Eminem Apologizes to Rihanna Over Leaked Chris Brown Lyric

Friday saw Em surprise fans with the 'Side B' portion of his 2020 album 'Music to Be Murdered By.' In the track "Zeus," he apologizes to Rihanna.

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Image via Getty/Christopher Polk/MTV

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Eminem, fresh off a surprise cameo in Pete Davidson's Santa-themed "Stan" update, dropped off Music to Be Murdered By - Side B on Friday.

Toward the end of the new collection, Em enlists White Gold for the lyrically expansive "Zeus," which kicks off with a few lines addressing the quality of 6ix9ine's catalog and Em's still-heavily-discussed feud with recent Tickets to My Downfall chart-topper Machine Gun Kelly:

"She says I am trash but she listens to Tekashi
Bitch, you lost me
Fair weather, wishy-washy
She thinks Machine washed me
Swear to god, man, her favorite rapper wish he'd crossed me"

At the end of the first verse, Eminem—noting a "re-promise to be honest"—offers an apology to Rihanna over a leaked track that saw him rap "Of course I side with Chris Brown, I'd beat a bitch down too." The leak came to light in November of last year, ultimately resulting in a statement from an Em spokesperson to XXLexplaining that the leak was "over 10 years old." The rep said Em scrapped the line and rewrote it, adding that he and Rihanna "have a great relationship."

In "Zeus," Em says the leak "wasn't meant to cause [Rihanna] grief" while also stating it was "wrong" to have written the line in the first place:

"But me, long as I re-promise to be honest
And wholeheartedly, apologies, Rihanna
For that song that leaked, I'm sorry Ri
It wasn’t meant to cause you grief
Regardless, it was wrong of me"

Stream "Zeus," which also sees Eminem warning Drake of the pitfalls of top-tier fame and paying tribute to victims of police brutality, in full below via YouTube:

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Music to Be Murdered By - Side B is out now on all streaming services.

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