He goes after Nick Cannon, Machine Gun Kelly, Lord Jamar, & more.
While Eminem’s surprise new album, Music to Be Murdered By, doesn’t come packed with quite as many aggressive diss lines as 2018’s Kamikaze, there’s still plenty of stray shots directed at his competition. Over the course of 20 tracks, Em takes aim at perennial rivals like Machine Gun Kelly, Nick Cannon, Lord Jamar, and Joe Budden. He also saves some bars for fellow Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley as well as Odd Future cohorts Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, The Creator.
To help fans keep track of his shots, Genius breaks down each artists he disses below:
Machine Gun Kelly & Nick Cannon
We first hear him name-check Machine Gun Kelly on the album’s second track, “Unaccommodating.” The two rappers' feud boiled over in 2018 following the release of Kamikaze, and led to an exchange of diss tracks with “RAP DEVIL” (MGK) and “Killshot” (Eminem). Things have quieted down since then, and according to his new lyrics, Em views the beef as finished:
But when they ask me is the war finished with MGK? Of course it is
I cleansed him of his mortal sins, I’m God and the Lord forgives even the devil worshippers
I’m moving on but you know your scruples are gone when you’re born with Lucifer’s horns
He comes up again on “Yah Yah” with a throwaway line:
I’m a sight to see, but you can see from the ring I’m wearing
Me and this game, we got married already
Had the prenup ready, fucked on her, should’ve seen her belly
She barely was three months pregnant
Bitch had it, gave me a baby, we named it Machine Gun Kelly
Finally, he uses some wordplay on “No Regrets” to reference beefs with both MGK and Nick Cannon by evoking his “Killshot” diss track. This is the only time on the album that he seems to address Nick Cannon directly:
For some adversaries, I carry big guns
So some targets’ll get the kill shot
Some, I just barely nicked ‘em
Soon after, he goes off about how MGK’s comments about Em’s daughter first kicked off their feud:
They talk about my daughters hopin' I fly off of the handle
‘Cause my first thought is to trample and write a thousand bars
But sometimes it’s like dropping’ an anvil on a house of cards
Or Godzilla squashin' a crouton with combat boots on
Or droppin' a goddamn nuke bomb on top of an ant hill
(I’m screamin' out no regrets) Can’t do it, nah
Joe Budden
Although Joe Budden was formerly a member of Eminem’s Shady Records label as part of Slaughterhouse, his transition from a rapper into a media commentator has put him at odds with his ex-boss. After taking shots at Joe on Kamikaze, Em doubles down with “Lock It Up”:
Tryna save at Kroger (Yeah)
So why would I give a fuck about backstabbin' Trader Joe for?
Lord Jamar
Another long-term beef that spilled into Music to Be Murdered By is Em’s ongoing feud with Lord Jamar. The album’s penultimate track, “I Will,” finds Eminem calling Jamar the weak link in his former group Brand Nubian. Em also addressing Jamar’s claims that he’s a “guest in the house of hip-hop” by saying Jamar is only fit to clean said house:
I’m more than you bargained for and I am far more worse
Than a fourty-some bar Lord Jamar verse
Nothing means more than respect, so when I curse
You could say I swore to protect
My image I have zero time or regard for
I never was, been claiming rap when it’s not yours
If it was anyone’s house G Rap and Rakim would be havin' you mop floors
Run-DMC would be havin' you cleanin' sinks
Yeah, your group was off the chain, but you were the weakest link
Tee Grizzley
On his 2019 track, “No Talkin,” Tee Grizzley claimed to “run Detroit” and dismissed Em’s reign in the city. The Shady Records boss finally fired back on “You Gon' Learn,” saying Grizzley lacks skills on the mic:
I am too volatile and too grizzly to bear
Yeah, shit is gettin' to where I can barely even sit in a chair
I bust my ass for this shit and I swear
It ain’t even worth dissing someone so offbeat
That they can’t even figure out where their words
Should hit the kick and the snare
Tyler, the Creator & Earl Sweatshirt
Both Tyler and Earl were Em targets on Kamikaze, but “No Regrets” finds Em wondering why he even bothered:
Misplacin' my anger enough to give Earl and Tyler, The Creator the brunt
Shoulda never made a response to the disdain for the fake ones
Them traitorous punks, ‘cause snakes are just cunts