Eminem has released a new track, “The King And I”, in which he compares himself to Elvis Presley while rapping over a beat based on The King’s “Jailhouse Rock”. The single, which also features CeeLo Green, is included on the soundtrack to new biopic Elvis, due to premiere in theaters on June 24th.
In the song, Eminem cleverly tells his own story in a form taken from Elvis’s “Blue Suede Shoes”. “It goes one for the trailer park, two for my baby-ma,” he raps, “Three for the tater tots, four if you ate a lot / Five if you came to rock, and you never gave a f–ck.”
He then draws overt comparisons between his life and Elvis’s. “Now I’m about to explain to you all the parallels / Between Elvis and me, myself / It seem 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 / We sell like Velveeta Shells & Cheese.” (The Shelter refers to a music venue in Detroit.)
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Eminem acknowledges accusations that he appropriated black music as he makes a striking comparison between himself and Elvis, who was famously criticized for the same thing: “I stole black music, yeah true / Perhaps used it (For what?) as a tool to combat school kids.”
This is not the first time Eminem has drawn this comparison between himself and Elvis. In his song “Without Me”, off 2002’s The Eminem Show, the rapper says, “I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley to use Black music so selfishly and use it to get myself wealthy.” He impersonated Elvis in the video for the song, which he said inspired him to respect Elvis as a dancer even though he was never really a fan of his music.
“I never was really an Elvis fan,” he told Metro Times in 2009. “I’ll tell you one thing, though … that motherf–cker could dance! When I was trying to learn that ‘Jailhouse Rock’ sh–t, I was like ‘Man, this f–ckin’ guy could dance!!'”
Along with “The King And I”, the Elvis soundtrack will feature original songs recorded by Jack White, Denzel Curry, Diplo, Tame Impala, Maneskin, and Swan Lee. Doja Cat recently released her contribution to the soundtrack, “Vegas“, which samples “Hound Dog”.
Listen to Eminem’s “The King And I” featuring CeeLo Green below.
Eminem Featuring CeeLo Green– “The King And I”