Credit: Alamy

Eminem may be one of the most talented and successful rappers of all time, but he didn’t win everyone’s approval — even at the height of his career. One British rock star disliked him so much that he went as far as calling Em a “fucking idiot” and criticised him for rapping about drugs and rehab.

During an interview with The Guardian in 2005, Oasis member Noel Gallagher was asked to share his thoughts on hip-hop. This prompted him to reveal that he hated the genre and unprovokedly called out Eminem and 50 Cent.

“I fucking despise hip-hop. Loathe it,” he said. “Eminem is a fucking idiot and I find 50 Cent the most distasteful character I have ever crossed in my life. It’s so negative. Eminem’s new song about his kid – isn’t it the most ridiculous piece of music you have ever heard in your life? I just don’t like the dragging women around on dog leads and all that stuff. I’m not fucking having that.”

Gallagher also claimed that Eminem’s lyrics could be linked to violence among kids. “I’m not saying they’re directly responsible, but that’s how you end up with these fuckin’ gangs of youths with hoods stabbing people,” he said. “I’m not saying they need to sit around listening to ‘All You Need Is Love’. But kids are so fuckin’ thick these days that they are very easily influenced, aren’t they?”

14 years after calling Eminem an “idiot,” Gallagher was asked if he stood by his comments. The Oasis man then called Slim Shady “boring” for not only rapping about alcohol and drugs but also seeking help in rehabilitation. “Er, he is one of those guys that goes into rehab and then they sing about it for the next 20 years,” he told the Sunday Independent. “You did a bit of fucking coke. You had a drink. Haven’t we all. I have never felt the need to be one of those fucking people. It’s boring. But writing songs about drugs is as boring as writing songs about coming out the other side of drugs.”

Eminem and 50 Cent aren’t the only rappers Gallagher has targeted over the years. When it was announced that Jay-Z was headlining Glastonbury in 2008, he wasn’t happy with the decision. “Sorry, but Jay-Z? Fucking no chance,” he told BBC News. “Glastonbury has a tradition of guitar music, do you know what I mean? Even when they throw the odd curveball in on a Sunday night, you go, Kylie Minogue? I don’t know about it. But I’m not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. It’s wrong.”

Jay-Z responded to Gallagher’s criticism by opening his Glasto set with a cover of Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ while playing the guitar. During an interview with NME after the fact, Gallagher backtracked on his words, admitting, “I said what I said, and it was wrong, or it was taken wrong. I’ll have a beer with him one day, and it will be fine.”

Eminem once mocked his brother, Liam Gallagher, during an interview with Carson Daly, doing an impression of his British accent and mannerism. Em’s parody came after Daly called Liam his “worst guest,” describing him as “unpredictable” and “wasted.”