Samples and Interpolations
Trivia
- “Rap God” was released as the album’s third single, following “Berzerk” and “Survival.” It peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No.5 on the UK Singles Chart.
- Clocking in at 1,560 words, the track earned a spot in the Guinness World Records as the hit single with the highest word count.
- Eminem revisits the censored Columbine lines from “I’m Back” to see if he can “get away with it now” that he isn’t as big as he used to be. This time, the lines are left uncensored.
- In total, Eminem name-drops 22 people or groups in the song, including Bill Clinton, Dale Earnhardt, DJ Yella, , Eazy E, Fabolous, Floyd Mayweather, Heavy D and the Boys, Ice Cube, J.J. Fad, Lakim Shabazz, MC Ren, Monica Lewinsky, N.W.A, Pharoahe Monch, , Ray J, Run-D.M.C., and , and also mentions Odin, Rapunzel, Satan, General Zod, and Thor.
Words from Eminem
“I don’t remember exactly how it came about, but I do remember that when I first recorded it — and I was still playing CDs back then — I’m listening to it in the car, and when it cuts off it says “six minutes” [on the CD text display], and I’m like, “What the fuck, that shit’s exactly six minutes, that’s crazy.” So I went back and did the “six minutes, six minutes” [at the beginning of the song]. […]
I remember thinking, when I wrote it in my head, “When I go to the studio, am I gonna be able to say this shit?” Sometimes the shit that I write, my mouth can’t say it. […] I think the first take of it, I got like halfway through it, and then I was like, “OK, all right, cool — I can do this now. Let me focus on saying it the best way I can.” […] Every time I do something like that, I make sure that my mouth can say it, because I always keep in mind that I might have to do this live, so this can’t be no fucking studio trick. […]
It’s funny because, as much of a stunt as that is, “Godzilla” is actually faster. I remember we were thinking back in the day with “Forgot About Dre” that that was like some cutting-edge shit, like that was the groundbreaking shit or something — but it’s really not that fast when you think about it.