There is certainly no questioning Michael Jackson and Eminem are two of the greatest musicians to ever grace our ears.
Obviously, their genre of music is very different, but they are both adored by fans of their said genre, and even people who are not typically the biggest fan of their type of music.
But before the King of Pop died in 2009, the pair actually locked horns to the point where Jackson did something pretty surprising as he was that upset.
The pair’s beef all started with Eminem’s 2004 single ‘Just Lose It’, which generated a lot of controversy at the time due to its apparent parodying of Jackson.
In the track, Eminem referenced Jackson’s child molestation trial, plastic surgery, and an unfortunate incident in 1984 where Jackson’s hair caught on fire during a Pepsi commercial.
Just a week after ‘Just Lose It’ was released, Jackson called into Steve Harvey’s radio show where he called the song ‘disrespectful’.
“I am very angry at Eminem’s depiction of me in his video,” he said.
“I feel that it is outrageous and disrespectful. It is one thing to spoof, but it is another to be demeaning and insensitive.
“I’ve admired Eminem as an artist, and was shocked by this. The video was inappropriate and disrespectful to me, my children, my family and the community at large.”
And seemingly as an act of revenge, Jackson bought the rights to Eminem’s whole music catalog just three years later.
Jackson’s partnership company Sony/ATV Famous Music – the company that owned the rapper’s music – bought the catalog for a staggering $370 million.
With the mega buyout, Jackson’s parent company also had the ownership rights to Bjork, Shakira and Beck allusive music catalog.
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In fact, Jackson owned other artist’s catalogues during his time too, shocking fans by buying the rights to The Beatles’ collection in 1985.
The ‘Thriller’ singer even outbid former Beatles band member, Sir Paul McCartney, in the bidding process.
But as for Eminem, Jackson surprisingly did nothing with the lyrics of ‘Just Lose It’, despite calling it ‘disrespectful’ just a few years beforehand.
Jackson continued to own the rights of Eminem’s music until he died in 2009.
According to Boss Hunting, Eminem bought the publishing rights back for his music in 2016.
