In an interview with VLAD TV, Nick Cannon revealed that when he was married to Mariah Carey, he flew to Detroit to fight Eminem over the things he said about the singer. Eminem mentioned it on Fat Joe's song “Lord Above,” when he rapped, “Tried to tell him this chick’s a nutjob ‘fore he got his jewels clipped/Almost got my caboose kicked.”
Nick Cannon discussed trying to hunt Eminem down, saying, “I went to Detroit. He don’t live in Detroit. He don’t live nowhere near 7th or 8th mile. He lives in Michigan and rightly so. He’s supposed to come up. I believe it was the BET Awards. Like I said, at the time I was managed by Chris Lightly, musically at the time, so was Mariah, Chris was managing 50 and he was talking to Paul Rosenberg all the time … this is a decade ago. Everybody knew how serious I was. I was there to defend my wife. I ain’t give a fuck about no lyrics … you said some disrespectful sh*t about my wife and I’m going to beat your ass. That was my mentality in 2009 … whatever year that was.”
Cannon added that he wanted to set up a boxing match between himself and Eminem — who was training with Emanuel Steward at the time for a role.
He said, “Real talk … I wanted to match whatever energy he’s on. I know I ain’t gonna out rap the muthaf*cka but I was like, ‘Yo, if you got a problem with me and my wife, talking that sh*t’ … you gotta be able to deal with the consequences that come with your mouth. Simple as that.”
Nick also revealed the root of his issues when white men like Eminem make disparaging comments about black women. He explained, “There's a mentality—it goes all the way back to when the slave codes were established—that there were practices that the slave master, the oppressor, would rape a black woman and make her husband stand there and watch. And he couldn't do anything about it,” Cannon said. “And I'm supposed to stand here in 2008, 2009 and let this white man disrespect my wife? A woman of color…and I'm not supposed to do nothing? … Would you let that go if that was your wife? Would you let that go if that was the mother of your children?”
He also spoke on Eminem poking fun at Mariah having bipolar disorder. He said, “We just gonna let that ride huh? We're all mental health advocates all of a sudden but when Eminem is still talking sh*t from some sh*t that happened two decades ago. 'Oh, he's Eminem,' No, he's white! That's the problem. And he doesn't have to deal with the same measuring stick the rest of us have to.”