The fourth Marshall’s studio album presented to the world less of Slim Shady and more of Eminem but it was not short of fierce attacks on authority figures of all kinds, from his own mother to pop celebrities to powerful politicians.
Genius published a very fitting piece counting all Eminem’s disses on the album and providing textual context to all of them.
There is the beginning of the war of words with Mariah Carey, the one that Nick Cannon is desperately trying to keep alive, there is firestorm aimed at Moby, Limp Bizkit, Chris Kirkpatrick of *NSYNC, a dishonourable mention of The Source on “Say What You Say”.
There are overtly political “White America” and “Square Dance” where he went after Tipper Gore and Lynne Cheney who criticised him for his “destructive” lyrics but did not see much harm in starting the war. The was he protested against rapping on “Square Dance”:
All this terror, America demands action
Next thing you know, you’ve got Uncle Sam’s ass askin’
To join the army or what you’ll do for their Navy
You just a baby gettin’ recruited at 18
You’re on a plane now, eatin’ their food and their baked beans
However, “Cleanin’ Out My Closet” remains, arguably, one of the strongest come-backs on this album. And the one that everyone cannot help but sing along to. Genius wrote:
Em once again raps about his mother’s alleged addiction to prescription drugs. Among many other topics, he references songs that his mother recorded with a group called ID-X in response to his prior criticism of her parenting and her $11 million defamation lawsuit that resulted in a reduced $1,600 settlement:
See, what hurts me the most is you won’t admit you was wrong
Bitch, do your song, keep tellin’ yourself that you was a mom!
But how dare you try to take what you didn’t help me to get?!
You selfish bitch, I hope you fuckin’ burn in hell for this shit!
Read the full article on Genius
