Eminem Maybe Should Have Sent A Fruit Basket Instead

noah | May 18, 2009 12:00 pm
3am
When Eminem’s
Relapse leaked a week and a half ago, Nick Cannon–the teen idol who grew up to become Mariah Carey’s husband–took exception to the song “Bagpipes Over Baghdad,” specifically the part where… well, let’s just say that calling Cannon a “prick” and his wife a “fucking whore” wasn’t the best idea. Cannon wrote a lengthy blog post taking Em to task, calling him a racist and saying that he would be “coming at [Eminem] hard body.” The threat would have been awesome, had Cannon not decided to take the post down a few days later. Anyway, Eminem has finally responded to the online kerfuffle, telling an interviewer that his intention was not to have the Wild N Out host start “wildin’ out” (see what he did there?)–as is the case with much recent Eminem, “Baghdad” was just the result of him spazzing out over another long-ago slight:

“As a kid [I had a crush on Mariah], definitely. With the song ‘Bagpipes From Baghdad,’ there’s a line on there, I mean, I kinda spazed out on that record but I guess I spazed out on every record. There’s a line on there that was a little harsh, you know, it’s a harsh line, it was pretty intense on the swag level but you know man, the way I look at it, I said it, I had no idea he was going to take it like he took it. I had no idea Nick Cannon was gonna start wildin’ out on me. No pun intended. I heard about some of the things he was saying, I didn’t read his blog or anything. It is what it is, he’s supposed to defend his wife. I expected him to do that. But at the end of the day, it’s a line I said, I meant to say I wish them the best. That’s what I meant to say…I didn’t plan on taking it [to battling], hopefully it doesn’t, but you know, it is what it is.”

What happened to all that verbal acuity that Eminem displays on record? Maybe the reason his cultural references are so often out of date is because it takes him a really, really long time to edit. Eminem Backs Off Nick Cannon Taunts, “I Had No Idea He Was Going To Start Wildin’ Out On Me” [SOHH]