Kid Rock Shares Why Eminem Switched Songs on His Faith-Based Album – And Whether They Talk Politics Together

The surprising new collaboration between Kid Rock and Eminem on the former’s equally surprising new faith-based album Halfway 2 Jesus has taken some, well, surprising turns during the days before its Oct.

17 release.

When the album was announced earlier this month, accompanied by the single “James 1:17 (Jesus Is King),” Eminem was listed on the track “7 Sins.” Now he’s part of “Heal My Faith,” while Lil Wayne became a replacement for “7 Sins” — following some last-minute maneuvering.

“It’s a lot of stress and a lot of anxiety, but it’s so good,” Rock (real name Bob Ritchie) told Billboard during a visit this week with other reporters to his Dixie Ridge farm spread in Nashville, in the hills overlooking downtown (and next door to a new golf course built by Justin Timberlake).

“It’s giving me the exact record I wanted,” he says of the last-minute change.

“I am so frickin’ stoked, and I feel like the biggest weight I have ever felt (doing an album) has been lifted.

I have never experienced good anxiety and stress before.” The switch-up came with a bit of comic, manic machinations that Rock said reminded him of making Devil Without a Cause , his 1998 breakthrough.

“There was a lot of last minute (stuff) on that record, too,” Rock recalled.

“I didn’t scream ‘My name is Kid!’ until we were mixing the song (‘Bawitaba’), ’til we were in the mix room.” What went down is that, despite their widely differing — and publicly expressed — political postures, Rock first approached Eminem about a year ago with “Heal My Faith,” previously titled “Lord Above” and “Show Me Love.” It continues a recording relationship that includes Eminem appearing on “F-ck Off” from Devil Without a Cause ; Rock popping into the 2013 video for Eminem’s “Berzerk”; and both appearing on Trick Trick’s “From the D” remix.

“We’ve been friends for, like, 40 years,” said Rock, an avowed friend and outspoken supporter of U.S.

President Donald Trump and many in his administration.

“I really didn’t want to drag him into my political world….

We talk about (politics) a little bit, not a ton.

There’s a lot of stuff we agree on, and we can have a laugh about what (we don’t).