Eminem is adding a hip-hop flavor to Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock” in his new soundtrack single from The King of Rock and Roll’s forthcoming biopic, titled King And I. Teaming up with CeeLo Green on the chorus, the song mashes up Presley’s iconic track with a new, modern beat.
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In the first verse, Eminem references another iconic Presley track, “Blue Suede Shoes,” while talking about his own upbringing.
It goes one for the trailer park, two for my baby-ma/Three for the tater tots, four if you ate a lot,” he raps. Five if you came to rock, straight up while I’m shittin’ on my comp‘.
Green balances out Em’s rap with an insatiably catchy chorus singing, And I don’t give a shit about a thing you say/I just wanna feel like a king again. And if you don’t like it you can sit and spin/Middle fingers up (Yeah), we ’bout to do this shit again.”
[RELATED: 7 Songs You Didn’t Know Elvis Presley Covered]
In his third verse, Eminem draws comparisons between himself and Presley, referencing how they both get criticized for stealing Black music.
He raps: Now I’m about to explain to you all the parallels/Between Elvis and me, myself/It seem obvious: one, he’s pale as me. Second, we both been hailed as kings/He used to rock the Jailhouse, and I used to rock The Shelter/We sell like Velveeta Shells & Cheese, he raps.
The new Elvis film has a star-studded line-up of artists creating modern songs to pair with Elvis’ classic tunes on the soundtrack. The likes of Swae Lee, Denzel Curry, Jack White, Diple, Tame Impala, and Maneskin have all written original songs for the Baz Luhrmann-directed film.
Last month, Doja Cat released her contribution to the album, “Vegas,” which samples the original Blues roots of Presley’s “Hound Dog.” Kacey Musgraves is also reportedly covering “Can’t Help Falling In Love” for the film, which sees Austin Butler in the lead role.
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
