Eminem Invites Laid-Off Auto Workers to "Kimmel"

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To show solidarity with his struggling hometown, Eminem will fly 200 laid-off Detroit auto workers to Los Angeles when the Relapse rapper stops by the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show for an interview and performance this Friday, May 15th, the first of three nights the rapper has booked on the late-night show. According to the Detroit Free Press, the rapper will also invite the 200 workers and a guest to a secret show he's staging in the Motor City next week.

"In all the media coverage Detroit is getting, everyone forgets about the people that have lost their jobs without getting big cash payouts after dedicating themselves to the auto industry," Eminem told the Free Press in a statement. "Jimmy Kimmel and I got to talking, and we wanted to remind everyone that there are real people affected by what's going on in Detroit, and try to show some of them a good time while we're at it." This isn't the first time the rapper has used the airwaves to bring attention to his recession-slammed city: During the NCAA Final Four, Eminem filmed a PSA reiterating that the city would stay strong through these hard times. Rolling Stone recently examined the fate of Detroit in Motor City Breakdown.

Eminem will also make an animated appearance this Sunday, May 17th, when he gets cartooned and joins Family Guy's Stewie to co-host "Animation Domination" on Fox. "It was a thrill to work with Stewie," Eminem said in a strange press release. "I'm a big fan of talking babies and their humor." Check Nah Right for a photo of the cartoon Slim Shady. Of course, all this leads up to the release of Eminem's new album Relapse, out May 19th. Click here to read Rolling Stone's four-star review of Relapse.

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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