An international collaboration turned ugly after Indian rapper Emiway reportedly insulted Royce 5’9 and backed out of a track. Detroit MC Lazarus has now responded, and he didn’t come alone.
What Sparked the Fallout
The drama started behind the scenes of Lazarus’s new collaboration. The track originally included Royce 5’9, Kuniva of D12, and, at one point, Indian rapper Emiway Bantai. But according to Lazarus, Emiway dropped out before recording, allegedly saying Royce was “not good on the track”.
That remark didn’t go unnoticed. Instead of swapping Royce for someone else, let alone Eminem, as Laz implied Emiway had dreamed of, Lazarus cut Emiway from the project entirely.
Losing the Feature and the Detroit Scene
Soon after, things escalated. The song’s lyrics tell the whole story, poetically, but are full of verifiable details. Lazarus says Emiway launched a public smear campaign against him, even though he had already pulled out. The fallout went beyond one verse, it became a clash of reputations.
To replace Emiway, Lazarus brought in Indian rapper Ikka. And in the verse, he praises Ikka’s skills. We could hear Ikka’s verse on Lazarus’s recent track with Royce, so maybe “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” is exactly the track in question.
The Diss Track: “DEATHBLOW”
Lazarus teamed up with D12’s Swifty McVay for the response. The result: DEATHBLOW, a diss track aimed straight at Emiway. In it, they go after his stage name, which merges Eminem and Lil Wayne, and suggest he no longer deserves it.
Lazarus doesn’t hold back:
All you ever, were, are is a Slim Shady wannabe
Get the Emi out your name, bitch, it’s my city.
“Gonna collaborate with Eminem”, [ha ha], yeah, I’ma see
The track also calls out Emiway’s earlier submissions:
Every verse that this sucka ever sent back to me
Both Biz and Swift had said was unsatisfactory, a catastrophe.
Laz finishes with a humiliating line reminding of the spectacular victory of the Olympic athlete Antony Joshua over an Internet personality claiming to be a boxer:
You’re India’s Jake Paul, and you just got knocked out
While some may view this as just another rap beef, it’s clear that, for Lazarus and Swifty, the issue is respect: for Royce, for Detroit, and for the culture.
Watch Lazarus & Swifty McVay (D12) – “DEATHBLOW” – OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO below:
