holds its weight, it's the flow-by-flow competition between Crooked l and Eminem that make "Our House" stand out. Skylar Grey's muted vocals behind the marching drum beat provides a necessary break for each member of the group to switch up the beat and make the flow their own. "Rap is the only thing that I was ever really, bad to the bone at/Guess I'm similar to, gangrene in them, ain't grieving them/Hulk Smash, so much passion but no compassion/If eyes are the windows to the soul then it's/Broken glass and there's no trespassing" Em raps, slowly ramping up the aggression in his verse. 

The fifth single off of Slaughterhouse's Welcome to: Our House, "Throw That" is a club banger that has a straightforward Em hook in: "Those lips and those childbearing hips/I’ll throw this, I’ll throw this dick on you girl" accompanied by an intro of the same theme: "Gonna make you feel me, gonna shake this building till I make you spill drinks/Girl, this whole building is probably filled with little dingalings."

2013 was a light year for Em features, which is no surprise considering it was the year the rapper dropped the much-anticipated The Marshall Mathers LP 2. However, the "rap god" hopped on the Rap City EM360 Freestyle with Big Tigger and Slaughterhouse. His scorching freestyle alongside the talent-heavy rap collective closes out the track (as is Eminem's preference), and displays the rapper's ability to pivot lines off of one word: "I took your best punchline like a punch in the stomach/That punctured a lung punk and I'm still functioning from it/Chump it was nothing/Now watch while I fuckin' one up it and toot my own horn/Once I think of something to trump it/And I don't need a fucking instrument to sound off."