Eminem is leaning into his status as a white person in hip-hop with a new White Castle merch collaboration that fans are sure to eat up.
The collab was announced yesterday (July 9), and the merch line features two items. There’s a white t-shirt that features the classic White Castle logo, but modified to say “White Rapper” instead. It also reads, “Established in 1972… Buy ’em by the ‘sack,” a reference to Eminem’s birth year and not that of White Castle, which was founded in 1921. The other item is a simpler black and white trucker hat with the “White Rapper” logo on the front.
For a very limited run – EMINEM X WHITE CASTLE collab just hit the store, slide thru 🍔 https://t.co/J3F45PQDLx #Tobey #TheDeathOfSlimShady #WhiteRapper pic.twitter.com/TrKMygIN1u
— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) July 8, 2024
The hat costs $30 and it’s $35 for the shirt, and both can be bought on Eminem’s web store.
Of course, Eminem’s long-running success in hip-hop has sparked much discussion over the years about his status as a white rapper. For example, in 2023, Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five said of Em, “Obviously, he’s a capable rapper. If you was talking about sales, he sold more than everybody. If you talking about rhyme style — OK, he got a rhyme style. But he’s white! He’s white! If Eminem was just another n**** like all the rest of us, would he be top 5 on that list when a n**** that can rhyme just as good as him is 35?”
Jack Harlow also prompted some discussion when he referenced Eminem on 2023’s “They Don’t Love It,” rapping, “The hardest white boy since the one who rapped about vomit and sweaters / And hold the comments ’cause I promise you I’m honestly better than whoever came to your head right then.”