If you were around in late August 2018, you probably remember the collective "what just happened?" that took over the internet. Eminem dropped Kamikaze without a single hint, and Not Alike Eminem lyrics immediately became the centerpiece of the chaos. It wasn't just a song. It was a tactical strike.
Honestly, the track feels like a fever dream. You’ve got this weird, almost mocking trap beat produced by Tay Keith—the guy behind Drake’s "Look Alive"—and Eminem is just... well, he’s being Eminem. But he’s doing it by morphing into the very thing he claims to hate.
The Mockery in the Flow
The first half of the song is basically a giant "I can do your job better than you." Royce Da 5'9" kicks things off with a verse that’s smoother than it has any right to be, talking about Ferraris and Maseratis. But then Eminem comes in with that "Brain dead, eye drops / Pain meds, cyclops" hook.
It’s hilarious. He’s parodying the Migos "Bad and Boujee" flow so hard it hurts. He’s making a point: anyone can rhyme simple words and use a triplet cadence. He's saying, "Look, I can do the mumble rap thing, but we are still not alike."
The transition is where the real magic happens.
Around the 2:30 mark, the beat switches. Ronny J takes over. The atmosphere gets dark. The playful mocking stops. Suddenly, the "Not Alike Eminem lyrics" shift from a general critique of the rap industry to a very specific, very angry target: Machine Gun Kelly.
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What Really Happened with MGK
If you're wondering why Marshall went so hard, you have to go back to 2012. MGK tweeted that Eminem’s daughter, Hailie, was "hot as fuck." She was 16 at the time. MGK was 22.
That’s a recipe for disaster when your dad is a man who literally built a career on being the most protective (and vengeful) father in music history.
For years, it stayed quiet. Then MGK did a feature on a Tech N9ne song called "No Reason." He threw a sub at Em, saying, "To remind y'all you just rap, you're not God." Obviously, that’s a shot at "Rap God."
Eminem doesn't do "sub-machine guns." He does direct hits.
In the second half of the track, he says:
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"But next time you don't gotta use Tech N9ne / If you wanna come at me with a sub-machine gun / And I'm talkin' to you, but you already know who the fuck you are, Kelly."
The wordplay there is disgusting. Tech N9ne is a rapper, but a TEC-9 is also a submachine gun. He's calling MGK a "sub" (substitute/subpar) version of a rapper while also acknowledging the sneak diss.
The Technical Brilliance Nobody Talks About
People focus on the beef, but the technicality in the Not Alike Eminem lyrics is actually insane.
Near the end, he goes into this rapid-fire sequence of "skunk, bug, soldier / Tongue, shrub, shoulder." It sounds like gibberish at first. It’s not. He’s showing off internal rhyme schemes that most rappers couldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. He’s stacking syllables just to prove he can.
He also throws a massive jab at the "R. Kelly" situation, linking MGK's comments about an underage Hailie to the disgraced singer. It’s a low blow, sure, but in a diss track? It’s a knockout.
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A Few Things to Note:
- The song was produced by Tay Keith and Ronny J, two staples of the modern trap sound Em was supposedly "hating" on.
- Royce Da 5'9" and Eminem (Bad Meets Evil) have a chemistry that usually results in their best lyrical work.
- This song directly led to MGK’s "Rap Devil" and Eminem’s "Killshot," which effectively ended MGK’s career as a full-time rapper.
Why It Still Matters Today
"Not Alike" isn't just a relic of a 2018 beef. It represents the moment Eminem decided to stop trying to please everyone (like he did on Revival) and went back to being the villain.
He acknowledges his own flaws too. He mentions the Harvey Weinstein stuff, the "code name is groper" line—he’s being provocative. He’s reminding the world that he’s the "original" and everyone else is just a copy.
The song serves as a masterclass in how to use a parody to make a serious point. You’ve got to respect the hustle of using a producer's own signature sound to dismantle the genre that producer helped create.
If you want to really understand the song, don't just look at the words. Listen to the way the energy shifts when he mentions "Kelly." The temperature in the room drops. That’s not just rap; that’s theater.
Next Steps for You:
Listen to the song again, but pay attention to the 2:35 mark. Look for the "R. Kelly" wordplay and see how he connects it to the "sub-machine gun" line. It’s a triple entendre that most people miss on the first ten listens.