Eminem and Rihanna are joining YouTube’s Billion Views Club as a duo once again. More than a decade after its release, the pair’s “The Monster” music video has surpassed the 10-digit milestone on the platform, a feat they previously achieved together with “Love the Way You Lie.”
In the grungy video, the Fenty mogul plays the Detroit rapper’s watchful therapist as he views a compilation of his major career moments on a TV, as well as footage touching on his struggles with substance abuse. At one point, he fights against the constraints of a straitjacket while nurse Ri rolls her eyes.
“I’m friends with the monster that’s under my bed/ Get along with the voices inside of my head,” she sings, changed into a leathery outfit and dark lipstick. “You’re trying to save me, stop holding your breath/ And you think I’m crazy, yeah, you think I’m crazy/ Well, that’s nothing.”
“The Monster” dropped in 2013 as part of Em’s The Marshall Mathers LP2. It was, well, a monster hit, spending four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Before that, the rapper and Ri had already known they were capable of making gold in the studio together. “Love the Way You Lie” — which currently boasts more than 3 billion views on YouTube — dropped in 2010 and spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart.
Overall, the addition of “The Monster” to the billions hall of fame marks Eminem’s ninth video to join the club, following “The Real Slim Shady,” “When I’m Gone,” “Mockingbird,” “Rap God” and more. It’s Rihanna’s 12th visual to reach the milestone, joining the ranks of “Work,” “Umbrella” and “Stay,” to name a few.
Add your view to the 1 billion and counting on Eminem and Rihanna’s “The Monster” by checking out the video above.
