Michael Jackson: Why did MJ buy the rights to Eminem's songs?
Michael Jackson was no stranger to purchasing the rights to music throughout his career. He famously bought up the copyright to The Beatles’ entire back catalogue in 1985. In 2007 he went through another bout of song purchases using his company Sony/ATV.
Why did Michael Jackson buy the rights to Eminem’s songs?
Michael purchased the company that owned Eminem’s songs, Famous Music, three years after he was targeted by the rapper in his 2004 song Just Lose It.
During the song, Eminem included a lyric that said: “Come here, little kiddie, on my lap / Guess who’s back with a brand new rap? / And I don’t mean rap as in a new case of child molestation.”
To make this reference even blunter, Eminem dressed up as Michael in the music video for the song, where he donned fake plastic surgery and had his hair set on fire (another reference to a real-life situation Michael found himself in the 1980s).
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