Eminem welcomed Barack Obama to the stage while appearing at a Kamala Harris rally in Michigan just two weeks before the 2024 presidential election. And the former president couldn’t help but rap one of Eminem’s biggest hits.
The Grammy-winning artist, 52, and former Democratic president, 63, briefly shared the spotlight on Tuesday, Oct. 22, in Detroit as they rallied support for Harris’ campaign ahead of Election Day.
After being introduced by Eminem, Barack Obama began his speech by quoting the rapper’s 2002 hit song “Lose Yourself.”
“I have done a lot of rallies, so I don’t usually get nervous. But I was feeling some kind of way following Eminem,” Barack Obama said once at the podium. “I noticed, my palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, vomit on my sweater already, Mom’s spaghetti.”
As the crowd roared, Obama continued rapping the single, which won a Grammy for Best Rap Song and Best Male Rap Solo Performance in 2004: “I’m nervous but on the surface I look calm and ready, to drop bombs but I keep on forgetting … “
Barack Obama ended by singing the famous intro music and telling the cheering crowd, “I love me some Eminem.”
While introducing Obama moments before, Eminem explained that he “wrote down a few things I wanted to say.”
“I’m here tonight for a couple of important reasons,” said the “Houdini” rapper. “As most of you know, the city of Detroit and the whole state of Michigan mean a lot to me, and going into this election, the spotlight is on us more than ever, and I think it’s important to use your voice, so I’m encouraging everybody to get out and vote, please.”
“I also think that people shouldn’t be afraid to express their opinions, and I don’t think anyone wants an America where people are worried about retribution of what people will do if you make your opinion known,” he continued.
“I think Vice President Harris supports a future for this country where these freedoms and many others will be protected and upheld,” said Eminem.
Eminem, who previously supported Obama’s political career, also endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020. The day before the last election, the rap icon released an official campaign ad with “Lose Yourself” playing in the background, which he captioned, “One opportunity… #Vote.”
The rapper has been a vocal critic of Harris’ opponent, Donald Trump. In October 2017, Eminem delivered a nearly five-minute freestyle rap at the BET Awards that dissed the 45th president of the United States, who was wrapping up his first year in office at the time.
In the song, called “The Storm,” Eminem called Trump a “b—-” and slammed him for his comments about a White nationalist rally in Charlottesville and his attacks on NFL player protests.
Eminem released another song in 2017, called “Framed,” that also took aim at Trump with a lyric that said, “That’s an awfully hot coffee pot/Should I drop it on Donald Trump? Probably not/But that’s all I got till I come up with a solid plot.”
In 2018, Eminem suggested in a lyric from his song “The Ringer” that he was visited by the Secret Service after “Framed” was released. ” ‘Cause Agent Orange just sent the Secret Service/To meet in person to see if I really think of hurting him,” he rapped in the song.
At the time, the Secret Service characterized Eminem as “exhibiting inappropriate behavior” and said he threatened the “protectee,” meaning Trump, according to documents previously obtained by BuzzFeed.