Did Eminem insult Kendrick Lamar in “The Death of Slim Shady”?

Eminem’s new album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce)has only been out for 30 minutes, but it’s already stirring up controversy—but not in the way you might think. Listening to the album’s first song, “Renaissance,” there’s a lyric that insults another rapper currently riding the wave of a recent struggle: Kendrick Lamar.

Eminem is known for freaking out his peers on records, and K Dot easily falls into that category. Of course, Em mentions the younger rapper by name… But does he actually diss Kendrick Lamar on The death of Slim Shady?

Sorry for the fans who think this, but he’s just poking fun at the “mind of a hater.” Watch the full sequence below:

Now just travel into the mind of a hater
Because I don’t see any fans, I just see a bunch of complainers
“Kendrick’s album was cool, but it didn’t have any hits”
“Wayne’s album or Yes, I couldn’t say which was lamer”
“Joyner’s album was cheesy, Shady’s new shit is much worse”
“Either everything is too lame or there is too much anger”
“I didn’t like the beat, so I hated May be deleted later”
You nerdy assholes would find something wrong with 36 chambers

As you can see, the seemingly combative lyrics come from this imaginary hater (some would say a straw man) in the context of the lyrics. Maybe all the combative energy of the election year has fans riled up, but as it turns out, for once Em is actually defending the people he mentions by name. He also drops a whole bunch of classic rap acts in the verse, but we’ll have to wait and see how many of his fans actually get that – you know, since they “don’t really listen to rap but love Eminem.” Y’all aren’t in a bad mood.

The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) is out now via Shady Records/Aftermath/Interscope. For more information, click here.