Though some remember Benzino for his contributions to The Source, many remember him as the man Eminem lyrically slaughtered back in the early millennium. There's a strong chance fragments of "The Sauce" and "Nail In The Coffin" still echo throughout Benzino's subconscious during particularly vivid nightmares. Now, Ray Benzino has once again reared his head to chime in on his old nemesis. As you recall, Em has once again found himself at the center of two beefs at once; this time, instead of Benzino and Ja Rule, it's Machine Gun Kelly and Joe Budden. Though the tilt remains young, with merely a few volleys being lobbed as of yet, Benzino has taken to IG live to voice his opinions.
"Culture vulture," begins Benzino, setting a heated tone, "what is a culture vulture?" Upon reflecting on the definition, Benzino looks to his past. "When I was bringing that stuff up 15, 20 years ago, about The Machine (Jimmy Iovine) and how white people was buying into black culture when it came to hip-hop. I went up against Eminem. At that time, I owned The Source, I felt like Interscope and the powers that be were trying to create this white rapper, so people of America can have they own."
"I wasn't trying to outrap Em," says Benzino. "We did find out a few things about Eminem, how he represented the culture. It wasn't looking so good, and if social media was out back then it would be a whole other story." As it happens, Benzino is alluding to Eminem's use of the "n-word" in a pre-fame rap; Em addressed the tapes on songs like "Countdown To Armageddon" and "Yellow Brick Road." Benzino explains that many Em supporters "only love him because he's white," and claims many of his fans actually support Trump. "It's ironic watching him go at other white rappers," says Benzino, who proceeds to give Machine Gun Kelly some props. "All you weirdo misfit socially awkward Eminem fans who come to me, it won't work."
As he continues, Benzino does save some time for Joe Budden, challenging him to respond to Em. "You scared of Eminem" he says. "How can you say you're better than him, if you ain't made a song going against him. You were hugging his nuts when you were on Slaughterhouse."