What if I told you that one of the most vicious diss-tracks ever was not a rap song but rather a catchy pop tune that appealed to adolescent girls and mothers worldwide? Rapper Eminem, renowned for going straight for people on the mic, became the target of the diss.
However, it was performed by the legendary pop star Mariah Carey, who has 19 number-one hits.
Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, found this beef to be too much to handle. This article will examine the events of the one and only beef that Eminem may have ever lost.
Unconfirmed Past
During the 43rd Grammy Awards, alongside Elton John, the rapper performed his hit song Stan. Mariah Carey, who was in the audience, expressed her enjoyment for the performance. Mariah and Eminem both recall her reaching out to him. Requesting his assistance with her ninth studio album, Charm Bracelet.
However, the album does not feature or credit Eminem’s name.
Eminem says that at the time, they dated for a few months. However, Mariah claims that the relationship was strictly business-related.
The First Lyrical Diss
In May of 2002, Eminem dropped his iconic album, The Eminem Show. On his track, Superman, he rapped “What you tryin’ to be my new wife? What, you Mariah? Fly through twice.”
Dena Ray, a singer who has previously worked with Eminem on songs like Come on Everybody and Drug Ballad, contributed guest vocals to the song Superman. Ray claimed that Mariah was supposed to be on the song originally when talking about her time spent working on the album.
On the track When the Music Stops, he rapped, “What the f**k you take me for, a joke? You smokin’ crack? ‘Fore I do that. I’d be Mariah to take me back.”
One could consider these remarks to be “soft.” They seem to be Eminem’s way of venting about their failed relationship. Because of the album’s size, speculation started to circulate that Mariah Carrey was the girl Em had been rapping about.
Those rumors would be confirmed in a Rolling Stone interview in 2002 when Em was asked about them dating. “There’s truth to that. But on the whole personal level, I’m not really feeling it. I just don’t like her as a person.”
Miriah’s Initial Response
Mariah reported to Oprah in December 2002 that the rumors were false. In the same month, she doubled down on Larry King. Not long after Mariah released Charm Bracelet, and a lot of fans started to think that Eminem was the target of the song Clown.
She writes in the song “I should’ve left it ‘How ya doin?’ I should’ve left it at ‘I like your music too.'” She follows these lyrics by saying, “You should’ve never intimated we were lovers. When you know very well we never even touched each other.”
Eminem had also made claims on the song Superman that Mariah flew to his house. In Clown she responded to these claims by singing, “I gotta break it to ya delicately, dummy. Taking my G5 twenty minutes wasn’t nothing.”
Mariah continued to take shots at Eminem. While performing Clown at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois in 2003, a female dancer came on stage dressed in a blonde wig and wearing Ben Wallace’s Detroit Piston’s jersey.
Since Eminem is from Detroit and has been seen wearing this exact jersey, it was clear she was depicting him as the clown on stage. When the song ended, a giant screen flashed “The Marionette Show” with the same Eminem Show- style lettering. The singer grinned and said, “It’s all in fun. We’re just having a good time with the show up here.”
Eminem did not respond, and the beef had settled down for 2 years.
The Calm Before the Storm
During the 2-year hiatus of this beef, Eminem would act in movies as well as release new albums. He would also release his song Lose Yourself, which became his first Billboards Hot 100 single for 12 weeks. It had seemed that Eminem was going to let his success speak for him when it came to Mariah.
However, she made her greatest career comeback in 2005. Over the years, Mariah has released several songs, but We Belong Together was unique. Critics praised her voice and lyrics, and the song spent 14 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
This became her 16th number one release.
This single is on The Emancipation of Mimi which became her highest selling album in the US since her 1995 album, Daydream. The album debuted number one on the Billboard. The Grammy Awards nominated the album eight times during its 48th ceremony.
Eminem Tries Again
A few years later, Eminem made the decision to go after Mariah once more. In the summer of 2005, he was part of the third variation of “The Anger Management Tour”. Here, he used two minutes of his performance to criticize Mariah.
He changed the lyrics of his song A** Like That to, “Mariah Carey, looks oh so scary. I don’t want to see an a** like that. Every time I see her video on MTV she’s so annoying.”
He then plays a snippet of her 2005 hit song We Belong Together before playing alleged private voicemails and detailing stories of their relationship.
The crowd can hear Mariah’s voice saying “I love you” to which Eminem asks “You love me? Yo that sounds like Mariah Carey.” He follows this up by saying “Mariah, I told you to stop following me every city we go.”
This time, Mariah ignored Eminem, but he continued to antagonize her. In 2006, he revealed more personal information and spoke about the pair’s alleged sexual history on the track Jimmy Crack Corn.
He had even appeared on the radio station “Shade 45” where he claimed him and Mariah had a relationship for “a good six, seven months.” He also added, “It didn’t work. I wasn’t really into what she was into… She’s a diva, and I’m a little more regular, I guess.”
He ended this with a quote that convinced Mariah fans that he was a jealous ex. “I can never deny her talent, but the fact that she denied we ever had something, that’s bad.”
Nick Cannon’s Turn
Three years later Eminem released Bagpipes from Baghdad off his 2009 album, Relapse. In the song he mentions Carey again saying, “Mariah what ever happened to us? Why did we have to break up.”
He also added a few lines targeted towards Mariah’s then husband, Nick Cannon. “Nick Cannon better back the f**k up. I’m not playin, I want her back, you punk,” the rapper wrote.
Nick Cannon responded to the song in a now deleted blog post. He writes, “I felt sorry for him because he must be really stuck in the past. Not only has his music not evolved, but also homeboy is still obsessed with my wife, the same female that wouldn’t let him get to second base from 8 years ago.”
Cannon would have appeared like an upright husband standing up for his wife if he had stopped there. However, he simply continued to embarrass himself as he typed.
Cannon writes, “Should I go find this b****h and just whoop his little ass? … Most people don’t know that I’m nice in the ring and have been training in boxing and Martial Arts for years, that would just be childish and silly of me to bully his dude. So Miss Marshall, I’m going to make you wish you never spoke my name and regret the ungodly things you said about my wife.”
The Obsession Storm
Eminem’s frequent mentioning of Mariah seemed unwarranted. Especially since she hadn’t mentioned him publicly since 2003. One could describe his behavior as obsessive. At least that’s how Mariah viewed it.
This inspired Miriah to drop one of the most ruthless, cut-throat disses of all time. Instead of the usual rap song, Mariah delivered a catchy pop anthem called Obsessed.
The song addresses a person obsessed with Mariah despite her lack of interest, even though it doesn’t name anyone specific. She sings, “Why you so obsessed with me? Boy, I wanna know. Lying that you’re sexting me, when everybody knows.”
There aren’t really any strong assertions, supporting details, or especially negative lyrics about the rapper throughout the song. All it seems to be is a sweet and appealing song that ruled mainstream radio in 2009.
The song debuted at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. Making it Carey’s highest debut in over a decade.
Eminem’s situation worsens as she portrays herself and a bellhop secretly obsessed with her in the music video. Dressed in sweatpants and a large gray hoodie meant to resemble Eminem, the stalker follows Mariah around.
At the stalkers home they have posters of Mariah as well as other pieces of memorabilia. The song can be seen as one of the best diss-tracks of all time for its simplicity, catchiness, and replay value.
Final Show
Eminem had to answer. On July 30, 2009, less than two weeks after Obsessed dropped, Em responded with The Warning. A diss track that Dr. Dre produced in which he discloses detailed information regarding his supposed relationship with Carey. Including intimate details and references to private discussions.
Em’s anger can be felt in this song from the beginning as he starts the track with, “Only reason I dissed you in the first place is because you denied seeing me, now I’m pissed off.”
He addressed her record saying, “Oh gee is that supposed to be in the video with the goatee? B***h shut the f**k up ‘fore I put all the phone calls out.”
He continued to claim the two were together for over six months and only had sex once.
He also included Mariah’s voicemail recordings in this track to almost make it seem like she helped him diss herself on his record.
Em appeared to be having an argument with himself since Mariah never responded to the song.
In 2010 the rapper ended his disses after he told Vibe Magazine, “I really don’t want to talk about her anymore. I don’t want to keep beating a dead horse. I’m not even going to comment about it. I’m done with that whole situation. I said what I had to say. I’m done.”
Did Eminem start a decade long fued with someone, mention them in several different songs, all because he wanted the world to know he had sex one time with Mariah? He tried to provoke Mariah, but every time she addressed his reactions, just proved her point that he was kind of obsessed with her.
