Rapper seems bent on causing a stir, reports say

May 13, 2009 11:56 GMT  ·  By

As if the song that leaked off “Relapse” and ended up right into the hands of Nick Cannon, Mariah Carey’s husband, was not enough to put Eminem in hot waters with Cannon, the rapper is now also taking swings at the pop diva live on air. In a recent radio interview, Em attacked Mariah again, using, this time, a method so cheap to garner free publicity that it shouldn’t even be dignified with an answer.

Eminem was asked on a radio show recently to talk about his upcoming album “Relapse,” out on May 19, but also about his latest single and video, “3 a.m.” At one point, a caller asks Em a ladies-related question, to which the rapper says that Mariah Carey has already been given a very R. Kelly type of treatment, to put it in more delicate terms. An audio recording of this fragment is available here, but discretion must be exercised since it contains strong language.

The feud between Eminem and Mariah began, as fans must remember, years ago, when Slim said that they had some sort of affair that ended because of Carey’s diva attitude. Although the “Butterfly” star has constantly denied that the romance ever took place, the rapper continues to talk about it – and about Mariah in not at all subtle or gentle terms. As a matter of fact, one of the tracks included on his comeback album is “dedicated” entirely to Mariah and husband Nick, with both of them being called names that cannot be reproduced in writing.

Cannon, on the other hand, got so upset about the lyrics of the leaked track that he personally set out to put Eminem back into his place, even if only virtually, via a post on his official blog (which has been deleted in the meantime). Although Cannon shows no harsh feelings for Eminem picking on him, he does say that trashing Mariah is the biggest injustice anyone could ever do to an artist, especially since she’s the single most influential black female singer of our times.

Consequently, Cannon invited Em to a face-off, man to man. “Holler at me on some grown man [expletive]. Man to man, let’s meet up and deal with this like adults. This is my invitation to you, whenever and wherever you like sir. So when you come out of your introverted hiding place and ask your bodyguards if you can go out and play by yourself, I’m here Pimp! because I guess it’s going to take a corny, wack rapping, boy toy from Nickelodeon to set you straight.” Cannon says.

The only response Nick got from Eminem following the provocation is the above-mentioned new Mariah diss on air.