‘Brain Damage’: the Eminem song that got him sued by his high school bully
They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but a $1 million lawsuit might just win the battle.
Back in August, 2001, Eminem was hit with a legal charge that his song ‘Brain Damage’ was an invasion of privacy and slander towards the high school bully that he raps about.
The lawsuit came from DeAngelo Bailey, a janitor from Michigan, who went to the same high school as Eminem. On the track, which features on the Slim Shady album, Eminem spits “I was harassed daily by this fat kid named DeAngelo Bailey”. He then goes on to detail the abuse, including when he was beaten up in a bathroom.
“An eighth-grader who acted obnoxious ’cause his father boxes/ So every day he’d shove me in the lockers/ One day he came in the bathroom while I was pissin’/ And had me in the position and beat me into submission/ He banged my head against the urinal ’til he broke my nose”.
Bailey said that the rapper’s depiction of him was false, and that Eminem made up stories to gain credibility as an artist in the hip hop community. He also said the track damaged his reputation and stopped his aspirations to launch his own rap career.
According to Bailey’s attorney, Eminem had faced criticism that he was a pretender in the rap industry because he hadn’t suffered whilst growing up. The lawsuit alleged that Eminem used his experiences with Bailey to embellish the bullying and to be seen as having more grit and more value as a rapper.
Only years earlier though, Bailey had publicly acknowledged some of his conflicts with Eminem. In a 1999 interview with Rolling Stone, DeAngelo admitted “There was a bunch of us that used to mess with him. You know, bully-type things”. He went on to say that one time, Bailey and other boys had flipped Eminem (real name, Marshall Mathers) on his head at recess. “When we didn’t see him moving, we took off running. We lied and said he slipped on the ice”, Bailed reported.
Bailey’s previous acknowledgements certainly complicated the lawsuit he brought forward. However, it was when the trial started that Bailey’s claim started to unravel. At one point, Bailey’s attorney suggested that Eminem was the bully at the school, and that ‘Brain Damage’ was a racist song (Bailey is a Black man).
The judge who oversaw the case, Judge Deborah Servitto, dismissed the lawsuit in 2003. Interestingly, she delivered her final verdict to the courtroom in the form of a rap:
“Mr Bailey complains that his rap is trash / So he’s seeking compensation in the form of cash. / Bailey thinks he’s entitled to some monetary gain / Because Eminem used his name in vain. / The lyrics are stories no one would take as fact / They’re an exaggeration of a childish act”.
Servitto also emphasised that Eminem’s song was exaggerated for artist effect and therefore wasn’t an invasion of Bailey’s privacy.
The case highlighted complex questions about artistic license and the nuances between storytelling and invention in hip hop. Especially in a genre built on being outspoken and conveying real life experiences, rappers have to balance depicting life with possible legal consequences.
That, and they should know that bullies often stay bullies.