Justin Bieber returned with his R&B-leaning SWAG album on Friday (July 11). Among the surprises sifting through the 21-track LP, fans discovered that Eminem (Marshall Mathers) is listed as a composer-lyricist on “Yukon.”
However, it’s not what one might think when it comes to a traditional writer or guest vocalist credit on a particular song.
On the opening verse, a high-pitched Bieber sings, “I can help you get a move on, like U-Haul, and I know,” which is actually an interpolation of a line from Eminem’s “Untitled.”
Slim Shady raps on the 2010 Recovery (Deluxe Edition) track’s second verse: “Get up, baby, get a move on like a U-Haul, you can rack your brain.”
It’s not the only time Em has used the U-Haul simile. He also referred to the moving truck on 2020’s Music to Be Murdered By: Side B cut “She Loves Me.” “I put the moves on you like a U-Haul,” he raps.
JB has long been a fan of the Detroit legend, and he was spotted wearing an Eminem graphic T-shirt while walking with his wife, Hailey Bieber, in October 2022.
Eminem isn’t the only rap influence on “Yukon.” Vintage 2 Chainz ad-libs pop up sporadically throughout the Carter Lang-produced track, and he’s credited as a background vocalist on the SWAG cut.
The album arrived without much notice from Bieber as eagle-eyed fans noticed billboards up in New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Reykjavík, Iceland, on Thursday (July 10). However, sources relayed to Billboard this is only step one in the next creative chapter of JB’s music career, as the 31-year-old has a more pop-inspired album on the way.
Listen to Bieber’s “Yukon” and Em’s “Untitled” below.
