At first, Esham took this as a compliment. In one interview, when asked about it, he simply said "Yeah, that's pretty cool of him." And on Esham's greatest hits album Bootleg From The Lost Vault from 2000, on the back of the CD case, it quoted Eminem's lyric from that song. Esham didn't seem to mind.
After a while, Esham was tossing disses at Eminem. In an issue of Murder Dog magazine, Esham called Eminem racist and said instead of "M&M," he calls him "Skittles cause any faggot can taste his rainbow."
In late 2000, Esham released the album Tongues which was littered with Eminem disses. Apparently, it struck a nerve. On Eminem's next album, The Marshall Mathers LP, which again had a few ICP disses on it, also had a diss at Esham. On the song "Kill You", Eminem raps "I ain't acid rap but I rap on acid, got a new blowup doll and just had a strap-on added.
Whoops, was that a subliminal diss?!"
Esham responded with a few more disses in interviews and in one memorable appearance on ICP.com's Shaggy Show, Esham said Eminem's haircut made him look like Hitler. Even Esham's homie Mastamind, from the group Natas got involved on his solo album Themindzi, in the Intro, saying "Wassup Marshall....watch you're motherfucking mouth."
It was only a matter of time before the situation turned violent, and when it did, it turned REALLY violent. Some promoter
apparently decided that it would be a good idea to have both Esham/Natas and D12 on the legendary Vans Warped Tour. So on
August 3rd, 2001, the Warped Tour stopped for a show in New Jersey and it would end up being the last show for Esham and
D12 on the tour.
Eminem wasn't there, but the rest of D12 was. Reports vary a little, but the facts, as reported by MANY witnesses, are that
Esham and partner TNT were hanging around backstage, chillin', and were MOBBED by a HUGE group of people. The people were
members of D12 as well as their security. Witnesses say it was anywhere from 20 to 30 people. Esham claims it was more like
50. Proof, of D12, says it was around 35 or so. Either way, the fact remains: Esham and TNT were outnumbered, to say the
least, and the beatdown occurred. Mastamind, lucky for him, wasn't around when it happened and thus, was spared a beating
at the hands of 30 or so people.
The target was obvious: while TNT escaped with only minor cuts and bruises, Esham almost lost his life. He suffered broken
nose, a ruptured eyeball, a concussion and hearing damage to his left ear. Both Natas and D12 were kicked off the Warped
Tour following the attack.
Speaking to reporters a few days after the incident, Esham insisted that Eminem set up the attack against him. Here's some
of the quotes from an interview with Billboard.
"Mathers gave the word," Esham told Billboard. "He didn't even show up for the tour. That's how premeditated this was.
This was a straight-up attempted murder on my life. I could have been dead. It got this bad because those guys idolize us,"
Esham told Billboard. "They emulate everything we do. Eminem has animosity toward us because we're his favorite rap group.
We don't agree with some of the things they say, so we speak upon that. It stems from that."
"We got kicked off for defending ourselves, which is totally horrendous," he added. "[D12] was 100 percent in the wrong.
Even now they're sending emails and death threats to us."
After the incident, there were rumors going around that Esham may never be able to rap and perform again due to the hearing
damage that he suffered from the beating and that it might be permanent. Apparently, that subsided because Esham was back
in the studio shortly after and launched another diss at Eminem on Natas's last album Godlike in the song "Shady MF."
In mid-2002, things got violent again. When Eminem was recording a video for his hit song "Without Me", Esham and TNT got a
small measure of revenge. They went out to California, where the video was being shot, and right there on Sunset Blvd.,
Esham, TNT, and about 15 gang members jumped Proof and Obie Trice, another rapper on Eminem's label. Two Shady Records'
staff members were also involved.
The beef was pretty much silent for awhile later until Esham signed to Psychopathic in 2002 and released a greatest hits
album called Acid Rain. The album included 5 new songs, 2 of which contained thinly veiled Eminem disses.
In October of 2003, someone from D12 finally responded to all the disses. Proof, from D12, released a song online entitled
"E.S.H.A.M." which stood for "Every Sucka Has A Moment." The song talked about how Esham was a big legend in Detroit back
in the early 90's but claimed that he wasn't shit now, so on and so forth.
Esham spit another diss on the 2003 Hallowicked track "Thug Pit." This isn't noteable really--at that point, Esham had dissed
Eminem and D12 so many times that it became hard to keep track--but the thing is, apparently Bone Thugs and Tech N9ne
(who were also on the song) weren't aware that Eminem was going to be dissed. Bone and Tech N9ne are both on good terms with
Eminem and weren't happy about being included on a song which dissed Eminem without them knowing it was on there.
In November 2003, Esham released Repentence which, much like Tongues, had a slew of disses shot towards Eminem and D12. Even
ICP got in on the action for a couple of songs.
Below is a list of all the songs in which Esham has dissed Eminem:
I'm Dead
"Never rap about fans named Stan like a homo."
Chemical Imbalance
"They won't let me on MTV, I beat up Carson Daly and remind Eminem of D'Angelo Bailey. Hailey's in a coma, Hailey's in a
coma, I smell the aroma of a dead body."
Mr. Negativity
"But then again, should I just slit his throat for saying my fuckin' name in that rhyme he wrote? Should I kill your wife
and your child for trying to assassinate me and my style?"
Detroit
"Killin' anything that's Shady, bitin' my style, pay me. And even in stereo, you can't play me, crack baby."
Brain Surgery
"Been boomin' words from hell way before D12. Tell me your favorite white rapper act like a female, bitch! Slit your wrists
like your dumb wife Kim. Scribble my name on the wall in blood, I love E-S-H-A-M."
Gloczup
"This white boy named Eminem, he say he live like me. Talkin' bout he from Detroit, the east side like me. Talkin' bout he
don't spit acid rap but spit acid like me. Bitch, I'm a nigga and you're a honky."
All Night Every Day
"The styles that you runnin' round with is ours, you and them Shady suckas is nothing but cowards. Bang yo' brains in the dirt, make you go beserk, if you ride with Em-ily, yo' ass gon' get murdered. I'm the E to the S to the H-A-M. If I wasn't, then why would I say I am? Pull a jack, sell a sack, cuz the babies need Similac. You remember that, rollin' in the Cadillac. You wanna battle rap? I swing the battle axe, chop your head off, and tell Hailey, go tattle that."
La La La
"Bitch ass niggas in this game unreal, quick to flip the fuckin' script for the mass appeal, but when their blood gets spilled, let's see how many feel that they gotta die for another Shady Record deal."
P-P-P-Pow!
"P-P-P-Pow if you dress up like Osama bin Laden..." (reference to Eminem dressed like bin Laden in the "Without Me" video)
Woo Woo Woo
"And if you actin' shady, we be like, 'shut up ho'!"
In Detroit
"In Detroit, bitch, you ain't even from Detroit, fuck yo' style, 7 Mile is where the hustlas at. In Detroit, ain't no fuckin' freestylin', ain't no time for that"
"I be the Rabbit killa, the killa who killed Rabbit, in Detroit, we bust automatics at trailer park addicts, across 8 Mile" (referring to Eminem's character "Rabbit" in the movie 8 Mile)
Back In Da Day
"I'ma tell you how it was before it all began, before Eminem, before all of 'dem"
"Feminem is her style, She-12 is her age, she lives across 8 Mile but still can get gauged."
"We was bumpin' Awesome Dre, representin' Detroit way before you met Dr. Gay"
Mommy
"Girl, he can't be your Superman, but I can be your Kyrptonite." (referring to Eminem's song "Superman")
Ex-Girlfriend
"Hailey's crying for her mommy. He didn't commit suicide, I killed your cousin Ronnie." (in reference to Eminem's Uncle Ronnie, who committed suicide a few years ago...but Esham fucked up and called him 'cousin' instead. Either way, point made.)
Thug Pit
"Fuck Proof, every Halloween, I dress like a bag lady, then I ride around with my 380 lookin' for Shady. If I catch him
at the Shelter, I'ma pull his file, chop his head off, and bury his body across 8 Mile."
Shady MF (Natas)
"Feminem and She-12 gon' get the bitch bust on."
The beef in J's words:
"Esham was on the Warped tour last year and was jumped, beat the fuck down and put on a fuckin' stretcher by Feminem's homies She12. Esham spent a grip of time hemmed up in the hospital because of them fucks. Why? What was the beef? Because Esham reps the wicked shit like ICP and is down with us. Not to mention, Esham and Feminem have been at war lyrically since way back when Feminem was still rappin' as "Slim Fuck Ass."