Studio leaks can briefly satisfy fans’ curiosity, but they can also strain relationships between artists. Bubba Sparxxx says he was already in a bad place when he heard Eminem dissing him on a leaked song. Still, he did not think about firing back at Em.
If anyone kept a record of how many times a rapper mentioned Eminem in one interview, Bubba Sparxxx might have broken it during his Drink Champs episode. Understandably, he came out at a time when Eminem’s music captured the imagination of the masses. At that moment, any white rapper was likely to face either a direct comparison to Marshall or, at least, a reference to him. Eminem made it easier for white rappers to break out, but he was an outlier, and it was unfair to use his talent as a benchmark for others.
That was something Eminem told Bubba many years ago:
If there had never been a me, I don’t know if you would have made it. But you deserve to make it whether there was ever a me or not.
So Bubba was clearly on Eminem’s radar, and that awareness made its way into some of his songs. Obviously, Bubba knows all of them, even if they were not meant as warm shout-outs. During the interview, Bubba seemed to remember every line.
Em always… He shouted me out. Even the time he dissed me, I thought it was a very complimentary diss. The song’s called “G.O.A.T.” I don’t know where he was getting his erroneous information. I’ve definitely done coke in my life, but that wasn’t my kryptonite. My kryptonite later in life became meth. But at this time, it was opiates. You ain’t never heard that song, “G.O.A.T.”? Well, he disses me and Paul Wall. Then around the same time, he put out a song called “Hey Darling” or some shit like that [“My Darling”] where he said, “Paul Wall’s dope, and so’s Bubba”. That’s the one that actually came out. Paul talked to him. Paul Rosenberg was like, “Hey, man. We’re not doing this right now”. And then he might have been having a better day. On this “G.O.A.T.” song that leaked, he said some pretty unflattering things about both of us. He was like,
“And Bubba Sparks just won’t write
cuz he’s so gone in that Snow White.
Timbaland can’t even get him to go to the studio, right?
And it’s sad cuz he’s dope, right? America’s next great white hope, right?”So I was like, “Man, just diss me some more, baby!” I was back in LaGrange, Georgia at the time. I was thinking real low of myself. And I reached out to Paul [Rosenberg]. I was like, “Dude, what the fuck, man? After all these years?!” He’s like, “Bro, I’m sorry. That leaked”.
Indeed, the song was part of a wider wave of unreleased Eminem material that leaked online in 2011. Meanwhile, “G.O.A.T.” was actually recorded earlier, around 2007-2008 during the so-called King Mathers era. Over a dark self-produced beat, Eminem raps about his dominance of the game, and is no surprise that other rappers ended up in the crosshairs.
Still, Eminem chose never to release it. Eminem knows his words carry weight, and he is careful about what he says out loud. The leakers, though, have no such considerations.