Lana Del Rey has just been dissed by Eminem. Eminem released a video of his new freestyle rap to promote the compilation Shady XV. In the video, Eminem even referenced the incident involving Ray Rice and his wife Janay. “I may fight for gay rights, especially if they d–e is more of a knockout than Janay Rice. Play nice? B–ch 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.”
Del Rey is only the latest celebrity to be targeted by Eminem in one of his songs. In the past, the rapper has attacked Britney Spears (who he also briefly mentions in the video), Christina Aguilera, and Kim Kardashian.
Eminem: “I’ll punch Lana Del Ray in the face twice, like Ray Rice” http://t.co/2yovmdF2QK pic.twitter.com/HOqDaJXpLi
— TMZ (@TMZ) November 11, 2014
An article published by The Guardian talks about Eminem’s use of misogyny in his lyrics as a means of furthering his career. “We pretend to be shocked by his words, and yet the world remains as misogynistic as ever. He causes temporary controversy until we move on to something else, forgetting why we were upset in the first place. As a method of inserting himself into the current cultural conversations surrounding women (and in particular, women in music), attacking women in his singles offers instant selling publicity,” it said in the article.
Female rapper Azealia Banks took to twitter to defend Del Rey. “@LanaDelRey tell him to go back to his trailer park and eat his microwave hot pocket dinner and suck on his sister’s tiddies,” Banks tweeted.
@LanaDelRey tell him to go back to his trailer park and eat his microwave hotpocket dinner and suck on his sisters tiddies.
— AZEALIA ⚓️ BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) November 11, 2014
In a 2012 interview, Del Rey professed her love of Eminem’s work. She said, “He really changed my life. I didn’t know music could be intelligent. He wasn’t just rhyming for rhyme’s sake. That made me think I could actually talk about the way things actually were. He’s a genius.”
Del Rey has yet to comment on the controversy.