Ed Lover Defends Eminem Following Dr. Umar's Criticism

BYCole Blake1179 Views
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ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 20: Radio personality Ed Lover onstage at Hurricane Harvey Benefit Relief Concert at City Winery on September 20, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
Ed Lover doesn't understand why Dr. Umar is qualified to speak on hip-hop.

Ed Lover has come to Eminem's defense by questioning Dr. Umar's credentials to speak on hip-hop during an episode of the C’Mon Son! podcast. Umar previously attributed Eminem's status as one of the greatest rappers of all time to “white supremacy.”

“Where did you get your doctorate?” he asked on the show, rhetorically. “What makes you a doctor? And then, where did you come from and what makes you a[n] authority on hip-hop? Now Eminem don’t need Dr. Umar to tell him he’s one of the greatest of all time because we’ve already have said it. hip hop is for everybody. hip hop might’ve been created by Black people, but the love of music, melodies and rhymes have spread all over this world.”

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He added: “That’s like saying [Big] Pun can’t be one of the greatest of all time because he’s not African American, ’cause he’s Puerto Rican; Fat Joe don’t deserve to be in hip hop because he’s not African American. You weren’t there, Dr. Umar, respectively. You were not there.” Lover is far from the only one to speak out against Umar's comments. The controversial figure eventually defended himself on Instagram Live, explaining that he still views Eminem as a talented artist. However, he says his remarks "apply to any non-African" in the genre. Check out Ed Lover's full response to Dr. Umar below.

Ed Lover Questions Dr. Umar

Umar said: "This is about business — the business of protecting the integrity of African culture," before asking, "haven’t they stolen enough from us?" Be on the lookout for further updates on Ed Lover and Dr. Umar on HotNewHipHop.

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About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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