The internet is buzzing after a short clip of a new track by rappers Eminem and Joyner Lucas surfaced titled, “What If I Was Gay?”
With Joyner’s debut studio album on the horizon, it’s widely expected the track will arrive on that release.
The short 13-second snippet, first reported by HipHopNMore, includes some provocative lyrics.
“What if I told you I was out of place? Wait, what if I told you I was gay?” raps Joyner.
Em counters back, “What if I’m a hypocrite who’s just afraid to face truth? Wait, what if I told you I’m gay too?”
https://soundcloud.com/user-137210103/eminem-joyner-wiiwg-snippet
Admittedly, there’s no context, but it’s certainly intriguing considering Eminem’s controversial history with the LGBTQ community.
The 15-time Grammy Award winner came under fire for using anti-gay slurs on several of his early tracks like “Marshall Mathers” in 2000 and “Cleanin’ Out My Closet” in 2002.
In an attempt to hit the reset button, he appeared with Elton John at the 2001 Grammy Awards for one of the most memorable duets in Grammy history.
The two artists performed Slim Shady’s “Stan” with Elton at the piano crooning the Dido sample from the track as Em delivered the rap.
In a 2017 interview with Vulture, Eminem was asked about his homophobic lyrics:
The first time I got a taste of being called anti-gay was on ‘My Name Is’ when I said, ‘My English teacher wanted to have sex in junior high / The only problem was my English teacher was a guy.’ All I was saying was I don’t swing that way. So when I started getting flack for it, I thought, ‘Alright, you people think I’m homophobic? Watch this.’ I was trying to push the buttons of people who were calling me something that I wasn’t. The honest-to-God truth is that none of that matters to me: I have no issue with someone’s sexuality, religion, race, none of that.
This new track would be the second collaboration for Joyner and Eminem.
Eminem had previously teamed up with Joyner for “Lucky You” which was featured on Em’s 2018 studio album, Kamikaze.
