Here is every celebrity that Slim Shady has ever dissed in his songs

REUTERS/Gary Hershorn

On Eminem’s latest project—Hell: The Sequel, a joint EP with his old ally Royce Da 5'9, released this week under the name Bad Meets Evil—Slim Shady takes aim at Mother Monster. “Tell Lady Gaga she can quit her job at the post office,” Eminem, birth name Marshall Mathers, raps. “She’s still a male lady.”

Besides being obviously tasteless, this is not the most clever double entendre out there. And the reference to Gaga's alleged (and denied) hermaphroditism would have been more topical in 2009. But the line is the newest example of Mathers's most consistent lyrical technique: dropping names to throw dirt on them.

In some cases, Eminem has dissed to get even. In 2000, he spelled out his defensive attitude at the start of "Don't Approach Me," a collaboration with Xzibit: "What is it with motherfuckers thinking that because we're in the spotlight or whatever, that they can do or say whatever they want to us and that we won't retaliate?"

But in other cases over his chart-topping career, Mathers has picked fights unprovoked. This tradition of on-record sparring is something he brought to the mainstream from his formative years as a battle rapper in Detroit's underground circuit. He'll lay into anyone whose name makes for a decent rhyme, or who happens to be enjoying their fifteen minutes in the spotlight.