Em talked to Vulture about why he started dissing pop stars and how he dealt with being accused of homophobia.

Just a few days before Eminem’s latest album Revival was released, the Detroit rapper sat down with Vulture for a far-ranging interview where he reflected on his discography, explained why he began dissing pop stars in his music, and claimed he’s ready for President Donald Trump to respond to him.

“I certainly have not had a perfect career,” said Eminem, while discussing what the critical reception to Revival might be like. “I’ve put out bad albums.” When asked which albums he was thinking of, Em talked about 2009’s Relapse, saying it was the best he could do at the time since he was coming out of the haze of drug addiction and feeling so “scatterbrained” that people around him thought he might have given himself brain damage. He also discussed 2004’s Encore, calling it “mediocre.” He explained how leaks affected the creation of the album:

I’m cool with probably half that album. I recorded that towards the height of my addiction. I remember four songs leaked and I had to go to L.A. and get Dre and record new ones. I was in a room by myself writing songs in 25, 30 minutes because we had to get it done, and what came out was so goofy. That’s how I ended up making songs like “Rain Man” and “Big Weenie.” They’re pretty out there. If those other songs hadn’t leaked, Encore would’ve been a different album.

This is not the first time Em has dismissed Relapse and Encore. On the song “Talkin' 2 Myself,” a cut from his 2010 album Recovery, he rapped:

It’s different, them last two albums didn’t count

Encore I was on drugs, Relapse I was flushin' them out

However, Em did praise one of his albums saying, “I am forever chasing The Marshall Mathers LP. That was the height of what I could do.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Em was asked why he doesn’t diss pop stars like Ed Sheeran (whose featured on the album) the way he used to diss acts like Backstreet Boys or ‘N Sync. He explained his reasoning saying:

The reason that I went at pop stars back then is because people were calling me a pop rapper. What’s bugged out to me is that — I don’t know if everybody understands this — if everybody could do what I did, they’d just do it wouldn’t they? I’m not this manufactured pop thing and I never was. A way people used to dismiss me was to call me pop. I got mad about that, and I lashed out.

Em infamously dissed all sorts of pop stars in his early days on songs like “Marshall Mathers” where he spit:

Startin' shit like some 26-year-old skinny Cartman (Goddamn it!)

An anti-Backstreet and Ricky Martin

Whose instinct’s to kill N'Sync, don’t get me started

These fuckin' brats can’t sing and Britney’s garbage

What’s this bitch, retarded?

Give me back my sixteen dollars!

In addition, Em was asked about why he’s careful about risking offending black audiences but he’s been willing to offended gay audiences. He reasoned that rap is black music, something he’s mindful of respecting, but added:

The other shit you’re talking about got so blown out of proportion. The first time I got a taste of being called anti-gay was on “My Name Is” when I said, “My English teacher wanted to have sex in junior high / The only problem was my English teacher was a guy.” All I was saying was I don’t swing that way. So when I started getting flack for it, I thought, Alright, you people think I’m homophobic. Watch this. Hence the Ken Kaniff character and all that stuff. I was trying to push the buttons of people who were calling me something that I wasn’t. The honest-to-God truth is that none of that matters to me: I have no issue with someone’s sexuality, religion, race, none of that.

The lyrics from “My Name Is” Em refers to were later changed on the album version after openly gay musician Labi Siffre, whose song “I Got The” is sampled on the track, complained .

My English teacher wanted to flunk me in junior high

Thanks a lot, next semester I’ll be 35

I smacked him in his face with an eraser

Chased him with a stapler, stapled his nuts to a stack of papers

Em’s “watch this” attitude was reflected in songs like 2000’s “Criminal,” where he goes way over the top rapping:

My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge

That’ll stab you in the head, whether you’re a fag or lez

Or a homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-vest

Pants or dress, hate fags? The answer’s yes

Homophobic? Nah, you’re just heterophobic

However, in the second verse of that same song, he raps, “I drink more liquor to fuck you up quicker/Than you’d wanna fuck me up for sayin' the word—” and stops short of saying the n-word.

And finally, Em was asked about everyone’s least favorite topic that none of us can stop talking about—President Trump. After talking about why Trump makes his “blood boil,” Em said he’s waiting for Trump to respond to his disses. “I want him to answer me because I got ideas for all kinds of shit to say back to him if he does,” he said. “I’m not going to give any away now, but I’ve got lines ready if he says something about me.”

Em had plenty to say about Trump on Revival’s “Like Home,” where he compared the President to Hitler and called for his impeachment.

However, as we’ve previously noted, it’s unlikely Trump will respond to Em as most of Trump’s public feuds with celebrities have been focused on people of color.

Check out the entire Vulture interview here and read all the lyrics to Eminem’s Revival on Genius now.