Although he continues to run Shady Records, which he co-founded 18 years ago with his manager, Paul Rosenberg, Eminem has been keeping a low profile since the release of his 2013 album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2—that is, until October, when “The Storm,” his takedown of Donald Trump, was shown at the BET Hip-Hop Awards and immediately went viral. At a time when pop musicians have struggled to make protest music that resonates on a mass scale, Eminem’s blistering middle finger to the current administration broke through loud and clear. Just as we did all those years ago, the country once again stopped to listen.

Now 45, Eminem is preparing to release his ninth studio album, Revival. Before that, he spoke on the phone from his studio in Detroit with his longtime friend and outspoken supporter Elton John.

ELTON JOHN: Hi, Marshall.

EMINEM: How are you doing, cunt?

JOHN: I’m very well, you old bastard. Are you in Detroit?

EMINEM: [laughs] Yeah.

JOHN: You must be pretty excited to have a new album coming out. Tell me about it.

EMINEM: I’ve been working on it for over a year. You know how it is—you make songs, and as you make the new ones, the old ones get old and you throw them out. The album is called Revival. It’s a reflection of where I’m at right now, but also I feel like what I tried to do was diversify. I’ve tried to make a little something for everyone.

JOHN: You’re very good on collaborations. We first met through the Grammys, when you asked me to do “Stan.” It was an amazing event for me that I’ll never forget.

EMINEM: I’ll never forget it either—and I was on drugs.

JOHN: You were on drugs?

EMINEM: Oh, I was for sure on drugs when we met.

JOHN: I couldn’t tell. I was just mesmerized by you and your performance; it made the hairs on the back of my arms stand up. It was like seeing Mick Jagger for the first time. I hadn’t really been exposed to that kind of rap in live performance before, and it was electrifying. And when that shit was thrown at you—about you being homophobic—I just thought, “I’m not standing for this. It’s nonsense.” I had to stand up and defend you. That Grammy performance was the start of a lovely friendship and I’m grateful for that.

EMINEM: Likewise. That was a crazy time for me. I don’t know if I was actually on drugs when we met, but that was right around the start of my using.

JOHN: You’ve been clean for a long time now.

EMINEM: Yeah, nine years.

JOHN: Your sobriety day is in my diary. I’m so proud of you. I’m 27 years clean, and when you get clean, you see things in a different way. It makes your life so much more manageable. It seems to have made all the difference—I can tell when I speak to you.