The latest member of the Shady Records family, GRIP is dropping his brand new album ‘I Died For This?’ on August 27, 2021. Hailed as one of the best storytellers in the Atlanta rap scene right now, we are excited about his new journey. Even more so exciting is the track titled “Walkthrough” on the album which features Shady Records boss, Eminem.
In an interview with Complex magazine, GRIP talked about how he almost gave up on rap after years of seeing mediocre success and not being recognized for what he has to offer; “Something gotta happen bro. I got way too much on my f*ckin’ plate. I’m out here going broke for this dream man.”
GRIP is finally getting the limelight he deserves after being signed with Shady Records. GRIP caught Eminem’s attention with his 2019 concept album ‘Snubnose.’ Eminem talked about discovering GRIP through his albums; “We all got excited about GRIP after we heard Snubnose. It was really refreshing to hear a new artist so focused on making a conceptual project and it caught my attention.”
Long-story-short, GRIP’s upcoming album ‘I Died For This?’ features the likes of Eminem, Royce da 5’9″, Wiley From Atlanta, Wara, and more.
GRIP talked about his collaboration with Eminem on “Walkthrough” in the same interview. According to the interviewer, Eminem is directly talking to GRIP in his verse on the song. Eminem is warning GRIP about the floodgates that are about to open on GRIP with the success that he is about to gain. GRIP went on to explain his reaction to Eminem’s verse;
“Oh, no, I was surprised. I think I was on my way to the movies and [my manager] Tig was like, “Yo, Eminem verse incoming.” And I’m just waiting on it, I’m waiting on it, I’m waiting on it. I keep on refreshing my email like f*ck, man. I finally just put my phone in my pocket, I watch the movie, and by the time I get out of the movies the damn verse is there and I listen to it and I’m like, “Oh, sh*t. He went the f**k off.”
GRIP also explained that he wrote “Walkthrough” with Eminem in mind;
“I made that song with Em in mind. And when I played him the album, I just remember him saying that hook is nuts. So, I was like, “Yeah, this is a song I actually wanted you to get on.” In my verse I’m talking about where I come from, what I had to get through to get to this point. Then his sh*t is from a veteran’s perspective, who went through this already and who thought that cash was going to change things, but then he gets into the perils of this sh*t.”
Eminem is in the perfect position to be laying some advice on a young and upcoming artist like GRIP. In “Zeus” by Eminem from ‘MTBMB’ album, Em sings “And, Drake, they’re gonna turn on you (You) one day too (Too) / And the more you win, the sooner (Sooner) they do.”
Listen to “Walkthrough” by GRIP Ft. Eminem
GRIP “Walkthrough” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
Verse 1
Atlanta-based rapper, GRIP talks about the life in the streets he grew up in. He compares it to a walk through the depths of hell. Being a black man he was a reject in society and he always had to keep eyes behind his back to protect himself. GRIP summarizes the systematic racial abuse in society in one line, perfectly;
Inherited they debt, we set to fail, please reset the scale
GRIP also brings in Saturday Night Light (SNL), an American comedy skit broadcasted every Saturday. Clapping is slang for shooting and literal clapping happens at SNL as well. However, for black people there was no time to enjoy an SNL skit, they were always watching out for their lives to be extinguished for a random reason.
Finally, GRIP also goes at the weakness of his competition. Even in this verse, GRIP shows us why Eminem saw something special in him. He does pack some serious wordplay and delivery skills. He has “bars is hardcore like parkour with barbed wire.”
Chorus
In the hook of the song, GRIP seemingly addresses his self-consciousness, and his friends and family. It is a life or death situation every time a black man walks out in the streets, but they do have to earn some bread at the end of the day.
He also says that he had all the right plans for his life, but society’s part in it failed him hard. A plan is as successful as its lease successful link.
Verse 2
Eminem kicks off his verse with a mention of a brain injury to his head. He did go through many bullies in his childhood, one of which actually did give Eminem a concussion from a severe beating. Eminem has also been transparent about how his mother fed him drugs as she was an addict herself. In a more poetic sense, Eminem’s brain is quite something extraordinary to be writing the things he has been writing his entire life.
So as my residuals grew, I remember those kids that were cruel
Eminem has always used all the bricks thrown at him as building blocks his entire life. He fueled all this bad energy into his writing and has crafted one of the most decorated discographies in music.
And I essentially used them as the fuel
Everybody expected Eminem to lose his sanity as a child and grow up to be a maniac and come back with vengeance and either end up dead or in a penitentiary. But look how his life turned out. He still murders his competition, but he is raking millions while doing so.
Elizabeth Little is a mystery writer, a best-selling author. We are not sure about the direct reference to the author, however, it is possible that one or more of her books talk about a similar topic that Eminem tackles in this song.
However, later Eminem Tweeted out that the reference was to a school named ‘Elizabeth Little’ in Michigan, Detroit.
And I don’t use autotune, all I do is spit, and this sh*t just bothers you
A simple and true line by Eminem and the line itself is going to bother a lot of people because it is a fact.
Next, Eminem turns his attention towards Shady Records and its signees, the most recent being GRIP. Eminem says that his label Shady Records has put out some monstrous rappers to the game. As of this article, some artists under Shady Records are Boogie, Slaughterhouse, Eminem, and Yelawolf.
Regardless, you want me to reach a fuckin’ bar that does not exist
Despite Eminem being at the top of his game at the moment, people still want him to outdo himself on every new material he puts out. Bars and doubles and triples and rhymes and schemes and cadence on top of it all. This is the mentality that all of us should get rid of and appreciate Eminem for doing what he does. This verse by Eminem is nothing close to the pen game he brought up in the ‘MTBMB’ album. However, flexing his technical skills is not the point of this feature. In that regard, Eminem delivered 100% to serve the purpose of the feature.
No pun intended, but GRIP, hold on to this moment
The pun is that ‘grip’ also means holding on to something. Eminem goes on to warn GRIP about what’s about to come his way now that there is a much bigger spotlight on him. There are going to be waves of success headed towards his way, but waves usually erode the land. At one point, the same waves of success are going to crash so hard that they are going to destroy him as well.
Eminem has one final piece of advice to GRIP and to all of us as well.
And if you don’t ever stop to smell the roses
I do know one thing, that’s for sure
You don’t get your flowers ’til you pushin’ up daisies
And that’s about all your ashes earn
This line plays off of the recent Nas track “EPMD 2” in which Eminem was featured. Nas sings that people do not give roses (credits) to artists’ work until they are dead and buried. ‘Pushing daises’ is a phrase used to reference death. So, Eminem portrays a nice little flowery theme to get his point across that only you will be able to give credits to yourself. So, do that while you can. Enjoy the little wins.
Once someone dies, their ashes are also placed in an urn!
Let us hear what you think about this song in the comments below. Check out the complete lyrics on Genius.