Marshall Mathers, a.k.a. rapping legend Eminem, is making his VR debut soon but not in the way you’d expect. Instead of a 360 music video, the star is set to appear in the latest VR experience from Felix & Paul Studios. The first trailer for the piece just arrived.
Helpfully, the trailer itself is shot in 360 so it gives you a proper taste. The piece, named Marshall From Detroit, takes the rapper on a tour of his home town. Speaking with Sway Calloway he talks about his life growing up in the city and how Detroit has changed since.
If you want to watch the trailer in VR you can load up the Youtube app on a phone and slot it into a headset. Standalone headsets like Oculus Go and the Lenovo Mirage Solo also have dedicated YouTube apps.
This won’t be Eminem’s first brush with immersive tech. At least year’s Coachella performance the rapper used AR to enhance his live set.
Marshall From Detroit is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend. The piece is directed by Caleb Slain and lasts around 21 minutes. “Our idea was to extend the blanket of intimacy offered by VR beyond the once-in-a-lifetime ride with Marshall and introduce you to a more mystic version of Detroit you could never see for yourself,” Slain said of the project to Variety. “We wanted to take the ‘reality’ out of VR and cook it down into something more unreal, but also truthful.”
A wider release hasn’t yet been announced but most of Felix & Paul’s content makes it to home headsets.
This year’s New Frontier line-up also includes a fascinating new experience called Embody. We tried it out earlier this week.
