Trivia
- Following the album’s release, “Fall” was promoted as the de facto lead single, despite never receiving a standalone retail or streaming release. It went on to peak at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart.
- On this track, Eminem critiques the modern state of hip-hop while firing back at critics of Revival — his most poorly received project to date. He also takes direct aim at Tyler, The Creator, Lord Jamar, and former collaborator .
- In the “Fall” video, Eminem is chased by an all-black figure, ultimately getting caught and becoming its host. The figure is similar to the Venom symbiote from Marvel Comics — a deliberate choice, as at the end of the video, Eminem steps on a discarded Revival CD, crushing it. His contact with the CD sets up the plot for his next video, “Venom,” a song created for the Marvel movie of the same name.
- Eminem used the backmasked slur “faggot” in the song to describe Tyler, the Creator, which generated controversy within the LGBTQ+ community. Justin Vernon, who is featured on the track, distanced himself from the song’s message, stating that he was not in the studio while Eminem recorded his vocals and that he had asked Eminem’s team to change the lyric, without success. In a Kamikaze-focused interview with , Eminem admitted he went “too far” using the slur against Tyler, who has publicly discussed his sexuality and same-sex experiences. In the song’s video, the slur is completly blanked.
- Eminem later addressed dissing Tyler, the Creator in the song “No Regrets” from his next album, Music To Be Murdered By.
Words from Eminem
“Me and Joe Budden, we’re not friends like that. We didn’t go to the same fuckin’ high school or something, so I get that part. But when I’m out here flying around to different places and doing interviews and trying to use my platform to pump up Slaughterhouse every chance I get, and you’re using your platform to fuckin’ trash me — and you’ve got a voice in hip-hop, so you actually could be affecting this shit a little bit. You don’t owe me nothing, but I’ve never gotten a fuckin’ interview and been like, “Joe Budden is fuckin’ trash. That last album he put out is fuckin’ trash.” So that’s kind of the attitude I took to this whole album — like, what if I give everybody my opinion about them?
[The “smackin’ bitches” line], was a tap. It was saying that his his “alleged” domestic abuse things or whatever, which I’m not gonna get into, but I feel like the reason I had to do that is because there’s a fine line between saying, “You know what? This guy’s really been cool to me. He’s helped me out and tried to help out on many occasions, so I’m not gonna go in on ‘Untouchable’ like that. I’m gonna say it ain’t for me, I’m not crazy about it, whatever, whatever,” but to be the worst song you’ve ever heard in your life? Have you listened to your own shit? Do you not listen back? ’Cause if that’s the worst fuckin’ song you’ve ever heard in your life… I don’t know. […]
I really did like Tyler, The Creator. I thought Odd Future’s movement was really cool too. I just felt like there was a mutual respect, you know?
The tweet he put out talking about Shady XV and “why can’t people close to him tell him that his shit sucks and it’s trash.” You don’t have to like it and it could really suck, but being that somebody really was cool to you, you would expect some kind of reciprocation — just don’t go public with it and publicly express your opinion and how much my shit is trash. So I chalk it up to them being young and just kids. I’ve been there. I was a dick when I first came out.
So I liked him, and then Earl Sweatshirt gets in an interview after Tyler trashes me and says, “Anybody who listens to Eminem is drinking too much Mountain Dew,” and I’m just like, “Really?” Like, “What the fuck — you guys were just on tour with us. We hung out. We kicked it, made jokes.”
I could come across being very petty, but at a certain point in time someone has their breaking point. So when Tyler tweeted out the thing about “Walk on Water” — “This fuckin’ song is horrible” — I was like, “All right, I need to say something now because this is fuckin’ stupid.” But at the same time, I’m not gonna be America’s punching bag and let motherfuckers think it’s cool and safe to say whatever the fuck they want about me.