Eminem joined Drake onstage Tuesday night at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena, putting an end to weeks of hyped-up rumors of bad blood.
It was a quick but explosive moment that sent an already adrenalized crowd into overdrive inside the packed arena, as the “hometown hero” — Drake’s words — rose from below the stage to join on “Forever” toward the end of the 2½-hour show. Eminem’s rapid-fire rhyming was drowned out by the continuous broadside of screams, as the hoodie-topped rapper paced the stage in his familiar crouched posture.
“Make some noise for the greatest rapper to ever get on a microphone,” said a bowing Drake as the song wrapped up.
Eminem encouraged the crowd to make some noise for Drake — not that anyone inside Joe Louis needed the prodding — before offering up a pointedly appreciative, “Detroit, I love you. I’m out.”
Drake was in town for the latest stop on his Summer Sixteen Tour with Future, just two weeks after playing the Palace of Auburn Hills.
The onstage meetup with Eminem followed several weeks of knotty hip-hop drama stemming from an ongoing beef between Drake and Joe Budden, Em’s Slaughterhouse group mate and part of the Shady Records stable. In early August, New York radio personality Ebro Darden threw gasoline on the fire, claiming he’d gotten word that Eminem would be making a Drake diss record.
