American rapper Eminem (Marshall Mathers) delivered a crushing performance of his latest hit, Venom, from the Empire State Building as Monday night’s musical feature on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The Hollywood-based show is celebrating a “Back to Brooklyn” week by broadcasting out of New York City at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House. Eminem delivered a blistering performance atop the gigantic skyscraper, raising the bar for the rest of the special guests, who include the Wu-Tang Clan.
WATCH BELOW: Eminem climbs the Empire State Building to perform a crushing rendition of Venom
READ MORE: Mysterious Empire State Building lightshow baffles New Yorkers
The hot track was filmed almost entirely with the Google Pixel 3 as a promotion for the new smartphone and Eminem’s latest album, Kamikaze.
Although the performance induces a fiery hot wave of intensity, there are a few moments of comedic relief featuring broken microphones and an awkward elevator ride with Kimmel sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez.
The video featured shots of New Yorkers pulling out their phones to capture the vivid display of lights that shone from the 102-storey-tall building. The world was left wondering what was going on.
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The building was originally lit up in blue and orange, a nod to the New York Islanders’ home opener.
Several people suggested the light show was possibly for a film shoot, or perhaps the controls were hacked. Slim Shady fans were convinced otherwise.
“So it really looks like someone hacked the Empire State Building lights right now,” Alex Konrad tweeted along with a video showing the building’s rapidly changing light show.
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The mystery has now been solved.
One of Eminem’s previous video directors, James Larese, posted an Instagram photo from what has since been confirmed as the Empire State Building. The caption reads “NYC. That’s a wrap,” hinting at the shoot for what became Venom.
Shady has made an epic comeback to the scene with Kamikaze following the 2017-released Revival — which was a commercial failure. He’s been breaking records and topping charts with a handful of singles.
His fans took to Twitter in awe of the daredevil Kimmel performance.
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Eminem announced a handful of tour dates Down Under for early 2019. He’s also promoting his upcoming film project, Bodied.
As of this writing, there are no additional confirmed plans, but he is expected to take Kamikaze on the road for an extensive world tour.
— With files from Adam Frisk
adam.wallis@globalnews.ca