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Ed Sheeran name-checks Ipswich in a rap on his latest album
Ed Sheeran said name-checking Ipswich in an Eminem collaboration from his new album was a personal highlight.
No. 6 Collaborations Project, released on Friday, features hook-ups with artists including Stormzy.
In Remember the Name, with the Detroit rapper and 50 Cent, Sheeran raps: “I was born a misfit / Grew up 10 miles from the town of Ipswich”.
He told BBC Radio 1 it was “funny [as] Eminem would never ever know where Ipswich is”.
The 28-year-old singer-songwriter, who lives near Framlingham in Suffolk, will return to perform on home county turf when he plays four nights at Ipswich’s Chantry Park in August.
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Eminem would “never ever” know where Ipswich is, said Ed Sheeran
Sheeran said he had always wanted to record two songs with Eminem – one an “introspective, storytelling” track, and the other a “nod towards the cheekier songs” from the rapper’s early albums.
After achieving the first aim with River, his previous collaboration with Eminem, Sheeran said he wanted to get 50 Cent involved to achieve the second.
“Then I walked into Eminem’s dressing room and 50 Cent was in there, and I was like: this has to be meant to be,” he said.
Sheeran said he had now “ticked my two boxes”, but brushed off criticism of his rapping style.
“If you could have told a 12-year-old me I would rap on a song with Eminem when I was older…” he said.
“So many people say that I can’t rap but I’m allowed on a song with Eminem and 50 Cent – why does it matter?”
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Framlingham Castle featured in the final scenes of the Castle on the Hill video
Ipswich is not the first Suffolk location to be featured in an Ed Sheeran song – Framlingham Castle reported a surge in visitor numbers after being the subject of his number one single Castle on the Hill.
His 2011 hit You Need Me, I Don’t Need You included the line: “Suffolk sadly seems to sort of suffocate me.”