Just how on earth did Eminem change Lana Del Rey’s life?
It was a one-day controversy that shook the Millennial music world to its core. Back in 2014, the normally sensitive and inoffensive Marshall Mathers, in his guise as Slim Shady, performed a non-canon freestyle rap in which he took aim at indie pop’s undisputed “it girl” of the moment, Lana Del Rey.
“Play nice?” Eminem’s delightful verse began, before diving into a then-topical reference to a recent domestic abuse case involving an NFL football star. “Bitch, I’ll punch Lana Del Rey right in the face twice, like Ray Rice, in broad daylight, in the plain sight of the elevator surveillance / ’Til her head is banging on the railing, then celebrate with the Ravens.”
Response was swift from the “Lanatics” online, as many proclaimed that Eminem—after 15 years of spitting exactly this kind of stuff—had finally crossed the line. Others recognised that the specific inclusion of Lana’s name was less of a direct diss and more a matter of rhyme scheme convenience and pop cultural relevance. Is assonance a good excuse for assholishness? That debate is a timeless one, but it certainly appears as though Lana Del Rey herself may have answered in the affirmative, as she never made any sort of official response to Slim’s supposed diss track.
On the contrary, Del Rey was a longtime fan of Eminem, going back to her teenage years, and had spoken of the rapper as a major influence on her own music.
“He really changed my life because I didn’t know music could be intelligent,” Del Rey said during an interview with an Italian website early in her career.
“He was talking about his own life and he wasn’t just rhyming over music for rhyme’s sake. That made me think I could talk about the way things were instead of just making stupid music.”
Ironically, Eminem was almost certainly “rhyming for rhyme’s sake” in the aforementioned 2014 freestyle. Still, while hearing one of your childhood heroes describe brutally punching you in the face might not appeal to a lot of people, Eminem fans tend to appreciate where Marshall ends and Slim Shady begins, with the latter basically serving as the vile “id” of the Eminem personas. If Slim name-checks you in a song, it’s a notable recognition of your career achievements. There’s just a better than 50% chance that you will also be dragged, threatened, or humiliated as part of any such tip of the cap from the Rap God.
More than a decade on, as Del Rey’s own music has matured and Eminem’s… mostly hasn’t, there have been no signs of any lingering feud between the two, with far more attention drifting to Ethel Cain as Lana’s new arch nemesis. In 2020, Del Rey even posted a video of herself listening to Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’, suggesting no bad blood. Probably.
And while a collaboration between Lana and Slim Shady may not be forthcoming, fans of AI slop can now enjoy dozens of imaginary performances by the duo, possibly even one where Lana concludes the festivities by beating the crap out of Marshall and celebrating with the Baltimore Ravens.
