Last evening’s Saturday Night Live, hosted by Kerry Washington, marked Eminem’s sixth appearance as a musical guest.
Listeners speculated which song from Eminem’s upcoming album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, would be showcased on the sketch comedy program. The Slim Shady-inspired album, which was leaked online six days before its November 5 release, is now available to stream legally through Interscope Records.
Eminem surprised viewers by performing two songs — his Rick Rubin-produced super-single “Berzerk” and his Call of Duty: Ghosts-associated “Survival.”
Rick Rubin joined Eminem on stage for his performance of “Berzerk.” The portable turntable-wielding 50-year-old set the pace for Eminem’s performance by dropping the needle to Billy Squier’s 1981 single “The Stroke” — one of the multiple samples used to create the track’s punchy melody. Eminem’s “Berzerk” performance was accompanied by a live band but featured the heavy use of a backing track for vocal clarity.
“Survival,” the video game-sponsored anthem for Call of Duty‘s newest release, used the voice of Shady Records-affiliated Skylar Grey during its SNL debut. This substitution for the song’s original vocalist, Liz Rodrigues, was a surprise to listeners but a natural-sounding replacement for the vocal-dependent track.
Watch both performances below: