Eminem Claims He Doesn’t Remember Rapping Leaked Rihanna Lyric

Eminem explains how his recovery from drug addiction affected his rap career.

During an interview on New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31) on Shade45 with radio show host Gray Rizzy, Em discussed a number of topics including how the diss toward Snoop Dogg hidden on the rapper’s “Zeus” off of Music to Be Murdered By: Side B (Deluxe) came to be. Within the conversation, Eminem also explained the track that leaked last year, which mentions Chris Brown and Rihanna’s 2009 domestic violence incident.

“When it first happened, I was like, first, I didn’t know how, how somebody got it. Second of all, I have no, zero recollection of even remembering doing that, that verse, like the rhyme schemes, didn’t even sound like familiar to me,” he explained about “Things Get Worse,” which began circulating online back in November. “So I was caught off guard too. I was like, ‘what the fuck, I said that?.'”

On the line from the unreleased song, in which Slim Shady causally brings up the domestic violence incident, he rhymes, “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.”

“Things Get Worse” was reportedly recorded back in 2009 as well, while Em was working on his Relapse album, which dropped in May of 2009. Shortly after the song surfaced on the internet, a rep for Eminem offered XXL a statement, which said, “This is a leak of something that’s over 10 years old. After Eminem recorded it, he scrapped it, and rewrote it. Obviously he and Rihanna have a great relationship.”

As the conversation continued, Em explained that he had to relearn how to rap after committing himself to his sobriety.

“I said it and I was wrong for saying that, it was fucking stupid,” the Detroit MC said. “You know, a lot of times, especially with the Relapse record, when I first started learning how to rap again—because of the drug situation that I went through and having to relearn a lot of things—that was one of those things that it was like, well, if it rhymes say it.”

Eminem recently celebrated 12 years of sobriety this past April.

Check out the interview snippet below.