According to Royce Da 5’9″ Eminem did not insult Jay-Z in his new song “Tobey”

Eminem’s new song “Tobey” featuring BabyTron and Big Sean caused quite a stir this week and increased the hype around The death of Slim Shady and critics of the last single “Houdini” changed their minds. However, a certain sequence of beats made some fans believe that Marshall Mathers had Jay-Z’s neck in his sights.I’m not feeling your five favorite rappers / So I know they’re about to be mad at me / But that’s a mystery to me / How rappers that I’ve already done can be higher on a list than me?” he raps on the cut. Billboard And MOOD ranked Em as the fifth best MC of all time in his list of the 50 greatest rappers last year to celebrate 50 years of hip-hop history surrounding the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of this art form and culture.

Hov came in at number one, followed by Kendrick Lamar at number two, Nas at number three, and Tupac Shakur at number four. Given all of this, many interpreted Eminem’s lyrics as a possible diss of Jay-Z, but according to Royce Da 5’9″‘s response to a curious commenter on Instagram, it’s all caps. “You’re not going to answer this but… They say Em shot Jay in that Tobey store. Is that true??” the fan asked. “Of course not,” Royce replied, referring to his partner in Bad Meets Evil, and we all know Slim Shady has no qualms when it comes to rap controversy.

So maybe these lyrics are combative, or maybe fans are just trying to get offended. Either way, it’s hard not to think of the Eminem-Jay-Z collaboration “Renegade,” where Nas famously said that Em “murdered” the Roc Nation boss during his feud with Jay. Maybe that’s what the Detroit spitter meant when he “ripped apart” other rappers. Either way, we may never know for sure.

Now it seems like even rappers in Eminem’s city are finding something wrong with this GOAT attitude. “Number wise, Eminem is the best rapper in Detroit, but the joke is that nobody in Detroit would say that,” Skilla Baby recently noted. “Everyone was Detroit’s favorite rapper at one point. Number wise, it’s Eminem, but nobody in Detroit is currently playing Eminem, and I was an Eminem fan growing up. I’m a fan of Eminem, but do we think he’s our best rapper? I don’t think Detroit does.”