The voice of Madara Uchiha just turned up on a Shady Records single. Neil Kaplan, who played the Naruto villain in the English-language version of the anime, brings his menace to “MADARA,” the new track from EZ Mil featuring Eminem and Tokyo rapper Hideyoshi.
The song dropped Friday, and it does more than borrow a cool anime name for the title. The whole record is built around the character’s personality, with somber piano notes, booming bass and restless percussion setting a dark stage for everyone involved.
Then there’s Eminem, who sounds like he’s been digging through his own archives. His delivery leans back toward the energy of his early Slim Shady recordings, which is a little funny given he spent his last album putting that alter ego in the ground.
The verse covers ground longtime fans will recognize. He takes on censorship, racial privilege and old rap disputes, all packed into the kind of technically demanding bars that have become his calling card.
This isn’t a case of a famous guest swallowing the host, though. EZ Mil holds his own, switching between English and Japanese and threading anime references through his lines.
That multilingual approach is what helped set the Philippines-born, Filipino-American rapper apart on his early recordings. Hideyoshi adds another international layer, while Kaplan’s voice drops the fictional antagonist right into the middle of the track.
The Eminem and EZ Mil connection goes back further than some fans might expect. Their relationship started before EZ Mil signed to Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records in July 2023.
Their first official collaboration, “Realest,” landed that August on EZ Mil’s DU4LI7Y: REDUX. It climbed to No. 3 on Billboard’s Rap Digital Song Sales and R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales charts.
EZ Mil later appeared on “Head Honcho” from The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), Eminem’s chart-topping 2024 album. He rapped in both English and Tagalog on that one, once again leaning into the language switching that has become his signature.
“MADARA” also follows a busy summer for the younger rapper. In July he released 3RD WRLD VOL. 1, a three-song project digging into his Filipino heritage and personal ambitions.
One of the standouts from that set is “2200,” named after the ZIP code of his hometown, Olongapo City. Dr. Dre mixed the track, which says plenty about how closely the Aftermath veterans are involved in EZ Mil’s career.
That puts “MADARA” in an interesting spot. Anime fans get a crossover built around one of Naruto’s most feared villains, while Eminem’s camp gets another chance to show off the artist it has been quietly building up since 2023.
There’s more on the way, too. A follow-up project, 3RD WRLD VOL. 2, is expected, although an official release date hasn’t been announced yet.
