Eminem apologizes to Rihanna for controversial leaked verse
“I’m sorry Rih, wasn’t meant to cause you grief,” Em rapped. “Regardless, it was wrong of me.”
Eminem recently surprised fans with the sequel to his Music to Be Murdered By album. The project sees him discussing various topics, including his feud with Machine Gun Kelly and his lyrics about Rihanna on an unreleased verse, which he admittedly regrets.
In the track “Zeus,” Em issued an apology to his “Love the Way You Lie” collaborator for referencing her domestic violence incident in the reference track for his leaked song.
“But me, long as I re-promise to be honest/And wholeheartedly, apologies Rihanna,” he rapped in the song off his new album. “Or that song that leaked/I’m sorry Rih wasn’t meant to cause you grief/Regardless, it was wrong of me.”
Eminem is addressing lyrics from the reference track for “Things Get Worse,” which leaked to the public in November of 2019. In the verse, he seemed to condone Chris Brown’s role in the incident as he rapped, “I’m not playing Rihanna where’d you get the V.D. at/Let me add my two cents/ Of course, I side with Chris Brown/ I’d beat a bitch down, too/ If she gave my dick an itch, now.”
Following the leak, Eminem’s spokesperson, Dennis Dennehy, told XXL that the emcee’s verse was antiquated, and insisted that it didn’t accurately capture the former couple’s relationship.
“This is a leak of something that’s over 10 years old,” he said in the statement. “After Eminem recorded it, he scrapped it and rewrote it. Obviously, he and Rihanna have a great relationship.”
The revised version of the “Things Get Worse” song — which omitted both the Chris Brown and Rihanna mentions — was later released by B.o.B.
Eminem’s Music to Be Murdered By: Side B dropped on Friday (Dec. 18). The project — which has the rapper’s name trending on Twitter — features the likes of Royce Da 5’9”, Ty Dolla $ign, Juice WRLD and more.