Beef is a permanent dish on hip-hop’s menu; anyone can be served a heaping helping. While time can sometimes aid in relationship mending, that’s not always the cause for rappers. Benzino and Eminem’slongstanding feud is a prime example of this. In the past few weeks alone, they’ve each dropped disses toward the other. So, during Benzino’s recent appearance on Drink Champs, the host couldn’t help but ask about it.
Throughout the episode uploaded on February 17, Benzino took several jabs at Eminem. At one point, he even implied that Eminem’s rise to fame in rap was due to him being white. However, near the end of the sit down (the 2-hour 34-minute mark), Benzino, overwhelmed with emotion and alcohol, reflected on how his issue with Eminem has impacted his daughter Uproxx cover star Coi Leray.
“I don’t have nothing against Eminem,” he said. “He can rap, but I care about us more. I don’t want to talk about it no more,” he said. “My daughter came to industry figuring ‘I gotta be cool with Eminem because everybody is against my dad. I don’t hate Eminem. I don’t know him to hate him. I don’t hate white people tired of this sh*t, man. It’s just too much. I don’t want to be the bad guy.”
Leray previously spoke about how Benzino’s past mix-ups could have derailed her career, including her guest verse from Nicki Minaj on “Blick Blick.”
Watch Benzino’s full interview on the Drink Champs podcast above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
While Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion took up most of the headlines about rap beef so far this year, they aren’t the only ones taking shots. The same weekend that Megan dropped “HISS,” Lyrical Lemonade dropped their new album All Is Yellow which featured many of the biggest stars in rap. One Of those was Eminem, who jumped on the track “Doomsday Pt. 2.” He used his verse on the song as an opportunity to dig up some old beef with Benzino and even brought his daughter Coi Leray into the flow.
While Coi tried to take the high road and respond by staying above it all, Benz hit back. He dropped a pair of diss tracks pretty much solely aimed at attacking Em. On one of them, he accuses Em of being the “Rap Elvis.“ Included in the song is a reference to Conway The Machine, who was once signed to Shady Records. “Con’ left ya label” the lyric reads implying that the rapper wanted to get away from the label. But not the Griselda rapper is breaking his silence on the matter. He clarified that the story isn’t anywhere near as scandalous as it’s made out to be.
Conway took to Instagram to clear up a few things. “1. I didn’t LEAVE shady records. Also I never wanted to leave the label, My contracts were simply fulfilled,” his response begins. “2. And most importantly, I F*CK WIT @eminem @rosenberg @mikaelheron @shadyrecords @50cent And I could never feel any Ill feelings towards Em and them n*ggas,” his Instagram post continued.
“They gave some 35 year old street n*ggas from Buffalo that’s been shot in the head and did jail sentences a chance and a opportunity to make it out the hood and take care of my family,” Conway explains. What do you think of Conway The Machine clarifying that he has no beef with Eminem or Shady records after Benzino’s claims? Let us know in the comment section below.
If you went into a 20-year coma in 2004 and woke up today, you might be forgiven for thinking that no time at all had passed. The economy is still all topsy-turvy, the US is still embroiled in controversial conflict in the Middle East, and for some reason, Eminem is still beefing with Benzino, despite both men being well into their fifties.
The first salvo in their latest skirmish was fired by Eminem on his song “Doomsday Pt. 2” from Lyrical Lemonade’s new album All Is Yellow.
Benzino responded on Wednesday (January 31) with his new single “Rap Elvis.”
Em has yet to respond, but at this point, you kind of have to expect that he will. The real question you might have is… Why? Why do Eminem and Benzino have beef in the first place, and why haven’t they let it go after nearly 30 years?
The answer to the second question is only known to the two rivals, but as to when their feud began and what started it, here’s a short summary. In 2002, The Source was still largely considered “hip-hop’s Bible,” and then-publisher Benzino refused to allow the magazine to give Eminem’s album The Eminem Show a five-mic rating — at least, according to Eminem and widely accepted hip-hop lore. Em criticized the magazine for what he felt was an unfair rating of his best album (to this day), prompting Benzino to respond with the diss song “Pull Your Skirt Up.”
Benzino’s campaign to undermine Eminem also unearthed old recordings using slurs against Black people that the Detroit rapper made when he was a teenager. Eminem apologized for those recordings, but not the scathing diss tracks he unleashed against Benzino, which included “The Sauce” and “Nail In The Coffin.” Since then, you could say the both men’s paths divereged a bit; while Eminem’s legacy as a “Rap God” has grown over the course of seven more albums (arguably a little too much), Benzino has been known in recent years largely for his role as a cast member on Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta and his fraught relationshp with daughter Coi Leray.
Until this year, the beef was mostly one-sided, with Benzino shading Eminem in interviews and on Twitter throughout the past half-decade or so, and Eminem mostly just ignoring him. That changed with “Doomsday, Pt. 2,” which could mean that 2024 looks like 2004 all over again. Maybe this time, Em and Ben can make sure that the coffin stays closed.
This past week, Eminem re-ignited his 22-year beef with Benzino on “Doomsday Pt. 2” from Lyrical Lemonade’s All Is Yellow. He also mentioned the former Source Magazine co-owner’s daughter, Coi Leray on the track, who later responded to Em’s lyrics on Twitter. Coi wrote, “There’s no way I’m about to entertain these grown ass men and the beef they been having for over 20 years. Lmao it’s so stupid, all I can do is laugh.” Throughout his career, Eminem has been notorious for engaging in beef, sending fiery diss tracks and stray shots at anyone who slights him. His competitive spirit contributed to his ascent as a rapper and still permeates his music today. Today, we are looking into the history of Eminem’s most vicious disses, including particular lines and entire songs. Take a look at the list below.
Eminem’s debut single saw the birth of his Slim Shady alter ego, as well as numerous rap beefs. His second verse on “Just Don’t Give a Fuck” targets multiple white rappers, dissing them in just a few bars. He raps, “I’m nicer than Pete, but I’m on a search to crush a milkbone / I’m everlastin’, I melt vanilla ice like silicone/ I’m ill enough to just straight up diss you for no reason/ I’m colder than snow season when it’s twenty below freezin’.” Eminem cleverly incorporated the names of Miilkbone and Vanilla Ice into cold-blooded punchlines while praising Pete Nice, MC Serch, and Everlast. Before he would beef with the latter, his jabs at Miilkbone and Vanilla Ice on this song led to exchanges of multiple diss tracks.
“Nail In The Coffin” (2002)
One of four diss tracks from Eminem’s feud with Benzino back in 2002, “Nail In The Coffin” was a vicious response to “Pull Your Skirt Up.” The entire song is quite cutthroat, but here are his most scathing bars: “You sit behind a fuckin’ desk at The Source butt-kissin’ / And beggin’ motherfuckers for guest appearances / And you can’t even get the clearances ’cause real lyricists don’t even respect you or take you serious/ It’s not that we don’t like you—we hate you, period.” Though Eminem recently took shots at Benzino, this song spoke true to its title during their beef back in the day.
“Bully” not only fires at Benzino but also at Ja Rule, with whom Eminem was also beefing during the early 2000s. Released during the peak of their feud, Em spits an aggressive diss towards Ja and Murder Inc. In his third verse, he raps, “If Irv really gave a fuck about Ja, like he claims he does / He’d wake him up and make his boy get off them drugs / But he just keeps feedin’ him pills, so if that E doesn’t kill him / Someone from G-Unit will, and I ain’t buzzed.” Eminem backs 50 Cent, who was also aiming disses at Ja Rule. As one of his meanest disses, he declares that he will not back down and “cower to no bully.”
“The Warning” (2009)
Eminem’s tension with Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon is one of his most bizarre feuds, but we got a relentless diss track out of it. “The Warning” responds to Carey’s “Obsessed” song and video, which stems from lyrics on “Bagpipes From Baghdad” and The Eminem Show about the singer. He fires at both Cannon and Carey: “You’re gonna ruin my career, you better get one / Like I’ma sit and fight with you over some slut bitch cunt that made me put up with her psycho ass over six months / And only spread her legs to let me hit once.” A harsh diss, “The Warning” certainly contains some of Eminem’s most disrespectful diss bars.
“Fall” (2018)
Eminem’s 2018 album, Kamikaze took digs at his critics, mumble rappers, and others who have spoken ill of him. Songs like “Fall” respond to his critics, including Pitchfork, Akademiks, Charlamagne tha God, Tyler, The Creator, and Lord Jamar. Most notably, he disses his former Shady Records signee and Slaughterhouse member Joe Budden. “Somebody tell Budden before I snap, he better fasten it or have his body bag get zipped/ The closest thing he’s had to hits is smackin’ bitches (Pump it up!),” he raps. Eminem makes light of Joe’s alleged domestic abuse after Budden heavily criticized Revival on Everyday Struggle. Joe Budden responded on his podcast, claiming to have been a better rapper than Eminem for “this entire decade.”
“Killshot” (2018)
Also on Kamikaze was “Not Alike” where Eminem directly attacked Machine Gun Kelly, which resulted in MGK’s “Rap Devil” diss. In response to the track came “Killshot.” The lethal diss track references the 2008 film in which a man named Colson, MGK’s government name, is targeted by a hitman. The song is riddled with vicious lyrics, including “Younger me? No, you the wack me, it’s funny but so true / I’d rather be 80-year-old me than 20-year-old you” and “as long as I’m Shady he’s gon’ have to live in my shadow.” Eminem also warns MGK: “Kelly, they’ll be putting your name next to Ja, next to Benzino—die, motherfucker! / Like the last motherfucker sayin’ Hailie in vain.” “Killshot” proved once again that one cannot mess with Eminem on a song without consequence.
“I Will” (2020)
“I Will” saw a mini Slaughterhouse reunion without Joe Budden. In the song, Eminem pays respects to his favorite rappers while also poking fun at Lord Jamar. The two have exchanged disses and words outside of music, but “I Will” was Eminem’s most brutal diss against him to date. He raps, “I’m more than you bargained for and I am far more worse than a forty-some bar Lord Jamar verse.”
Eminem responds to Lord Jamar calling him a “guest in the house of hip hop” and calls him the worst rapper in Brand Nubian: “If it was anyone’s house, G Rap and Rakim would be havin’ you mop floors / Run-DMC would be havin’ you cleanin’ sinks / Yeah, your group was off the chain, but you were the weakest link.” Over the span of his career, Eminem has come out victorious in his rap beefs by spitting lethal bars. With his latest verse against Benzino, it still holds true no matter how petty it might come across.
Benzino posted up with his partner on Instagram, declaring that they were “minding their business” amid the swirling beef with Eminem. However, fans were disappointed as Benzino had promised a scathing response to the Detroit emcee. “It’s been a full 24 hours. Your must be still be in the lab. For hiphop sake don’t release Melle Mel response,” one fan wrote.
The veteran hip hop had promised a response earlier in the weekend, even going as far as to include an iconic film reference to hype it. “NO JUMPER INTERVIEW DROPS AT 6 @adam22 RESPONSE TO DOOMSDAY IN 24 HOURS. ,” the industry veteran wrote on Instagram. However, to add a little bit of flair to the beef, Benzino also included a classic film reference to really sell how he was feeling. His Instagram post included an extended clip from The Godfather: Part III. As Michael Corleone laments his inability to leave the mafia life behind, he utters the classic line “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
Meanwhile, Eminem’s verbal attack took aim at not just Benzino, but his daughter Coi Leray as well. Benzino and Leray have been patching up their often tense relationship over the past year or so. Leray shone in a vibrant performance on the Sprite Stage at Rolling Live Miami on July 22. Amongst the hundreds of fans who showed out to see her perform was her father, Benzino. The founder of The Source, Benzino has been an influential figure in rap and music journalism since the late 90s. However, the pair have never had the best relationship, at least in the public eye. Leray has publicly spoke about how her family was at one time “broke” after Benzino reportedly lostcontrol of The Source. Meanwhile, Benzino’s tendency to put his foot in his mouth has often run the risk of hurting Leray’s career.
“That’s why I never mentioned his name coming into this industry cause he can’t get over his past and don’t even realize how much he damaging when he does this stuff.” tweeted Coi. On top of not wanting to be viewed as a “nepo baby”, there have been a few other times when distancing herself from Benzino has seemed like a good idea. Benzino nearly cost Leray her verse of Nicki Minaj‘s “Blick Blick” after leaking the news on Clubhouse.
Eminem really wishes it was 2004. That’s the only reason I can think of why he’s stillbothering with Benzino over 20 years later. Maybe he sees their old feud as a legendary, multi-generational saga like the Hatfields and McCoys, but it’s more like the plot of Grumpy Old Men. And it’s getting closer all the time (Em is now 51, while Benzino is 58), all while aging like the fish Max leaves in John’s car at the end. Spoilers for a 30-year-old movie, I guess.
Alas, here we are in 2024, with Eminem again dedicating several bars to his distaste for his age-old nemesis — arguably too many, although that’d be true of even one — on his new song “Doomsday Pt. 2” from Lyrical Lemonade’s new album All Is Yellow. “Now I got a riddle, one condition, you mustn’t laugh / What is the opposite of Benzino? A giraffe / Go at his neck,’ how the f*ck is that? How can I go at somethin’ he doesn’t have? / Arms so short he can’t even touch his hands / When they’re up above his head doin’ jumpin’ jacks.”
He goes on in this vein for another twelve bars (TWELVE!!), setting up an overly elaborate gay joke (booooo!) and a mildly witty reference to a 2023 Coi Leray interview where she was asked about collaborating with Eminem despite her dad.
Yes, Benzino lied about Michael Jackson praising him for dissing Eminem (sure, Ray) as recently as last April, but the only person still paying attention to that guy besides Coi is Eminem. Maybe just ignore him, Marshall, it’s not like either of you is getting anything out of this anymore. Today, we are all Coi Leray:
Rap beef is so washed and tired. Exhausting. Embarrassing. Just fucking over all corny as fuck.
Benzino is someone who is always commenting on things happening within the culture. Although he may not be well-liked by everyone, he is still a key figure in hip-hop. Overall, he has certain people that he likes to go after, one of which being his own daughter, Coi Leray. That aside, it seems as though the commentator is now going taking aim at Joe Budden. Of course, Budden recently had harsh words for NBA YoungBoy. In a now-viral clip, the former rapper called YoungBoy “trash.”
Now, Benzino is lashing out by going after Budden specifically. Although he mentions bloggers in general here, it is clear that he is targeting Joe. “You blogging ass bitches, y’all think y’all Oprah?” Benzino asked. “Y’all motherfuckers don’t know more than everybody else. Y’all shit up there, y’all get a little check and y’all just talk shit about everybody and what they do.” He then went on to say that Joe shouldn’t be talking when you consider how he is mostly a one-hit wonder.
“NBA YoungBoy got a whole generation loving his shit, alright? Obviously, you’re older than the generation that NBA YoungBoy’s music goes to. So just shut the fuck up, bro,” he explained. “Stop acting like you better than somebody. When you was putting out music, how would you feel if somebody said your shit was trash? Which it was. You had one song and that was it. You a decent rapper, but this n***a is a whole superstar out here!” Needless to say, Benzino was not holding back while addressing Budden. It was all very scathing, and we’re sure Joe would be eager to respond.
Let us know what you think of these comments from Benzino, in the comments section below. Was Joe wrong to call out Youngboy? Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will be sure to keep you informed on all of your favorite artists.
Busta Rhymes has a response for Benzino, who was critical of the music video for “Luxury Life,” which featured his daughter Coi Leray.
In case you missed it, Benzino had a message for Busta, stating he should have reached out for the collaboration.
“The whole Busta Rhymes collaboration, he should have reached out to me,” Benzino said. “You don’t do no video with my daughter half-naked. You a grown ass fucking man. He should have reached out to me and said something. But it is what is. She’s grown, she can do what she want. But I wasn’t with that. All I can do is have my opinions from afar. Once they reach a certain age, it doesn’t matter what I think.”
You can hear it below.
Benzino calls out Busta Rhymes for doing music video with Coi Leray: “Don’t do no video with my daughter half f****** naked”
Stopping by Way Up with Angela Yee, Busta had a response: “Benzino has my number and he knows how to reach me. You ain’t gotta address me about nothing on no social media ‘cause you got my phone number. I’ve never had to address him about a problem and there’s been plenty of different issues that we’ve actually went through that led to actual violence that we was able to resolve civil and respectfully.”
He added, “But the point that I’m trying to make is up until probably right now, this is not public information. I’m not saying this to promote the issue, I’m saying this to promote how the code of ethics was upheld and how we dealt with issues. We resolved it as men face to face. We wasn’t on social media, we didn’t talk on the radio.”
This week has seen a publicized rift between rapper Coi Leray and her father, Benzino, unraveling on social media and in interviews. The dispute began after Coi Leray discussed her relationship with her father in a recent interview, where she claimed that Benzino harbored envy towards her success. However, Benzino vehemently denied these allegations, accusing his daughter of perpetuating a false narrative and even suggesting that the interview was manipulated to create tension.
In the interview that sparked the controversy, Coi Leray expressed her belief that her father was envious of her accomplishments in the music industry. This prompted Benzino to publicly refute these claims, asserting that he was not envious and accusing his daughter of misrepresenting their relationship. He also took aim at radio personality Angie Martinez, alleging that she purposefully fueled the flames during the interview.
Adding fuel to the fire, Benzino shared a video attempting to debunk some of Coi Leray’s assertions about her life before finding success in the rap industry. He contested her claims of sleeping in cars and selling drugs, vehemently stating, “She ain’t ever slept in no cars or sold drugs. I don’t know why she’s running with this narrative,” in the video.
In an attempt to de-escalate the situation, Coi Leray addressed the ongoing feud earlier today. She urged her father to respect the privacy of their family matters, emphasizing that the interview took place in June, and she had refrained from commenting further until now. Leray expressed her desire to keep their family issues offline, urging for a more private resolution. Despite Coi Leray’s call for a truce, Benzino has once again responded to his daughter’s statements, further prolonging the public dispute. Whether through social media or another medium, he continues to engage in the ongoing conversation, keeping the tension alive.
As their family drama unfolds on social media and through public statements, it remains to be seen whether the family will find a resolution behind closed doors or if their personal matters will continue to be aired for public consumption.
The saga serves as a reminder that even in the world of fame and success, family dynamics can play out in a very public and often messy manner.
Coi Leray isn’t happy her father Benzino has been contradicting her recollections of her upbringing. On a recent episode of Angie Martinez’s podcast, IRL, the “Players” rapper recalled her mom “cooking up nickels and dimes” to support them (as in, selling crack) and sleeping in cars. However, Benzino disputed this during a recent Instagram Live session, arguing, “She ain’t never slept in no f**king cars that I knew about.”
It looks like Coi is fed up with Benzino offering counterexamples of his good parenting because she lit into him in an Instagram session of her own. “[I watch] him go online and just create craziness for no reason,” she said. “And if you notice, it has been a pattern for some time now…. It just seems like every single time, instead of you congratulating me and being happy for me, you want to go online and try to use me to prove yourself to these people and this industry on why you feel like you didn’t get the respect or whatever it is that you deserve. I don’t want to be your clout kid.”
She also pointed out, “I don’t have to get on here and lie about struggle. I don’t think anybody wants to do that. But, yeah, I think that’s corny. I have a mugshot. Ask my mom… I don’t [want to] have to speak on this ever again. He made it very clear that he never wants to speak to me again… Again, the interview was done in June. I haven’t said anything since. But, respectfully, I wish that we could kind just keep everything offline moving forward. I’d rather you just do that on a respectful level of just me being your daughter at the end of the day.”
must be still be in the lab. For hiphop sake don’t release Melle Mel response,” one fan wrote. 
,” the industry veteran wrote on Instagram. However, to add a little bit of flair to the beef, Benzino also included a classic film reference to really sell how he was feeling. His Instagram post included an extended clip from The Godfather: Part III. As Michael Corleone laments his inability to leave the mafia life behind, he utters the classic line “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
