Like Toy Soldiers

"Like Toy Soldiers" tells the story of his attempts to calm a violent community of rappers. Eminem speaks openly about problems with The Source magazine and its editor Benzino, as well as Murder Inc. Records, and explains the feud between Ja Rule and 50 Cent, which Eminem felt went far beyond the Jay-Z vs. Nas feud. The song finishes as Eminem offers a truce to his enemies. Like Toy Soldiers features a vocal sample from "Toy Soldiers" by Martika, which makes up the chorus. In addition, this song also reveals that Eminem had tried to stop Ja Rule & 50 Cent's feud, but lost it when he heard Ja Rule making fun of his daughter on a track called "Loose Change" (The Ja Shit, I tried to squash it/It was too late to stop it/There's a certain line you just don't cross and he crossed it/I heard him say Hailie's name in his song and I just lost it). In the song Ja Rule called Eminem's then ex-wife "a known slut" and his mother "a crackhead" and in addition he referenced Hailie by asking him what she's going to be "when she grows up". "Like Toy Soldiers" was later included on Eminem's compilation album Curtain Call: The Hits in 2005. Eminem leaves out a word in this song when referring to one of Dr. Dre's altercations. Dr. Dre is Eminem's mentor, and Suge Knight had once said he wanted Dre to rot in hell. Despite the attack, Eminem did not assume Dre's beef and retaliate against Suge. Throughout his career, Eminem, at most, only alludes to Suge, completing a line in this song, "my intentions were good, I went through my whole career without ever mentioning -." Styles P used the instrumental version in his song "Soldiers Song", in 2005.