It's been almost 20 years, since Eminem's "Lose Yourself" won the Academy Award for Best Song at the Oscars. He wasn't there that night to accept the award, which means he also didn't perform the song on the show. All this made his appearance at the end of a montage highlighting Oscar music more than a little shocking.
Lin-Manuel Miranda introduced a montage of Oscar music, containing a bunch of hits that movie fans are going to know and love. In the end, however, we saw clips of 8 Mile and when the music started, it wasn't a clip from the film, but a live performance from Eminem himself.
Apparently, 17 years was worth the wait, because based on the audience reaction, they were seriously into it. Some of the celebrities at tonight's show were jamming in their seats.
Brie Larson was totally here for this.
After having her own showstopping performance at tonight's Oscars, Idina Menzel's head was rocking back and forth to the beat. She looked a little mesmerized.
Nobody was having a better time listing to Eminem bring the house down than Hamilton's Anthony Ramos, who had introduced Lin-Manuel Miranda for the segment, and Ali Wong. The pair were sitting next to each other and singing along to every word Eminem sang.
Joker's Zazie Beets couldn't keep the smile off her face. She looked like she was ready to get out of her chair and just start dancing.
Of course, while the crowd appeared to be jamming almost entirely to the surprise performance, it would be an exaggeration to say that literally everybody was having a good time. The camera turned on Martin Scorsese at one point, and you got the distinct impression he had wished they had gone with a live performance of "Moon River." The camera probably hit Marty at the exact wrong moment, but he very much looks like the elderly grandpa yelling at the kids to turn their music down .
Overall, though, the Scorsese reaction was the anomaly. Shots of the entire crowd showed almost a wave of movement from one end of the aisle to the other as they all danced in their seats. Like Gal Gadot.
When "Lose Yourself" won the Oscar in 2003 it was kind of a big deal because rap music didn't usually get that kind of respect from a group like the Oscars. Of course, if you do the math, a lot of the people loving tonights show would have been kids and teenagers back then, so this was very much the right music for this audience. Maybe 17 years was exactly the right amount of time to wait. For his part, it looks like Eminem was glad that he had a "second shot" at performing at the Oscars. He thanked the Academy for the chance after he got off stage.
Did you enjoy the long overdue Eminem Oscar performance? Let us know in the comments.
Eminem Photo credit: ABC
