“Walkthrough!” by GRIP (ft. Eminem)

The concept the title of this song (“Walkthrough!) is based on can be found in the very first line, whereas the vocalist, Grip, presents himself as someone who is qualified to “walk” us listeners “through the depths of hell”. 

That’s pretty much a fancy way of saying that this song, or his verse at least serves the purpose of relaying tales from the ghetto, i.e. how dangerous growing up in the ‘hood actually was/is. Of course such a topic is quite common in the world of rap music. 

So even though, as implied above, Grip uses new, colorful metaphors in that regard, he also goes about depicting the streets as dangerous, himself apparently being a drug dealer and more of the norm that we’ve grown accustomed to in terms of the history of rappers.

Meanwhile the chorus, which Grip also holds down, is a bit more challenging to decipher. But seemingly what he is speaking to primarily is choosing rap music as his career path, i.e. the road to his personal riches. And considering how difficult achieving this goal is and what have you, it is an aspiration he seems to be taking very seriously.

Eminem

Then Eminem enters under his own personal norm, presenting himself as someone “literally missing a screw”, as in being a tad crazy. He then points to his own past, though in regards to being the victim of bullying. 

However, it is that same ‘cruelty’ which Marshall endured that served as “the fuel” which fired his successful music career. But interestingly enough, the point he seems to be leading us to is the idea that to this day he still hasn’t gotten over the kids ‘who clowned him in elementary school’. 

Or put precisely it would appear that the PTSD, if you will, that Mathers developed of a result of this abuse is what makes him such a wild, uncuffed rapper, i.e. Slim Shady’s trademark.

Other notable moments that come later featured Slim giving a shoutout to “Shady Records” as well as his co-star on the track, Grip. 

And the reason the latter is particularly noteworthy is because Grip, a relative newjack in the game, did express considerable appreciation for being namedropped by Eminem, despite Mathers concurrently being his label boss. 

And to note Slim’s verse conforms to another one of his norms, i.e. considerably longer than that of his co-star.  Also, as symbolized in the cover art, it can be said that death is somewhat of a subtheme of his passage.

Facts about “Walkthrough!”

This track is from a project entitled I Died for This!?, which is Grip’s first album under Shady Records, i.e. the label that Eminem founded way back in 1999. Indeed Grip, who hails from the Southeastern hip-hop center of Atlanta, just signed to Shady Records about a month prior to this track’s release. 

And Walkthrough! was made public on 27 August 2021. Moreover, it is the first time Eminem and Grip have collaborated.

The two vocalists wrote this song in conjunction with Neal Pogue and MTK, a musician who beforehand most notably worked with the likes of Logic and Trippie Redd. And MTK also produced the track alongside another artist known as TU!