Since Diddy has been in jail, some people on social media think that Eminem went after him because he’s now in handcuffs but that’s not true. Slim Shady has been calling out Puff for decades now. To make sure lies don’t spread, I have listed all the songs chronological order where Em is referencing or throwing shots at Diddy, with the help from the fans on X (Twitter).
1. Rawkus Records – “Any Man,” ft. Eminem (1999) [Originally called “F–king Crazy”, recorded in 1997] Line: “Original Bad Boy on the case, cover your face. Came in the place blowed, and sprayed Puffy with mace.”Annotation: This is a twist on the line from Reel 2 Reel’s massive dance hit “I Like to Move It”: “Original mad stuntman ‘pon ya case man.” Em is “on the case” like a cop, and Bad Boys was a 1995 buddy cop movie. Bad Boy is also the name of Puffy’s record label. One of Bad Boy’s artists was Ma$e, and mace is a tear gas that is often used by police.
2. Sway & King Tech – “Get You Mad,” ft. Eminem (1999)Line: “My attitude is worse than N.W.A’s was / I’ll battle you over stupid shit / And diss people who ain’t have shit to do with it / Like Cool J does (My tattoo) / You see me standin’ outside of your buildin’ / Screamin’, “Puffy is good, but Slim Shady is for the children.”Annotation: The last line is a reference to the infamous Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s rant when he walked on stage up to the microphone at the 1998 Grammy Awards after his group Wu-Tang Clan did not win the “Best Rap Album” award and proclaimed: “I don’t know how you all see it, but when it comes to the children, Wu-Tang is for the children. We teach the children. Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best.”
3. Eminem – “I’m Back” (2000)Line: “So I just throw up a middle finger and let it linger / Longer than the rumor that I was stickin’ it to Christina/ Cause if I ever stuck it to any singer in showbiz / It’d be Jennifer Lopez and Puffy you know this / I’m sorry, Puff, but I don’t give a f–k / If this chick was my own mother, I’d still f–k her with no rubber / And c-m inside her and have a son and a new brother / At the same time and just say that it ain’t mine.”Annotation: Eminem would rather have s-x with Jennifer Lopez than Christina Aguilera. At the time this was written, Puff Daddy A.K.A Puffy was dating Jennifer Lopez.
4. Eminem – “Marshall Mathers” (2000)Line: Is it because you love me that y’all expect so much of me? / You little groupie b–ch, get off me, go f–k Puffy.”Annotation: This line is a direct response to those who were waiting for Eminem to act out on the material dreams he had from “If I Had”, and it set the tone not only for this album, but Eminem’s blatant rejection of materialism within his rhymes. Puffy, or Sean Combs was the record producer credited with helping Notorious B.I.G. make it big on the radio, and he was regarded as a crossover king. Jay-Z even went to him for his second record, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 to boost his record sales. By name checking Puffy, and rejecting groupies, who were seen as everyday fodder for rappers during the late 90s, Eminem immediately paints himself as the anti-thesis to pop music. Not only does he violently reject the idea of pop music, he now takes it to those in hip hop who are only in it for the money. Funnily enough, despite not courting pop success, Eminem is now one of the most successful recording artists of all time in terms of sales, and he owes a lot of it to those early days of MTV playing his videos ad nauseum.
5. Jadakiss – “Welcome To D-Block,” ft. Eminem, Sheek Louch & Styles P (2004)Line: “Welcome to D-Block, the mighty, mighty D-Block / The place in New York City where Diddy won’t even walk / Its D-Block, the part of Yonkers I wouldn’t be caught / Without two pistols on me that’ll be cocked in each pocket.”Annotation: Maybe Diddy just doesn’t walk through D-Block because nobody feels like going to Yonkers. On a serious note, this song was released at about the time Diddy was doing his “Diddy Runs the City” charity campaign, to which this line is a reference.
6. P!nk – “Here Comes The Weekend,” ft. Eminem (2012)Line: “I’m prob-ably not gonna be wanting to pop bubbly or Ciroc / I’m not Puffy, but I’mma run the city tonight / When I hit it, I might act like a fricking idiot / Diddy mixed with a medieval knight / Big city lights, little indignity / Hot diggity, this Biggie is getting me hype / I don’t get some liquor, I’ll hurt you, I’ll knock your dick in the dirt.”
7. Eminem – “Not Alike,” ft. Royce Da 5’9″ (2018)Line: Only time you’ll ever say I lost / You’ll be talkin’ ’bout Fetty Wap, better call Diddy / Just to try to get me off of ya / Better hope I don’t call Trick Trick B–ch, this s–t don’t fly in our city.”Annotation: This is a play on the words “I lost,” a homophone for “eye lost,” regarding Fetty Wap. The New Jersey rapper was born with glaucoma in both eyes. Doctors were only able to save one. In 2015, Fetty Wap matched Eminem’s milestone of having two singles in the top ten on the Billboard 100. In saying “better call Diddy,” Eminem is referencing the fact that Machine Gun Kelly is signed to Diddy’s Bad Boy record label and implying that he should call his boss to save himself.
8. Eminem – “Killshot” (2018)Line 1: “Got the Diddy okay, so you spent your whole day / Shootin’ a video just to f–kin’ dig your own grave / Got you at your own wake, I’m the billy goat.”Line 2: “F–kin’ nails in these coffins as soft as Cottonelle / Killshot, I will not fail, I’m with the Doc still / But this idiot’s boss [Diddy] pops pills and tells him he’s got skills / But, Kells, the day you put out a hit’s the day Diddy admits / That he put the hit out that got Pac killed, ah.”Line 3: “You f–kin’—, oh / And I’m just playin’, Diddy / You know I love you.” [Sarcastic outro]Annotation: On “Rap Devil,” MGK claims that Dr. Dre gave Eminem an advantageous career boost: “Yeah there’s a difference between us / I got all of my s–t without Dre producin’ me (ayy).” Em reinforces his allegiance to his mentor and contrasts him with Diddy, MGK’s boss at Bad Boy Entertainment. These lines allude to the theory that Diddy arranged 2Pac’s murder. Eminem implies that MGK will never release a “hit,” much like Diddy will never acknowledge his involvement in Tupac’s murder. He might also be suggesting Diddy put out the hit song “Rap Devil,” which got MGK, who has a Pac-Man tattoo across his collarbones killed. This is reinforced by a line earlier in the song where he says: “Got the Diddy okay so you spent your whole day / Shootin’ a video just to f–kin’ dig your own grave.” “Killshot” was released on September 14th, one day after the 22nd anniversary of 2Pac’s death. On the 29th of September 2023, Duane “Keefe D” Davis was arrested for the murder of Tupac Shakur. He was allegedly given one million dollars from Diddy to kill Tupac and Suge Knight in 1996.
9. Conway The Machine – “BANG,” [Original Version] ft. Eminem (2019)Line: Yeah, shout to Puffy Combs, but f–k Revolt / Y’all are like a f–ked up remote (Ha-ha) / Now I get it why our button’s broke.Annotation: Here Eminem gives a little shout out to Puffy but disses Puff Daddy’s media production company Revolt. In particular for its association with Shady Records signee and retired rapper Joe Budden. Budden hosts his State of the Culture show on Revolt. On Killshot, Eminem insinuated as a joke that Puff Daddy had put out the hit to get 2Pac killed. Following this, Joe Budden said on his podcast that Diddy told him to leave his feud with Em to him, and that “it’s in his hands”. Also a wordplay: the “Buttons” (of a f–ked up remote) which is actually broken and Joe “Budden” who Em claims is broke (ain’t got money).
10. Eminem – “Godzilla,” ft. Juice WRLD (2020)Line: ‘Cause I caught the flack, but my dollars stacked right off the bat like a baseball / Like Kid Ink, b–ch, I got them racks with so much ease that they call me Diddy / ‘Cause I make bands and I call getting cheese a cakewalk (Cheesecake, yeah).”Annotation: Kid Ink is a play on both the artist Kid Ink and Diddy’s record label, Bad Boy Entertainment Inc.. Making The Band is a television show where Diddy forms a music group; it originally aired for 12 seasons from March 2000 to October 2009. During the 2002 season, Diddy challenged the contestants to walk five miles to grab him some cheesecake. Kid Ink is known for his signature bat-tattoo under his left eye, which represents his crew, dubbed the Batgang with whom he released the eponymous EP in August 2014. Ink responded to the name drop on Instagram by playing a snippet of this part of the track and adding a couple of mind-blown and bat-emojis. This might be also a 2012 XXL Freshman Cover reference, where you can see that Kid Ink is holding a baseball bat. On the same cover you can see that Machine Gun Kelly, one of Eminen’s later beef, is holding a golden chainsaw, that may connects the early “chainsaw” verse with this one, making it a great extended punchline.
11. Eminem – “Alfred’s Theme” (2020)Line: “But really I’m just fulfilling my wish of killing rhymes / Which is really childish and silly, but I’m really like this / I’m giving nightmares to Billie Eilish, I’m Diddy’s side b–ch / What the f–k? Hold on, wait / “I’m Diddy’s side b–ch?” Oh, I’m still east side, b–ch.”Annotation: Eminem harkens back to his September 2018 diss track “Killshot,” aimed at Machine Gun Kelly. He takes aim at Diddy several times in the song (mentioned above0. Em spins his accusations of MGK being Diddy’s side bitch on himself, before comedically rectifying the situation, apparently misreading the multisyllabic rhyme “still east side, b–ch”—housing Eminem, MGK, and Diddy—in Detroit, Cleveland, and New York, respectively.
16. Eminem – “Fuel” (Shady Edition) ft. Westside Boogie & GRIP (2024)Line: “Notorious B.I.G.’s death was the domino effects of / 2Pac’s murder, like facial tissue, whose clock should I clean next? Puff’s? / ‘Til he’s in police handcuffs, guilty, will he step up? / Like G. Dep and turn himself in, who knows all the murders they’ll pin on me next / So prepare for me to not choose none of my words carefully.”Annotation: This line is a pun that plays on the sound of “clean next,” a homophone for Kleenex, a popular facial tissue brand. Eminem extends the wordplay into a clever double entendre of “Puff’s” referencing Puff’s brand of facial tissue. Em implies he’ll continue to address The Diddler until justice is served and he is held responsible for his connection to the murder of B.I.G. and ordering the hit out on 2Pac.
