Eminem Taps Wu-Tang Clan for Lions’ Thanksgiving Halftime Performance

Wu-Tang Clan performs at Accor Arena in Paris on March 11, 2026. The group will headline the Detroit Lions' Thanksgiving halftime show Nov. 26, with Eminem and Paul Rosenberg serving as executive producers. (Photo by ManoSolo13241324 via Wikimedia Commons, CC0)

Wu-Tang Clan is bringing Shaolin to Detroit for Thanksgiving, with Eminem and his longtime manager, Paul Rosenberg, arranging a national television appearance for the legendary hip-hop collective.

The Detroit Lions announced Sunday that Wu-Tang will headline halftime of the team's Nov. 26 game against the Chicago Bears at Ford Field.

The performance will air nationally on CBS during the Lions' 87th annual Thanksgiving Day Classic, which kicks off at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Eminem and Rosenberg, the president of Shady Records, selected the group as part of their multiyear agreement to oversee the team's Thanksgiving halftime entertainment.

The pairing brings together two defining forces of 1990s hip-hop: the Staten Island collective whose raw production and nine-member lineup helped reshape East Coast rap, and the Detroit superstar who followed that decade's underground rap traditions to worldwide fame.

It also comes at a major moment in Wu-Tang's history.

The group is winding down its “Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber” farewell tour and is scheduled to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Nov. 14, less than two weeks before the football game.

WU-TANG'S THANKSGIVING HALFTIME SHOW

Detroit Lions vs. Chicago Bears
Thursday, Nov. 26, 2026
Ford Field, Detroit
Kickoff: Noon Central / 1 p.m. Eastern
National broadcast: CBS

Read the Detroit Lions' official Wu-Tang announcement

Read the original Eminem-Rosenberg production agreement

See the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Class of 2026

The Hall of Fame announced Wu-Tang's selection in April, recognizing the collective's innovative recording style, extensive solo catalog and influence on hip-hop culture.

Rosenberg said the Thanksgiving booking reflects a shared admiration dating to the group's earliest recordings.

“Both Eminem and myself have been Wu fans since the early 90's,” he said in the Lions' announcement.

Rosenberg described a Wu-Tang performance in Detroit as both unexpected and fitting for the holiday tradition.

The Lions' partnership with Eminem and Rosenberg began in 2025. That year's halftime show featured Detroit rocker Jack White, with a surprise appearance by Eminem.

Whether the rapper will also perform with Wu-Tang this year remains unknown. The team has not announced any special guests, a set list or a performance by Eminem himself.

For Wu-Tang, the nationally televised appearance will introduce the group's sprawling catalog to an audience extending well beyond hip-hop's traditional fans.

Formed on Staten Island in the early 1990s, the collective broke through with its 1993 debut, “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers),” a landmark release built around RZA's spare, sample-heavy production and the contrasting styles of its MCs.

Songs including “Protect Ya Neck” and “C.R.E.A.M.” helped establish the group's reputation, while members went on to individual careers that produced such influential albums as Method Man's “Tical,” Raekwon's “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...” and GZA's “Liquid Swords.”

The group also challenged the music industry's traditional business model by allowing members to pursue separate recording contracts while maintaining the collective's identity.

The Rock Hall's 2026 class includes all 10 recognized Wu-Tang members, including the late Ol' Dirty Bastard, who died in 2004.

Its upcoming induction will put the group alongside fellow honorees including Sade, Luther Vandross, Queen Latifah and MC Lyte, although the latter two are being recognized in the Early Influence category.

Wu-Tang's Thanksgiving appearance is another milestone in a career that has already taken the group from underground New York clubs to arenas around the world.

Detroit Lions President and CEO Rich Haddad welcomed the booking, describing the group's participation as an addition to one of the NFL's longest-running holiday traditions.

Michigan native Antonio Cipriano, an actor and singer with Broadway credits, will perform the national anthem.

The Lions have not announced the length of Wu-Tang's halftime set or which members will take the field.

For now, the confirmed lineup promises a rare collision of Detroit football tradition and Staten Island hip-hop history, with Eminem helping make the connection from behind the scenes.

Ye’s Halloween Concert Draws Drake and More Than 80,000 Fans to Houston

Ye performs atop a globe-shaped stage at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sept. 4, 2026. He drew a reported 80,210 fans to his Halloween concert in Houston, where Drake was among those in attendance. (Photo by @goodasssub via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)

Ye drew a reported 80,210 fans to Houston's Reliant Stadium on Halloween, bringing Drake into the audience, Travis Scott and other guests into the spotlight, and a Texas lawmaker into a growing controversy over his decision to honor the rapper.

Concert organizers and stadium officials called Saturday's turnout a U.S. stadium attendance record for a rap concert. The figure, reported by the Houston Chronicle, has not been independently audited.

It would also put the show seven people ahead of the stadium's previous announced concert attendance record, set March 22 when country singer Cody Johnson drew 80,203 fans during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, performed for nearly three hours atop an enormous globe-shaped stage, backed by elaborate lighting and pyrotechnics.

The concert covered much of his career, from early hits including “Jesus Walks,” “All Falls Down” and “Gold Digger” to more recent material.

Playboi Carti joined him for several songs, including “Carnival” and “Off the Grid.” Ye's daughter North West appeared for three numbers, including “Talking,” according to the Chronicle's account of the show.

Houston rapper Travis Scott also made an appearance.

Drake watching Ye and Playboi Carti perform “Carnival” together in Houston last night. 🐐🔥 https://t.co/8qW8I1WljM

— yzyupdates (@yzyupdates) November 1, 2026

But one of the night's most talked-about guests never took the stage.

Fan-shot footage appeared to show Drake watching from a suite with Scott, who had accompanied him to a Houston Rockets game earlier that evening.

The sighting attracted attention because of Drake's complicated history with Ye, whose relationship has included public feuds, attempted reconciliations and a joint appearance at the 2021 Free Larry Hoover benefit concert.

Neither rapper has announced another reconciliation. Drake was not listed as a performer, and his presence alone does not establish that their differences have been resolved.

The biggest controversy surrounding the Houston show, however, emerged after the music ended.

Texas state Rep. Ron Reynolds, a Democrat representing part of Fort Bend County, presented Ye with a “Global Icon Award” and a Texas flag he said had flown over the state Capitol in Austin in the rapper's honor.

“This flag was flown over our Capitol in Austin for none other than Kanye West,” Reynolds said during the presentation, according to video reported by Chron.

Reynolds described the recognition as being presented on behalf of Texas, but it was not immediately clear who authorized the award or whether it represented an official action by the state.

Ye was presented with a Global Icon Award and a special flag flown over the Texas State Capitol by State Representative Ron Reynolds following his historic Houston concert last night 🏆 “This flag was flown over our Capitol in Austin for none other than Kanye West. We’re so honored to have him in H-Town where we’re showing him mad love and respect.”

— Kurrco (@Kurrco) November 1, 2026

The recognition drew criticism because of Ye's history of antisemitic and racist statements, praise for Adolf Hitler and use of Nazi imagery.

Those controversies have previously resulted in lost business partnerships and cancellations of planned performances.

Before the Houston concert, stadium officials warned attendees that clothing, signs or other displays promoting hatred would not be permitted. Holocaust Museum Houston offered free admission over the weekend as part of its effort to confront antisemitism through education.

Ye apologized for his past statements in a full-page Wall Street Journal advertisement in January, attributing his behavior to a mental health crisis and saying he was committed to accountability and change.

His return to American stadiums has nevertheless demonstrated considerable commercial appeal, including a July performance at San Antonio's Alamodome that drew more than 60,000 fans.

The Houston concert left two markedly different images of Ye's place in popular culture: a stadium filled with fans celebrating his music and a public official facing questions about honoring him.

With additional performances scheduled in Dallas on Nov. 7 and Phoenix on Nov. 21, that contrast is likely to follow him beyond Houston.

Juan Atkins, Founding Figure of Detroit Techno, Dies at 64

Juan Atkins, a founding figure of Detroit techno whose 1983 Cybotron recording “Clear” was sampled in Missy Elliott's hit “Lose Control,” died at 64. His death was confirmed Sunday by his representatives.

A sound that helped invent Detroit techno in 1983 was still moving dance floors more than two decades later, when Missy Elliott built one of her biggest hits around it.

The man behind that sound, Juan Atkins, has died at 64.

Atkins, a Detroit DJ and producer widely regarded as one of techno's founding figures, was found unresponsive in a Mexico City hotel room ahead of a scheduled Halloween performance. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead Sunday, according to Greensmith Artists, his agency, which confirmed his death to electronic music publication Resident Advisor.

A cause of death has not been officially established.

Atkins helped lay the foundation for electronic dance music through his work with Cybotron, Model 500 and his independent Metroplex label. Alongside fellow Detroit innovators Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, he became part of the Belleville Three, the trio credited with helping establish Detroit techno.

But his influence reached well beyond electronic music.

In 1983, Atkins and collaborator Richard Davis released “Clear” as Cybotron, combining a relentless electronic rhythm, synthesizers and an otherworldly sense of space.

In 2005, Missy Elliott sampled “Clear” for “Lose Control,” her hit featuring Ciara and Fatman Scoop. The song became one of the defining dance records of the decade, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Missy Elliott's 2005 hit "Lose Control," featuring Ciara and Fatman Scoop, samples Cybotron's 1983 recording "Clear," co-written by Juan Atkins and Richard Davis. (Missy Elliott/YouTube)

Atkins and Davis received songwriting credits on the recording, which also sampled Hot Streak's “Body Work.”

For listeners who knew the song primarily through Elliott's music video and its explosive choreography, the connection offered an introduction to an earlier generation of Black electronic music.

Atkins' musical education began in Detroit, where he absorbed the funk of George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic alongside the electronic experiments of Germany's Kraftwerk. Radio personality the Electrifying Mojo helped bring those sounds together for a generation of Detroit listeners.

After moving to Belleville as a teenager, Atkins befriended May and Saunderson. Their shared interest in synthesizers, dance music and futuristic production eventually helped create a sound unlike the disco, funk and pop dominating American radio.

Atkins founded Cybotron with Davis in 1980. Along with “Clear,” the duo recorded influential tracks including “Alleys of Your Mind” and “Techno City.”

He later moved forward under the name Model 500, releasing “No UFO's” in 1985 and establishing Metroplex, a label that became central to Detroit's developing electronic music scene.

As the music spread overseas, particularly through clubs in Europe, the innovations of Atkins and his Detroit contemporaries helped shape a worldwide movement.

The word “techno” itself became closely associated with the sound through Atkins' music and the late-1980s British compilation that introduced Detroit artists to a broader international audience.

Saunderson, one of his fellow Belleville Three members, paid tribute to Atkins on social media.

“Juan was the originator of Techno, a true visionary who opened the door for so many of us, myself included,” he wrote, according to Mixmag.

Saunderson also recalled Atkins teaching him how to finish his first record, “Triangle of Love,” a gesture that helped launch his own career.

Other artists, including Kenny Larkin, Roger Sanchez and Fatboy Slim, joined the tributes following the announcement of Atkins' death.

Although techno became a global commercial genre, its origins in Detroit's Black music community have not always received equal recognition.

Atkins' recordings remain among the clearest evidence of that history: music rooted in funk and electronic experimentation that crossed continents, influenced generations of producers and eventually found its way into hip-hop and R&B.

More than 40 years after Cybotron recorded “Clear,” the beat that helped define his legacy still sounds unmistakably ahead of its time.