The song features uncredited vocals by American singer Justin Vernon, who performed the chorus and was credited as one of the co-writers.[5]
As other tracks from the album, "Fall" criticizes the contemporary hip-hop scene, dissing Joe Budden, DJ Akademiks and Tyler, the Creator, among others.[6]
The slur used to describe Tyler, the Creator, "faggot", generated controversy, with fans writing against Eminem on social media, and some fellow recording artists, including Imagine Dragons' Dan Reynolds and Australian singer Troye Sivan, publicly criticizing his lyrics.[7][8][9]
Writing for Billboard, Mikelle Street claimed Eminem has to be "held accountable for using homophobic slurs" on the track, explaining that "the idea that listeners are too 'soft' for critiquing the ways in which rappers weaponize the identities of others against them ignores how much these industries are both a reflection and arbiter of culture".[10]
Justin Vernon also distanced himself from the song's message, claiming he was not in the studio while Eminem recorded his vocals, and revealing he asked Eminem's entourage to change it, without any result.[11][12]
Interviewed by Sway, Eminem discussed his verses, claiming he knew he went "too far" with calling Tyler a "faggot", and apologized "because in my quest to hurt him, I realize that I was hurting a lot of other people by saying it".[13][14]
Music video[]
On September 4, 2018, Eminem released a music video for the song, directed by James Larese.[15] It was the first video to be released from Kamikaze.[16][17] The video completely cut out the word "faggot" instead of having it back masked, like in the original song.[17][18][14]
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 201836 into search. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 201836 into search. Retrieved December 1, 2018.