
I'm beginnin' to feel like a rap god, rap god
All my people from front to the back nod, back nod...
All my people from front to the back nod, back nod...
"Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Even though I'll walk in the church,
and burst in a ball of flames
Only Hall of Fame I'll be inducted in
is the alcohol of fame on the wall of (shame)"
Even though I'll walk in the church,
and burst in a ball of flames
Only Hall of Fame I'll be inducted in
is the alcohol of fame on the wall of (shame)"
— Eminem, one of his rap verses in the song
"Rap God" is a song by Eminem from his 2013 album The Marshall Mathers LP 2. The song became a success and is one of the most infamous songs of Marshall’s career due to the sheer speed he raps at.
I’m beginning to feel like a trope god, trope god:
- Boastful Rap: The song shows signs of Eminem bragging about himself, especially during the supersonic speed lyrics part.
- Framing Device: The music video cuts between four distinct scenes, anchored by shots of Eminem lying motionless in the center of a vast white room. As he rests, robotic cameras busily scan shelves packed with books, movies, albums, and video games. It's implied that these cameras are transmitting data directly into his brain, and that the brief flashes of imagery we see on the surrounding TVs are glimpses into that data stream.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The beginning of the song features some vocal chops stating that Slim Shady has one chance for six minutes, which is length of the track.Look, I was gonna go easy on you not to hurt your feelings
But I'm only going to get this one chance
(six minutes, six minutes)
Something's wrong, I can feel it
(six minutes, six minutes, Slim Shady, you're on) - Kneel Before Zod: Eminem commands us to kneel before him, even calling himself General Zod.
- Mock Headroom: The video features Eminem dressed as Max Headroom in front of a moving lines background and is shown inside televisions.
- Motor Mouth: This song is one of the best examples. The most famous part of the song has him rapping at maximum speed for 9 full bars; it currently holds the record for the most words in a popular song thanks to its six-minute runtime. In general, however, he generally doesn't engage in this; he does have a fast, sharply enunciated flow with few pauses that is commonplace among Midwestern artists, but he generally avoids the rapid-fire "chopper" flow that was popular in the Midwest when he was getting famous.
- Ray Gun: He talks about buying a ray gun from the future.And I just bought a new ray gun from the future just to come and shoot ya!
- Shout-Out:
- The video has Eminem appearing as Max Headroom and Pinhead, as well as sampling a dub of a Captain America for the intro.
- The fast section is a nod to "Supersonic" by 1980's female rap trio J.J. Fad (whom he mentions by name), even quoting the phrase "summa lumma dooma looma" from the ending of "Supersonic".
- As he raps how he "hit the Earth like an asteroid" the video briefly cuts to a TV showing footage from Asteroids.
- A Wild Rapper Appears!: Marshall, being Marshall, raps every verse… very very… very fast.
