More than 20 years after their previous album, D12 have not lost their sound, their edge, or their sense of humour.
From the moment Kuniva and Swifty McVay announced that a new album was coming, fans started looking for signs that Eminem would join the project. No matter how final Eminem sounded about leaving the group on his 2018 song “Stepping Stone”, the hope was still there. And once fans saw “My Salsa” on the tracklist, that hope only strengthened. After all, that’s what Eminem said in the outro to “My Band”: “Look out for my next single, it’s called ‘My Salsa’”.
It did not happen. The D12 Forever release date came, and D12 presented a solid, exciting album full of new material, touches of nostalgia, and old, familiar attitude. They pulled it off – without Proof, whom they openly mourn on several new songs, and without Eminem, whose name does not come up in the lyrics.
However, in the music video for “My Salsa”, which D12 turned into a 7-minute-long satire on the music industry, they played on fan expectation, by casting one of the most recognisable Eminem tribute acts, Michael Mathers.
This short interlude is full of gags. It starts with Swifty staring at his hand with disgust after a handshake:
“Your palms are sweaty”.
“I know, man. I woke up, my knees were weak, too. I don’t know what’s going on, man”.
Then Michael tries to squeeze in his verse on the song while Kuniva is having none of it, ordering security to drag him out of the studio.
At the end of the day, whether fans find the cameo funny or cruel will depend on how badly they wanted Eminem on the track. But D12 clearly understood the expectation and chose to play with it. Instead of pretending the question was not there, they turned it into the memorable moment that is guaranteed to become a conversation topic.