People still argue about it. It’s been over twenty years, but the obsession with the Eminem Mariah Carey song saga hasn't faded. Why? Because it’s the weirdest collision of pop royalty and hip-hop vitriol we’ve ever seen. You have Mariah, the quintessential "Songbird Supreme," and Marshall Mathers, the man who built a career on burning bridges.
They met. They spoke. Or did they?
Honestly, the whole thing feels like a fever dream from the early 2000s. It wasn't just a simple "he said, she said" situation. It was a multi-year chess match played through liner notes, music videos, and brutal diss tracks. Most people remember "Obsessed," but the roots of this beef go way deeper than a single music video where Mariah dressed up like a stalker in a hoodie.
The 2001 Spark: Did They Actually Date?
Let’s get the facts straight. Around 2001, rumors started swirling that Eminem and Mariah Carey were a thing. Eminem was fresh off the massive success of The Marshall Mathers LP, and Mariah was navigating the Glitter era. In a 2002 interview with Rolling Stone, Eminem was blunt. He admitted they hung out for about six months but claimed it didn't work out because their personalities clashed. He wasn't into her "diva" vibe, and she—according to him—wanted something more serious.
Mariah’s version? Entirely different.
She has consistently denied that any romantic relationship existed. To Mariah, they were professional acquaintances who talked on the phone. In her 2002 interview with Larry King, she famously said, "I hung out with him, I spoke to him on the phone. I think I was probably with him a total of four times. And I don’t consider that dating somebody."
That’s a massive gap in the narrative. Eminem heard that denial and, true to form, he didn't take it well. He felt snubbed. He felt like she was treating him like some groupie she’d met backstage.
👉 See also: When Was Kai Cenat Born? What You Didn't Know About His Early Life
The Warning Shots: Superman and Clown
The first real Eminem Mariah Carey song moment came on the The Eminem Show. On the track "Superman," he dropped her name in a way that wasn't exactly flattering. He followed it up with "When the Music Stops," where he was even more explicit about his frustration.
Mariah didn't stay silent. She released "Clown" on her Charmbracelet album. It was a subtle, mid-tempo jab. She sang about someone who was "never my girl" and suggested that his "tough guy" persona was just a mask. She didn't name him, but the lyrics were surgical. She called him out for being obsessed with her.
It was a total clash of styles. Eminem was using a sledgehammer; Mariah was using a scalpel.
For a few years, it seemed like it might die down. It didn't. Eminem is known for his long memory and his refusal to let a perceived slight go unpunished. He started playing alleged voicemails from Mariah during his Anger Management tour. Fans heard a woman’s voice—presumably Mariah’s—talking about being "homeless" without him. It was messy. It was invasive. It was peak 2000s tabloid fodder.
The Nuclear Option: Bagpipes from Baghdad and Obsessed
Fast forward to 2009. Eminem makes his big comeback with Relapse. He dedicates an entire song, "Bagpipes from Baghdad," to the feud. He goes after Mariah and her then-husband, Nick Cannon. It was mean-spirited, even by Eminem standards. He basically told Nick to back off and claimed he still wanted Mariah back, but in the most insulting way possible.
Nick Cannon tried to defend his wife on Twitter and in blog posts, but the real response came from Mariah herself.
✨ Don't miss: Anjelica Huston in The Addams Family: What You Didn't Know About Morticia
"Obsessed" changed everything.
It was the definitive Eminem Mariah Carey song response. The music video featured Mariah playing a stalker who looked suspiciously like Eminem—complete with the goatee and the oversized hoodie. The song was a massive radio hit. It reframed the entire narrative. Instead of Mariah being the woman who denied a relationship, she became the star who was being harassed by a fanboy.
It was a brilliant PR move. By laughing at him, she took away his power.
The Final Blow: The Warning
Eminem doesn't like being laughed at. Within weeks of "Obsessed" hitting the airwaves, he released "The Warning." This wasn't a radio-friendly pop song. It was a raw, aggressive freestyle. In it, he threatened to release more voicemails and pictures if she didn't shut up. He detailed specific dates and locations where they allegedly met.
"The Warning" is widely considered one of the most effective diss tracks in history because it was so specific. He wasn't just rapping; he was testifying. He mentioned "the house on the 22nd" and other details that felt too specific to be entirely fabricated.
After "The Warning," the public feud mostly stopped. Mariah didn't release a "Part 2" to Obsessed. Nick Cannon released a few diss tracks that mostly went ignored by the hip-hop community. It was a stalemate. Eminem had the last word in terms of aggression, but Mariah had the last word in terms of cultural impact with a Top 10 hit.
🔗 Read more: Isaiah Washington Movies and Shows: Why the Star Still Matters
Why the World Still Cares
This wasn't just a celebrity spat. It represented a collision of two very different fanbases. You had the "Lambs" (Mariah fans) who saw her as an untouchable icon being bullied by a misogynistic rapper. Then you had the Eminem stans who saw a woman trying to protect her "clean" image by lying about a fling with a "trashy" white rapper from Detroit.
There’s also the question of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) in how we look at this history. Music critics like those at Pitchfork and Rolling Stone have noted that this feud marked a shift in how pop stars handled beef. Mariah didn't go to the press; she went to the studio.
The nuance here is that both people were probably telling a version of the truth. It’s entirely possible Eminem felt they were "dating" because they were intimate or spent significant time together, while Mariah viewed it as a brief, regrettable mistake that didn't earn the "relationship" label. In the world of high-stakes celebrity PR, the definition of "dating" is very flexible.
Key Takeaways from the Feud
- Documentation is everything: Eminem’s use of (alleged) voicemails changed the rules of engagement.
- Humor wins the public: "Obsessed" was effective because it made Eminem look ridiculous rather than dangerous.
- Specifics hurt more than general insults: "The Warning" worked because it felt like a deposition.
- The "Diva" vs. "Realist" trope: This feud played into every stereotype about both artists, which is why it resonated so deeply with the public.
If you’re looking to understand the timeline, start with The Eminem Show, move to Mariah’s Charmbracelet, then jump to the 2009 era of Relapse and Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. You can hear the evolution of the anger. It moves from petty name-dropping to a full-blown obsession—on both sides.
Actionable Insights for Music Fans
Don't just take the lyrics at face value. To truly understand the Eminem Mariah Carey song history, you have to look at the context of their careers at the time.
- Listen to "Clown" and "Superman" back-to-back. You’ll hear two people describing the same events from polar opposite perspectives. It’s a fascinating study in subjective reality.
- Watch the "Obsessed" video with a 2009 lens. Notice the styling choices. It was a direct parody of Eminem's look during his 8 Mile era.
- Check the credits. Many of these tracks involved top-tier producers like The-Dream and Dr. Dre, showing that these weren't just "throwaway" diss tracks; they were high-budget corporate investments.
- Verify the timeline. Use archived interviews from MTV News and Billboard from 2001 to 2010 to see how their stories shifted as the legal and personal stakes grew higher.
The reality is that we will likely never know the full truth. Neither party has ever backed down from their original story. In a world of PR-managed friendships, this was a rare moment of genuine, unfiltered animosity that played out in the most public way possible. It remains the gold standard for how to handle—and escalate—a celebrity rivalry through music.