Judge Drops Eminem Rap

A Michigan judge wrote a rap to support her reasons for dismissing a $1 million lawsuit filed against Eminem by an alleged junior high bully whom the rapper sought revenge against in song.

Thirty-two-year-old DeAngelo Bailey filed suit against the rapper, citing lyrics from "Brain Damage" (a song from the 1999 album The Slim Shady LP) as slanderous. The lyrics read in part: "I was harassed daily by this fat kid named DeAngelo Bailey/He banged my head against the urinal till he broke my nose, soaked my clothes in blood, grabbed me and choked my throat." Eminem's mother has publicly defended her son's account of Bailey's bullying.

But Bailey denied that he ever harmed Eminem (Marshall Mathers back in the eighth grade). Judge Deborah Servitto saw things differently and her thirteen-page opinion was padded with a ten stanza footnoted explanation of her ruling, that included the lines:

"Mr. Bailey complains that his rap is trash
so he's seeking compensation in the form of cash.
Bailey thinks he's entitled to some monetary gain
because Eminem used his name in vain.
The lyrics are stories no one would take as fact
they're an exaggeration of a childish act."

In closing, she stated, "It is therefore this court's ultimate position, that Eminem is entitled to summary disposition."

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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