Kendrick Lamar / Eminem / J. Cole
On Friday (July 12, 2024), after 4 years break, Eminem returned with 12th solo studio album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coupe de Grâce). The project opens with the intro track titled “Renaissance,” which finds Slim Shady name-dropping several rappers, giving them credits
“Now let’s travel inside the mind of a hater / ‘Cause I don’t see no fans, all I see’s a bunch of complainers / ‘Kendrick‘s album was cool, but it didn’t have any bangers / Wayne‘s album or Ye‘s, couldn’t tell you which one was lamer / Joyner’s album was corny, Shady’s new s–t is way worse / Everything is either too tame or there’s too much anger / I didn’t like the beat, so I hated Might Delete Later‘ / You nerdy pricks would find somethin’ wrong with 36 Chambers / It’s what they do to the greats / Pick apart a Picasso and make excuses to hate / So you can wait for your flowers until you’re blue in the face / Stupid, you ain’t gonna get ’em until your funeral.” raps Eminem.
Some hip-hop fans on X, formerly known as Twitter, believe the lyrics are shots at K-Dot and others namedropped but Em is clearly giving credit to them. He’s obviously speaking in the third person through the outlook of a hater and is not dissing Dot or the other MCs he named. However, the same can’t be said for Ja Rule who catches a stray on the song “Guilty Conscience 2.”