"Forever" is released

Why it matters

"Forever" came out August 25, 2009, with Drake's verse first, followed by Kanye West, then Lil Wayne, then Eminem. Boi-1da produced the beat. The track was commissioned for the soundtrack of the LeBron James documentary More Than a Game (2009). It is one of the more famous posse-cut collaborations of the late 2000s. The Eminem verse is the part most people remember and almost everybody who heard the song in 2009 thought stole the show. Em raps at a frenetic, syllable-dense, almost vertigo-inducing speed that sat outside what the other three were doing on the track. Kanye and Wayne both delivered solid verses; the comparison flattened them anyway. The combination of an unsigned-from-Canada Drake getting on a song with Kanye and Wayne and Em was the kind of placement that, in the 2009 commercial music industry, was career-defining all by itself. Drake's verse comes first on the track. He more than holds his own. You can hear all four MCs taking the assignment seriously, but Em's verse is the one nobody could shake.