Rapper's Surprise Release Includes an Apology

Eminem's surprise album, which was released Thursday night, includes a apology. In a track titled "Zeus," the Detroit rapper seeks to atone for a line from a decade-old song in which he endorsed singer Chris Brown's 2009 assault on his then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna. That song—which included the lyric "of course I side with Chris Brown, I'd beat a bitch down too"—leaked last year after it was apparently recorded in 2009 and set aside, Entertainment Weekly reports.

In "Zeus," which appears on Music to be Murdered By—Side B, Eminem raps an apology to Rihanna: "For that song that leaked, I'm sorry, Ri / It wasn't meant to cause you grief. Regardless, it was wrong of me." The new 16-track album is Eminem's third surprise release in recent years, per CNN. It was preceded by 2018's Kamikaze and Music to be Murdered By, which dropped in January. (More rapper stories.)