What Barack Obama & Eminem Have Said About Each Other

Kamala Harris's campaign in the lead-up to November 2024's election included many notable guests and famous faces, like Beyonce and Willie Nelson. At an October rally in Detroit, MI, she enlisted the aid of Detroit megastar, Eminem, and former president Barack Obama.

"I have done a lot of rallies, so I don't usually get nervous. But I was feeling some kind of way following Eminem," President Obama said to the crowd of Harris supporters after an introduction by Eminem. Instead of diving straight into a speech or speaking about the 2024 election, he decided to try something a little new: rapping.

Obama raps Eminem's "Lose Yourself," after being introduced by the rapper at a rally for Harris in Detroit, MI. pic.twitter.com/MqXJzplZPY

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 23, 2024

"I noticed, my palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, vomit on my sweater already, Mom's spaghetti," Obama rapped, covering Eminem's hit single "Lose Yourself." "I'm nervous, but on the surface I look calm and ready, to drop bombs but I keep on forgetting," Obama finished, and the crowd responded with raucous cheers. "I love me some Eminem," the former president said. The crowd replied with cheers of "We love you!" to which President Obama said, "I love you back." He shared his full remarks on Medium, and ended his speech with an urge for Detroit voters to "Get off your couch and vote! ... [T]ogether, we will keep building a country that is more fair, and more just, and more equal and more free."

This wasn't the first time Obama had rapped "Lose Yourself". In a 2020 Instagram video for attn:, Obama said he often listened to rap music on the 2008 campaign trail for inspiration and to get his "head in the right place." Along with Jay-Z's "My 1st Song," Obama enjoyed "Lose Yourself," describing it as about "defying the odds and putting it all on the line."

Though not a public servant, Eminem has never been shy about commenting on politics. In a video captured by ABC News, the multiple-time Grammy-winner took the stage at Harris's Detroit rally to introduce President Barack Obama and had a few words for the crowd while encouraging them to get out to vote.

"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 or what people will do if you make your opinion known," he said. "I think Vice President [Kamala] Harris supports a future for this country where these freedoms will be protected and upheld," he finished before bringing Obama on stage while "Lose Yourself" played.

The Detroit native has long been a critic of former president and 2024 republican nominee Donald Trump, and his remarks at the Detroit rally were clearly about the society Trump envisions for America. This wasn't the first time he spoke about Trump (and likely won't be the last). "When I start talking about Trump, I get too flustered in my head. And the sh*t that I want to say — there's too many things I want to say at once," Eminem said in a clip that made the rounds on social media last year. "Watching him play to his base that thinks that he cares about them — and it's actually the people that he cares about the f**king least. If you're talking about his core being, you know, a majority white middle class, what I don't understand is how in the f**k do you feel like you relate to a billionaire who has never known struggle his entire f**king life?" he said about Trump's supporters.

BOOM: Eminem just destroyed MAGA supporters stating what in the hell would middle-class white people have in common with a billionaire who has never seen struggle in his life. Who else agrees with Eminem I sure do?✋🏽 #DemVoice1 #wtpBLUE pic.twitter.com/GnGlyiaBCm

— Popular Liberal 🇺🇸 (@PopularLiberal) August 8, 2023

Eminem had some notable words for Trump during the 2017 BET Hip Hop Awards. During a freestyle performance, he rapped, "Any fan of mine who's a supporter of his / I'm drawing in the sand a line: you're either for or against ... The rest of America stand up / We love our military, and we love our country / But we f**king hate Trump." In lyrics captured by Newsweek, Eminem also rapped a comparison between Obama and Trump, saying, "But we better give Obama props / 'Cause what we got in office now's a kamikaze that'll probably cause a nuclear holocaust."