Eminem Drops a Controversial Rhyme at BET's Hip-Hop Awards

Last night, BET aired their annual Hip-Hop Awards show, which featured a series of "cyphers" showcasing rappers like KRS-One, Wale, Nicki Minaj and Joe Budden trading verses and rhymes. Mos Def, the Roots' Black Thought and Eminem passed the mic in one of the three segments, and although all three MCs killed it when their turn came up, Em's short verse included a controversial statement that was bleeped by the censors: "My dick is so big if I add another inch to it you would swear when I raped you that you was actually into it."

The crowd emitted an audible "oh no he didn't!" gasp as Slim Shady finished his verse. The fact that even the semi-edited line made it to air is surprising, since BET is owned by Viacom, the parent company of MTV and VH1 — two networks who have famously censored videos and artists whose lyrics include violent imagery. (Even Madonna's "What It Feels Like For a Girl" clip was banned for excessive violence after it showed a fiery car crash).

Do you think Em's rhyme should have been broadcast? Let us know in the comments.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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