Chris Kirkpatrick of *NSYNC recently reminisced about a memorable moment from his career involving a playful diss from rapper Eminem. In Eminem’s hit song Without Me, the rapper made a sharp jab at Kirkpatrick, and the singer was blindsided by the unexpected attention. During an appearance on The ’90s Boy Band Boom, Kirkpatrick shared how his phone lit up after a Miami show, with people asking if he had heard the new Eminem track.
At first, Kirkpatrick thought it was just a general reference to boy bands. But when he took a closer look at the lyrics, he realized Eminem had singled him out with the line: “Chris Kirkpatrick, you can get your a* kicked / Worse than them little Limp Bizkit b***rds.”
Kirkpatrick’s initial reaction was to laugh it off, considering that *NSYNC’s name rhymed with just about everything, but his full name seemed like an unusual target. However, after hearing the full lyric, he finally understood how Eminem had twisted his name into a rhyme. “It rhymes with that. That makes sense,” he admitted.
At that moment, Kirkpatrick couldn’t help but wonder if this meant there was “beef” between him and Eminem, a sentiment shared by many artists who were often criticized during the boy band era. *NSYNC, despite being a pop culture phenomenon, worked tirelessly in the studio, perfecting their music and performing without relying on autotune, making them stand out in a time when boy bands faced intense scrutiny for their commercial success.
This moment of surprise, while humorous in hindsight, highlighted the playful yet pointed nature of Eminem’s lyrics and the often-contentious relationship between pop and rap culture during that era.