“The Warning” by Eminem

“The Warning” is a song that Eminem released as a standalone single, as in it is not on the playlist of any of his albums. And his reason for being prompted to engage in such a spontaneous act was a feud he was engaged in at the time with none other than Mariah Carey.

Or more to the point, the album he did release shortly before dropping this track, which was entitled “Relapse” (2009), featured a song, “Bagpipes from Baghdad”, in which Eminem forthrightly dissed Mariah Carey (as well as her husband, Nick Cannon). And Mariah seemingly responded with a diss track of her own called “Obsessed”. So basically, “The Warning” serves as a counterattack against the songstress.

Now the true genesis of Eminem’s beef with Mariah Carey actually dates back to 2002, when the two of them were personally associated. Eminem stated that they had dated, which by and large the masses tend to believe. But conversely Carey has asserted that their relationship was more along the lines of being professional buddies. And her doing so is what set Slim Shady off in the first place. In fact he acknowledges such from the onset of “The Warning”.

And basically what he is “warning” her of is that within his possession is actual evidence that they were in fact romantically involved. So he is threatening to release such to the world. Thus the underlying, psychological implication would probably be an idea akin to Eminem perhaps still being in love with Mariah Carey. But this idea is more or less thrown out the window as he once again resorts to dissing the hell out of her and Cannon in a way that logically would never lead to any type of future reconciliation.

Conclusion

All in all, it is pretty evident that Eminem did in fact notice the concealed shots taken at him on “Obsessed”. And with Slim being one of the best battle rappers and indeed loudmouths in the game, it was highly unlikely he was going to take such lying down. So even more so than acting as a warning, the function this track truly performs is serving as yet another chapter in Eminem vs. Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon.

Quick Facts about “The Warning”

Eminem wrote “The Warning” alongside the track’s producer, his long-established collaborator Dr. Dre.

This song made an appearance on three Billboard charts, including a couple that cater specifically to rap tunes.

Shady Records, Aftermath Records and Interscope Records released “The Warning” on 30 July 2009.

Mariah Carey is not known to have directly responded to “The Warning”.  However, a little over a year after its release, Nick Cannon dropped his own diss track against Eminem, which is entitled “I’m a Slick Rick” (2010).

Eminem’s Beef with Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon

Of all the feuds of Eminem’s career, this one will likely remain as the ugliest. It dates back to the turn of the century when Eminem and Mariah Carey were on friendly terms. In fact according to Slim Shady, they actually dated for a six months. But the way Mariah tells it, nothing romantic ever transpired.

Either way, their relationship apparently didn’t end on good terms, because shortly thereafter Em began referring to Carey in unflattering ways on record. And he continued to do so for a number of years.

Then in 2009 he not only namedropped Nick Cannon but subsequently went on to refer to Mariah as “the f***ing w*ore”. Now Nick Cannon was married to Mariah at the time, mind you. So Nick proceeded to voice his own negative opinion of Eminem and his actions.

During the following decade there were jabs thrown by both Em and Nick, but things were relatively quiet. Then in 2019 Cannon recounted that at the time of the aforementioned dis, he wanted to physically fight Eminem. Shortly thereafter Shady proceeded to diss both Carey and Cannon on a track hosted by Fat Joe. This really sent Nick into a frenzy, in which he dropped a number of diss tracks in addition to alleging on social media that Eminem is gay. And as of mid-2020 some said that Cannon (and by extension Mariah) actually won the battle, as he put his rival in a position where loquacious Eminem lacked the wherewithal to respond.