Eminem’s newly released album, Music to Be Murdered By, includes a chilling song titled “Darkness.” The track channels the perspective of Stephen Paddock—who killed 58 people in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting—to make a point about gun control.
The first verse finds Em immediately alluding to Paddock’s story:
Feels like I’m loathing in Las Vegas
Haven’t got the vaguest why I’m so lost
But I’d make you this small wager
If I bet you I’ll be in tomorrow’s paper
Who would the odds favor?
He continues by using a double entendre to describe how Paddock used a bump stock to fire off round after round at the Route 91 Harvest festival crowd:
Fuck the Colt 45, I'ma need somethin' stronger
If I pop any caps, it better be off of vodka
Round after round after round, I’m gettin' loaded (Haha)
That’s a lot of shots, huh? (Double entendre)
On the second verse, Em raps about overlooking the concert venue in anticipation:
Now I’m starin' at the room service menu off a Benzo
I can hear the music continue to crescendo
I can see the whole fuckin' venue from my window
That’s when you know you’re schizo
The final verse finds Em depicting the actual shooting:
It’s 10:05 PM and the curtain starts to go up
And I’m already sweatin' but I’m locked and loaded
For rapid fire spittin' for all the concert-goers
Scopes for sniper vision, surprise from out of nowhere
As I slide the clip in from inside the hotel
Co-produced by Em with Royce da 5'9'' and Luis Resto, the song interpolates Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” throughout its beat.
It includes the classic hit’s signature opening line:
Hello darkness, my old friend
As Genius user geniuscontributor points out, “Darkness” also echos a chord progression from “The Sound of Silence,” which appears on 1964’s Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. and peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Darkness” also samples news coverage about several different shootings in the outro. In addition to the Vegas shooting, it includes reporting about mass shootings at Santa Fe High School; the downtown area of Dayton, Ohio; The Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Md.; and Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California.
To close out the music video, Em calls for gun control legislation. “When will this end? When enough people care,” the closing note reads. “Register to vote at vote.gov. Make your voice heard and help change gun laws in America.”
Watch the video above. Read all the lyrics to Eminem’s “Darkness” and Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” on Genius now.
