Eminem has once again proven why he’s considered one of hip-hop’s most skilled wordsmiths.
The rap legend was challenged earlier this week after the X account UberFacts posted, “There’s no word in English that rhymes with silver.”
LL Cool J‘s Rock the Bells platform upped the ante by tagging Eminem with the message, “Eminem you have 24 hours!”
The Detroit MC didn’t need that long to think of words. Within hours, he posted a sprawling rhyme spree on the platform formerly known as Twitter. He listed dozens of near and slant rhymes for the difficult word.
“Silver pilfer kill fer Gilbert’s still hurts steel shirts Bill Burr milf word off kilter no filter chill brrrr feel burn still slur will stir Trent Dilfer Val Kilmer still third shield her he’ll squirt Steven Spielberg Lil twerp Wilshire She’ll purr kill birds milk curd feel worth real nerd Stan’s documentary I liked your film sir,” Eminem wrote in a single rapid-fire post.
This isn’t the first time Eminem tackled the world “silver.” On his 2020 track “Little Engine” from the album Music to Be Murdered By, Em slipped in the line: “My flow still a (Psycho) psycho killer (Killer) / (Nitro) Hi ho, Silver / Similes and idioms giddy up.”
Despite linguists often noting that “silver” has no perfect rhymes in standard English, Eminem’s tweet was a masterclass in how creative phrasing, slant rhymes, and proper nouns can enable an elite rapper to find ways to rhyme near-impossible words.
Last week, Eminem teamed up with Complex to open a pop-up shop celebrating the rapper’s new documentary, STANS, which is set to be released on Aug. 26.
