In his recent interview, Denaun says the early version of Revival was very different from the release and describes Eminem’s anger over Trump-era racism and police violence.
What eventually became known as Eminem’s most pop-oriented album began as Marshall’s deep emotional reaction to events that sparked the Black Lives Matter movement. In the 3rd Verse episode, Mr. Porter revealed that the original was much shorter and more tightly focused. Working on it also made Denaun look back at his own experiences and realise how accustomed he had become to violence against Black men.
The version of Revival that came out was not the version we played at first. It was a lot shorter. During that time, there was a lot of… We, black men, we’re so programmed. I didn’t know how programmed I was. Em was extremely furious about what was going on. And I was like, “Niggas get shot every day, B”. It was like that ’cause we’re so programmed, and he had taught me something. I said, “Well, this is where we’re gonna go. Let’s call Mark Batson and Emile [Haynie]”. And we went in.
The reason that album wasn’t received well was because of the track listing. But those songs weren’t originally there. The one with Kehani and the one with Alicia Keys, those were added later. The version that we played Jimmy [Iovine] and Rick [Rubin] was a lot shorter. And it was strictly about that. Kudos to him for having the balls to do that. He lost a lot of fans that were just really about Trump life. He ain’t give a fuck. Em kept sending me information about Alton Sterling and other cases, and it forced me to revisit things I had lived through. I got handcuffed to a tree at 14 and beaten my chest by cops for 5-10 minutes. I’m used to that shit; I’m thinking, “This is normal”.
I love him so much because he made me go back to those times, and I was like, “Fuck it. It’s all or nothing”. The feds were coming to the studio and asking questions because he went at Trump. He dissed the president. He drew a line in the sand, and he didn’t care. A stand like that in a career, that’s not an easy thing to do. And Trump didn’t respond.
Denaun believes that, eventually, people will look back at Revival and see it for what it was – a statement, a line in the sand, and a clear call against racism and violence.