Posted by Eminem once again surprised fans with another new album — this time, he dropped Music To Be Murdered By: Side B on Thursday night (December 17). Shortly after the 36-track deluxe version arrived, Slim Shady took to Twitter to announce he had a visual for the song “Gnat” as well.
“‘Like trying to fight off a #GNAT,” he wrote in the caption. “music video with @lyricalLemonade directed by @_ColeBennett_.”
“Like tryin to fight off a #GNAT” music video with @LyricaLemonade directed by @_ColeBennett_ https://t.co/1wiyLkI6W0
— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) December 18, 2020
Directed by Cole Bennett, who also directed “Godzilla,” the visual finds Em sporting a yellow hazmat suit and other PPE gear as he spits lines about the current COVID-19 pandemic.
“They say these bars are like COVID, you get ’em right off the bat,” he raps. “Infected with SARS and Corona, like you took a bite off of that/But it goes from martian to human, that’s how the virus attacks/They come at me with machine guns, it’s like trying to fight off a gnat.”
Eminem Surprise Drops ‘Music To Be Murdered By: Side B’ To The Delight Of Stans Everywhere
The last line sparked an online debate about whether the “machine gun” mention was intended as another Machine Gun Kelly diss. The two have been going back-and-forth since Eminem dissed MGK on his 2018 Kamikaze single “Not Alike.” From there, Kelly unleashed “Rap Devil” and Em surprisingly responded again with “Killshot,” which did exactly what the title suggested.
Since then, both artists have been embroiled in a cold war that doesn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon.
Check out the “Gnat” video below.