Eminem’s verse on JID’s new track “Animals” is a 2-minute whirlwind of wordplay, dense rhymes, and cultural references. Backed by a tight lyric video, Slim unleashes a verbal storm that blends threats, metaphors, and jabs at the industry, reminding listeners why he is an unrivalled force in hip hop.
I beat up a beat like a drum machine did somethin’ to me
You don’t wanna go and bump into me, I jump into beef so comfortably
I’m not comfortable with no conflict
Eminem opens the verse with a call to arms. He admits that conflict is his second nature and his comfort zone. The phrase “jump into beef so comfortably” sets the tone: Em is waiting for challengers.
Gimme them horns, gimme that rose bush, gimme them thorns
I’m another breed, I’m a different animal
Then he plays with bullfighting imagery and turns it on its head. He is built for war, but he doesn’t just come for the bull, he wants the pain that comes with it.
Y’all make me yawn, like a strand of wool
This is classic Em: a layered homophonic pun. “Yawn” signals boredom with the rap game’s current state, while also sounding like “yarn”, connecting to the “strand of wool”. It’s a subtle metaphor calling rappers sheep: predictable, bland, and part of a herd.
You’re gettin’ spanked and I’m your father, told you I’m a soldier
I just showed up in a wife-beater tank and I’m a demolish
Eminem taps into his The Eminem Show era, referencing his track “Soldier”. He brings back the persona: tough, militant, and uncompromising. The visual of him arriving in a “wife-beater tank” reinforces that old-school, bare-bones aggression.
If I had three quarters, two dimes and a nickel, I wouldn’t change for a dollar
But I signed 50 Cent and put him in my piggy bank
A punchy economic metaphor. Em uses literal coin math to reinforce his message of staying true to himself. Adding “50 Cent” into the mix, he breaks the dollar metaphor and flips it into a flex about discovering and profiting off working with Fifty. The piggy bank line is also a nod to Fif’s track, “Piggy Bank”.
My advice to you, get five bazookas
Some type of nuke, a knife, a Ruger, the size of two guns
‘Cause I’m sprayin’ the Rossi like I’m N.W.A. and the Posse
Just like Yella, Ren, Dre and them taught me
Here, Eminem name-drops the legendary N.W.A., framing his aggression as inherited. The mention of legendary Brazilian gun manufacturer Rossi adds to the firepower motif, while connecting to the group that inspired his own confrontational style.
With these magazines, I act out like Ye and his cousin
One of the verse’s most controversial bars. Eminem references a disturbing comment Kanye made earlier this year online and his song “Cousins”, weaving it into a simile that amplifies his own unpredictability. He uses Ye’s chaos as shorthand for an explosive behaviour, while beginning a sequence of layered Ye references.
Your shit sucks dick, stop sayin’ it doesn’t
That’s probably the reason there’s nothin’ you’ve bodied of recent
I feel like I just walked in and seen you naked, ’cause you’re not even decent
Eminem delivers blunt criticism of unnamed rappers, possibly also continuing the Kanye thread. The indecency double entendre (indecent skill and indecent exposure) works exceptionally well if viewed as a veiled jab at Ye’s wife, Bianca Censori, often in headlines for revealing outfits Ye puts her in. These lines, possibly aimed at Ye, sparked debate, but Royce 5’9 clarified: “Bro ain’t dissing Ye. You’d know if he was”.
Get ripped like my school clothing
Like a sleeping cow, I’m bulldozing
A rap god since my socks were holey
These lines mix sharp wordplay with striking visuals of poverty from which grows the hunger that can turn a struggling boy into the GOAT.
I done put Ja Rule through it like a law school
The Ja Rule diss calls back to Em’s long-running beef, punning on “Rule” and “law school”. It is petty and brilliant at once.
Eminem weaves in witty and darkly humorous wordplay like “This my house of horrors (whores), like a brothel” or “Won’t stop, period, post-menopausal”, mocking any notion that age might slow him down.
I do it like Puff do it, tell my hitter to hit him up, ‘Do it’
So like my middle fingers to a Tupac song, you know that I put ’em up to it
This may be the most chilling line in the whole verse. Eminem again suggests that Diddy was behind 2Pac’s death: a theory he previously floated in “Killshot” and again on “Fuel”, his previous colab with JID. “Hit ‘Em Up” becomes a violent double entendre: a Tupac diss track, and a euphemism for ordering a hit. The middle finger line evokes tribute and menace at once.
Dave Chappelle of the rap game, I’m never gonna play myself
Closest I ever came’s 8 Mile, but the fuckin’ pain I felt
When I lost Proof, couldn’t explain how, that devil came down.
Had to throw in that towel, regroup, like Sean O’Malley
Here, Em pauses the assault for a vulnerable moment. He shouts out to Dave Chappel, who famously turned down a massive contract to stay true to himself, a gesture Em aligns with.
Marshall positions himself as an artist with integrity and reflects on 8 Mile as the closest he ever came to “playing himself”, quite literally, without selling out, and references Proof’s death as a soul-crushing blow. The Sean O’Malley mention cleverly ties Em’s emotional defeat to Suga’s physical surrender in UFC.
I’m wildin’ like Seven Mile and Runyon, bunch of violent gunmen
12-gauge at the age of twelve, caged-up self rage, I been raised in Hell
Like I’m Joe, Jam Master Jay and Daryl, brace yourself
Local Detroit references (Seven Mile and Runyon) underscore Em’s roots, while the Jam Master Jay line connects him to Run-DMC’s rebellious spirit and tragic legacy (“Raising Hell” album). The wordplay here also builds momentum toward the violent climax.
It’s like a Xanadu for every Xan’ I do
What I plan to do is take a pink and a blue
He combines “Xanadu” (a mythical paradise) with “Xan” (Xanax) and colours of pills, creating a surreal image of numbed escape and chemical joy.
In the final bars, he goes full throttle: “I’m back and I’m body baggin’ ’em, toe-taggin’ ’em in the back of a Volkswagen”, making sure nobody forgets just how vividly and aggressively he paints his word-pictures.
Cannibals, you little bitch, me and JID are just like bestiality, we fuckin’ animals
Em closes the verse at full velocity. The “bestiality” (sex with animals) bar is grotesque and hilarious, and his final line affirms his readiness to confront anyone daring enough to challenge him:
The G.O.A.T.’s back, finna go at anyone who got the gonads or cojones
No one’s safe. Not in his house of horrors, not with the GOAT at full power.
This verse reveals Eminem’s secret weapon, which he has never tried to hide. And the secret is that he crafts more than just rhymes, he layers meaning. “Animals” is a masterclass in how to battle, reference, joke, insult, and mourn, all at once. From Tupac conspiracies and Ye critiques to lyrical puzzles and punchlines, the verse is both a masterclass and a minefield.
Every name, every metaphor, every punchline is a reminder: Marshall Mathers still runs this jungle.
