“I Will” by Eminem (ft. Royce da 5’9’’, Joell Ortiz & KXNG Crooked)
Anyone who is familiar with posse cuts Eminem has hosted in the past more or less know what the song “I Will” has to offer, which is its rappers dropping some of their best metaphors. The title is based on Eminem’s intent to “murder this beat”, an analogy which once again alludes to him making an effort to impress the audience lyrically.
And whereas collectively the rappers probably drop in excess of 100 metaphors, they all lead back to the same fundamental idea, which is they being superior, in varying capacities, to their rivals.
Eminem steals the Show on “I Will”
Eminem of course steals the show not only because his verse is lengthier but also due to him making off-the-wall comments, as usual. For instance, he begins his passage by asking the deceased Notorious B.I.G. to “possess the pencil lead”, as in guide his hand while he is writing the song. And he also recounts an episode where he is intimidating a female, perhaps even to the point of convincing her to perform an intimate act on him.
And eventually he starts throwing jabs directly at Lord Jamar, a retired rapper whom Em developed a beef with shortly before this track was released. FYI, he may also be subliminally dissing Joe Budden, the only member of the rap crew known as Slaughterhouse who is not on this track and another rapper whom Em recently had squabbles with.
Conclusion
But conclusively, this is a traditional rap cypher in that each of the artists are able to present himself in a manner he chooses. But at the end of the day, they all want to ultimately tout their superiority as rappers and rivals.
Writing Credits
The writers of “I Will” are Luis Resto, Eminem, Kxng Crooked, Joell Ortiz and Royce da 5’ 9”.
The latter three artists on that list once belonged to a rap group called Slaughterhouse. Slaughterhouse was signed for a few years to Eminem’s label, Shady Records. As such they collaborated with Eminem quite a few times, dating back to 2010, prior to this track.
When did “I Will” come out?
Eminem dropped this song along with its album “Music to Be Murdered By” on 17th January, 2020. It is the 19th track on the aforementioned album. This album also features hits such as the following:
