Eminem is not only the “Rap God” — he’s the god of YouTube, too.
Marshall Mathers, Eminem’s government name, has racked up an impressive achievement — earning 1 billion views on the video streaming platform for his track “Rap God.” The song was released in 2013 and was the third single from his album “The Marshall Mathers LP 2”. After debuting the track on YouTube in October of that year, a music video followed the next month. Veteran video director Rich Lee helmed the project, which saw Eminem make reference to several well-known films and television shows such as The Matrix, The Walking Dead, and Hellraiser, as well as video games like Super Mario Bros., Pong, and Portal.
The track already possesses a Guinness World Record for the most words in a hit single with 1,560, and now the award-nominated music video has hit a significant milestone. This is not the first of Eminem’s videos to reach a billion views. His 2010 collaboration with Rihanna, “Love the Way You Lie,” is just shy of two billion streams, while Em’s hit “Not Afraid,” also from 2010, is currently at 1.3 billion. Interestingly, his Grammy and Oscar-winning song, “Lose Yourself,” which was named by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, does not crack the list. That said, Eminem is the only rapper to have hit one billion views aside from Wiz Khalifa.
Joining the one billion club was not unexpected for “Rap God.” In anticipation of the feat, the rapper set up a dedicated website. Those who ventured on to rapgod.eminem.com could view a timer that would rack up the number of YouTube views, creating a definite sense of excitement amongst the Stans. Em released a video on Instagram that saw him re-embody the 1980’s character Max Headroom.
