Chloraseptic
by Eminem (featuring Phresher)

Album: Revival (2017)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song features Phresher on the hook and post chorus. The Brooklyn rapper is the sole rap feature on Revival. Eminem first discovered the spitter thanks to his pal Royce da 5'9"'s remix of Phresher's 2016 single "Wait a Minute."
  • The song title refers to the oral analgesic brand Chloraseptic, which is used for soothing throat and mouth pain. The track itself is a dig at the contemporary generation of rappers who mumble whilst spitting or singing. Phresher emphasizes his point by referencing strep throat, a bacterial infection that causes pain in the throat. He warns the mumbling spitters that they will feel like they've got strep after he's finished with them.

    I'm at your throat like chloraseptic, 'septic
    And you got strep, I'm too complex with, 'plex with
    This s--t I wrote is on some next s--t, next s--t
    I'm at your throat, I'm feelin' reckless, reckless, yeah


    Phresher explained to Complex: "The record is about just spitting, man. Just going off, you get what I'm saying? Just cutthroat, at your throat music. Like, I'm on you, you know what I'm saying? Real right-at-you music. It's just awesome, man. Eminem went crazy on it."
  • It seems that 2 Chainz also recorded some rhymes for Revival, but they were omitted from the final release. Speaking with This is 50, Phresher explained how he was inspired to step up his game after hearing what 2 Chainz had recorded. "So I did the verse, and Em is like, 'You know 2 Chainz is on the record too, listen to his verse.' I lost my mind," the Brooklyn rapper recalled.
  • The song was produced by Mr. Porter, who was an original member of Eminem's group D12. Asked to describe the song by
    Complex, the producer replied:

    "I think the most standout part about it is, it's a very creative approach to today's - I don't even wanna call it "club music," but you know, the standard. The one thing that I can say is that it's probably one of my favorite beats that I made on there. A favorite song that I've ever produced, for sure. That's because I sell music to people. But when you're able to give an idea to somebody's that's current...

    If I'm working with any other artists, if I make that beat April of 2017, it might be so far ahead of its time that somebody'll hear it and go crazy over it three, four years later. That's a very tough thing to do, you know? So 'Chloraseptic' is right now. It's a great approach, man. Not to be winded, I'm sorry. [laughs]"
  • Mr. Porter flew into New York to record Phresher's part. He said:

    "I was around a lot for this album. I came back to Detroit, in a sense, to record it with him. Because I was in California for the most part.

    So when Phresher did his part, I flew to New York. I actually did the session with him. We actually did two different versions of the hook."
  • Speaking with Malcolm Gladwell on the Broken Record podcast, Rick Rubin discussed Eminem's difficulty with coming to terms with modern mainstream hip-hop.

    "For him, it's a little bit of culture shock, because there's a new wave of hip-hop that's not really what he's about," said Rubin. "So he was just talking to me about how that felt. I could see he was frustrated by it."
  • This samples vocals from hip-hop group EPMD's 1987 debut single "It's My Thing" off the trio's first album Strictly Business.
  • The song's official remix features 2 Chainz's dropped rhymes as well as a full verse from Phresher. It also includes a scathing new verse by Eminem in which he takes aim at critics who judged the Revival album by its pop-heavy tracklist of guest features before it was even released.

    Y'all saw the tracklist and had a fit
    Before you heard it/So you formed your verdict
    While you sat with your arms crossed
    Did your little reaction videos and talked over songs

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