Just when the public thought Benzino’s longstanding disdain for Eminem was over, the decades-long feud is right back on and more heated than ever. On February 17, Benzino appeared on the Drink Champs podcast. After hours of enjoying the adult beverages on set, Benzino somewhat drunkenly confessed that he didn’t have anything “against Eminem” and that he actually believes “[Eminem] can rap.”
Ultimately, he vowed not to address the tension anymore as he felt that it impacted his daughter, Uproxx cover star Coi Leray’s career. But that promise has since been spoiled. During a sit down with The Art of Dialogue on February 21, Benzino, a.k.a. “The Eminem Slayer,” shared that he still thinks his arch-emeny sucks.
“‘Rap Elvis’ already destroyed him,” he said. “I already killed him with ‘Rap Elvis.’ Where’s he at? Where’s the response? I want to battle him face-to-face. I think he’s overrated. I think he sucks as a rapper. And it’s f*ck anybody that’s with him. I bombed on him. I’m going to continue to bomb on him. I’m going to continue to expose him.”
Drunk mouths are supposed to speak a sober mind. But in Benzino’s case, it appears to have been the exact opposite.
While much of the world was focusing on Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion’s beef. Eminem and Benzino were also going back and forth. The beef began when Eminem took shots an Benzino on the song “Doomsday” from the new Lyrical Lemonade album All Is Yellow. He used the song as an opportunity to take shots at Zino’s appearance, his career path, and his allegedly dwindling financials. The song was short but absolutely packed full of disses one after another.
Though Benzino didn’t respond immediately, once he did he didn’t hold anything back. He released a pair of diss tracks called “Vulturius” and “Rap Elvis.” Combined they made for a pretty robust portrait of Em as a kind of culture vulture and even had some fans claiming the Zino may have come out on top. But many others in the rap world slammed Zino for even entering the beef with one of the most notoriously lethal MCs in all of rap in the first place. And in the weeks since then more and more things have happened that seem to imply he lost the beef. Despite that he’s still claiming a major victory in his most recent statement.
Recently Benzino sat down for an interview with The Art Of Dialogue where he discussed the beef even more. “I already killed him with ‘Rap Elvis.’ Where’s he at? Where’s the response? I want to battle him face-to-face. I think he’s overrated. I think he sucks as a rapper,” he says in the interview.
Later on in the interview he predicted that he would go down as the winner of the beef. But he didn’t just claim victory in their own personal beef, but claims to have dethroned Eminem personally. ““I’m going to go down in history as the Eminem slayer,” he said during his own examination of how the beef went. What do you think of Benzino’s newest comments about being “the Eminem Slayer?” Do you believe that he’s come out on top of the beef so far? Let us know in the comment section below.
It’s no secret that Bow Wow has taken quite a few pointers from Jermaine Dupri throughout his career, but according to the Ohio-born performer, he’s not the only one who helped him along the way. During a recent interview with The Art of Dialogue, Bow Wow opened up about his relationship with T.I., revealing that the Atlanta icon also played a major role in his career.
During the interview, he explained that Dupri wasn’t involved in his third album, 2003’s Unleashed, at all. In fact, it was the first project he put out without Dupri’s help, instead taking the advice of his A&R person Kawan “KP” Prather and tapping T.I. “This is before the King album, this is before A.T.L., this is young Tip… Me and Tip wrote that third album together with my man R.O.C.,” he recalled.
From there, he shared that he, T.I., and R.O.C. took turns writing verses for the project’s lead single, “Let’s Get Down.” T.I. had far more to contribute, however, providing Bow Wow with invaluable lessons in writing rhymes. “Me and Tip really kicked it,” he said. “We had moments, especially in the studio: him giving me that freedom, him teaching me how to write — cadence, bars, song structure, just everything.” Bow Wow claims that T.I. was able to provide him with the guidance he had been looking to Dupri for, which ultimately created an unbreakable bond.
“He was giving me the answers that I wanted Jermaine to give me,” Bow Wow says. “He was definitely a hundred in the studio. Tip was, that’s my dog. Even to this day, that’s my big bro right there.” What do you think of Bow Wow revealing that T.I. played a major role in the creation of his album, Unleashed? Are you surprised? Share your thoughts in the comments section down below, and keep an eye on HNHH for more updates.
Bow Wow has been in the spotlight since childhood, and like many of his contemporaries, the recording artist faced serious turmoil in early adulthood, perhaps as a result of all the pressure he was under from a young age. In a new sitdown with The Art of Dialogue, Shad Moss speaks candidly about how sipping lean led to extra drama in his personal life, not to mention the L’s he took in his career as a result. “I was sipping so much syrup, I said this after Mac Miller died. I spoke on this s**t, I was drinking that s**t [all the time],” he recalled.
“If you go back and watch The Road to Platinum series on BET, you’ll see so many white Styrofoam cups. I was losing my f**king mind. That lean s**t had me f**ked up. I was just always irritated,” Bow Wow vented to the outlet. Things became so bad, as HipHopDX reports, that Lil Wayne once gave the Like Mike star a “baby bottle” full of lean to soothe him. As he was heading out on tour with Chris Brown in 2007, things for the 36-year-old became particularly dangerous, leading to a much-needed wake-up call.
Bow Wow Recalls Dropping Out of Chris Brown Tour in 2007
“The opening night was in Cincinnati and when I got off stage, I collapsed. I went straight to Cincinnati University Hospital. My stomach was so f**ked up I ended up going back home to Atlanta after the first show,” Bow Wow looked back on the scary moment. “I’m sitting in the hospital not knowing what the f**k going on, and I get back home and the s**t gets worse. I’m throwing up, I’m shivering in the bed, I’m sweating, I’m going through it. I didn’t know I was having withdrawals. That’s how much lean I was consuming.” Moss made sure to thank his former publicist, Pattie Webster, for protecting his image by telling the world that her client dropped out of the joint tour with Breezy to recover from dehydration.
“That’s just good PR. We didn’t want the world to know that 18, 19-year-old Bow was heavy on the drank,” he said before urging anyone watching to consider giving up their drug habits. The impact that lean and other substances have far beyond the music industry is disappointing to see, but as people continue to share their negative experiences with using, it becomes easier for others to resist walking the same path. Just a few months ago, Lucki and Lil Yachty discussed their expensive lean addictions on the latter’s podcast, even claiming that Young Thug once had to pay $5K in “tax” from dealers to get his supply. Read more about that at the link below, and check back later for more hip-hop/pop culture news updates.
Dee-1 says that N.W.A. and any other artists who have “glorified trap music” should not be considered legends. The Christian rapper explained his reasoning during an interview with The Art of Dialogue. He had been discussing Special Ed’s previous comments on Drink Champs, in which the rapper accused N.W.A of ushering in the “age of destruction.”
“What do we do with that?” he asked. “Once we acknowledge what you have contributed to the genre, your whole career, and if we acknowledge that you’ve contributed a bunch of negativity, a bunch of violence, a bunch of disrespect of women, what do we do? Do we call you a legend or is it like, ‘Wait, we don’t need to call you no legend.’ I think that calling people legends in Hip-Hop is also a force of what helps to perpetuate negativity and that’s a trick of the enemy. That’s the devil’s work at his finest.”
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 02: Dee-1 performs onstage during the 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 02, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for ESSENCE)
He continued: “We’re going to make it to where y’all start to call people legends and immortalize people inside of Hip-Hop, and the main thing they’ve contributed is the glorification of violence, the disrespect of women, the glorification of drug dealing and drug use. Like that’s crazy. We need to take the legend status off of a lot of the people who we call legends in Hip-Hop and that’s going to hurt their ego, but that’s going to help our community.” From there, Dee went on to suggest that “any rapper who has glorified drug dealing and drug use” can’t be considered a legend.
Dee-1 Discusses N.W.A.’s Legacy
He concluded: “So all of the rappers who have glorified trap music should not be considered legends. I’m going to say it again. All the rappers who have glorified trap music should not be considered legends. That’s just a fact.” Controversial opinions like this have caused Joe Budden and others to label Dee a “clout chaser.” Be on the lookout for further updates on Dee-1 on HotNewHipHop.
Young Guru has spoken out in defense of JAY-Z after Hov was accused of stealing from other artists by Dame Dash. “CAP on this narrative that jay STEALS songs 1. Jay got “I just want to love you” directly from Pharrell and made the song from scratch. Sparks says a Rick James hook. 2. “Can I get” was Irv’s idea, literally said “Jay get on this record but please keep JA” I love you OG but nah,” Guru wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
It came after Dame claimed that JAY-Z had built his fame on stealing from other artists. “Jay had a pattern of jacking n-ggas records. Jay has a [track] record of getting on a record after it gets hot and now he can perform that record and now it sounds like he made that record — that was his model … That’s f-cked up to the person that [made the song],” Dame claimed. His comments were made in defense of Cam’ron deleting a Hov verse from “Oh Boy”.
CAP on this narrative that jay STEALS songs 1. Jay got “I just want to love you” directly from Pharrell and made the song from scratch. Sparks says a Rick James hook. 2. “Can I get” was Irv’s idea, literally said “Jay get on this record but please keep JA” I love you OG but nah https://t.co/4UeUZXgUpI
Meanwhile, JAY-Z was spotted out and about with his wife last weekend. Beyonce looked stunning in a sheer top-hot pant combination in beige as she stepped out with husband JAY-Z for dinner. Furthermore, Beyonce was all legs beyond the silver shorts and completed the outfit with a matching beige fur coat. Furthermore, she and Hov appeared to have a great time, with JAY-Z posing with a pair of empty wine bottles. Rather raunchily, one image that Beyonce included was a close-up of the back of her shorts. While it was likely meant to show the label, it was a rather booty-filled shot.
But of course, accusations of theft is not the only thing that JAY-Z has been hit with this year. Quality Control founder Coach K claimed that Jeezy was bigger Hov. “We put that mixtape out in July. And by February, we did $6 million on the road. All cash. We hadn’t even put an album out yet. And then we did Trap or Die mixtape, I knew it was a wrap. “JAY was much bigger, but I’m saying relevant. It’s moments where some of these smaller artists is more relevant than the bigger artists,” K claimed on the Business Untitled podcast.
Napolean, a former rapper for Outlawz, says Snoop Dogg takes subtle digs at 2Pac when he discusses the late rapper. Speaking during an interview with The Art of Dialogue, Napolean explained how Allen Hughes and Snoop both make themselves look better while praising Pac.
“Some of these individuals, they very slick,” he began. “You have the Hughes brothers, you have certain individuals like Snoop, for example — they have a way where they acting like they praising Pac, but they[‘re] putting him down. Like [Allen Hughes] said, ‘[Snoop] dimmed his light for Pac to shine.’ They do it in such a slick way so you can be like, ‘Oh wow, he’s not a hater.’”
Snoop Dogg Speaks At 2Pac’s Posthumous Hall Of Fame Induction
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 07: Presenter Snoop Dogg speaks about 2017 Inductee Tupac Shakur onstage at the 32nd Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony at Barclays Center on April 7, 2017 in New York City. Debuting on HBO Saturday, April 29, 2017 at 8:00 pm ET/PT (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Allen Hughes is currently working on a biopic of Snoop Dogg. The comments referenced by Napoleon stem from an interview Hughes did with the Rap Radar Podcast, in which he explained how Snoop was one of the biggest stars during the 1990s. “You got a guy [Snoop] that was the rockstar of that era,” Hughes said. “And in the same era, he’s on trial for murder… and thank God, [he] beats the case. And then you got all that little window where Snoop dimmed his light for 2Pac. I never understood that back then. I remember Snoop just dimming his light and letting 2Pac shine when Snoop was the guy, y’know?” Check out Napoleon’s recent comments on Snoop Dogg and Allen Hughs below.
Napoleon Calls Out Snoop Dogg
Hughes previously worked on the docuseries, Dear Mama, which released earlier this year. It followed 2Pac’s mother, Afeni Shakur. Be on the lookout for further updates on his biopic for Snoop Dogg on HotNewHipHop.
A member of Thug Life, Macadoshis, recently revealed in an interview that Tupac wanted Biggie to join Thug Life. He told The Art Of Dialogue that he remembers meeting and smoking with Biggie, sharing that he “[remembers] him being like, real down to Earth.” He also claimed that if the timing were different, he thinks Biggie could have definitely become part of the group.
We got an opportunity to meet Big,” Macadoshis revealed. “We went tour and we was doing the Thug Life tour. We started out at Jack the Rapper and ‘Pac actually bought Big up to the room. We was staying at the Marriott Marquis and Biggie came up to the room and he was hella cool, bro. I remember him being like, real down to Earth. He kicked it with everybody, smoked a blunt with him and we was just chilling with him,” he shared.
Macadoshis Thinks Diddy Prevented Biggie From Joining Thug Life
The artist continued, explaining what was going on with the group at the time that they met Biggie. “We was moving forward with the Thug Life album at the same time Big was with Puff. So, it was not a conflict of interest, but I don’t feel like Puff was tryna let Biggie really come over there and do no Thug Life shit at the time while he was working with him,” Macadoshis shared. He added, “He wanted to be the first to break him and bring him out. He only had ‘Party and Bullshit’ out during that time. So I think that’s what really kinda held it up.”
Macadoshis explained, “It’s just the timing was kind of off. I think if ‘Pac and Big would have got together before he got with Puffy then it definitely would have been a go. But at the time he was already with Bad Boy so I think that kind of like, put the stall on bro being apart of the group. But it was official though. It was definitely a thing. It was just bad timing.”
His sit down with The Art of Dialogue has stirred many Hip Hop pots, and another clip has Melle Mel back in the center of controversy. For decades, there has been a Hip Hop beef that just doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. 50 Cent and Ja Rule have co-existed within the culture without too many dust-ups, but when they arrive, the spats command attention. Whether they’re trading verbal shots or issuing disses in interviews, Fif and Ja remain foes.
Music legend Melle Mel has seen the ebbs and flows of Rap since its inception. The Hip Hop pioneer is quite opinionated about the genre, considering he watched it take shape in real-time, and in his latest interview, he offered a few thoughts about 50 Cent and Ja Rule. He noted that many rappers could be better if they didn’t attempt to emulate their peers. “What is it that you need to say? You could be the n*gga that made a song about a pool party, but you f*cked around and listened to Meek Mill. And you f*cked around and did some dumb sh*t.”
Melle Mel Uses Ja & 50 As An Example
To emphasize his point, Mel mentioned the two warring rappers. “It’s just like when 50 Cent was doing this sh*t. And then when Ja Rule…and that was probably one of his last big records.” He was referencing Ja’s hit classic, “New York.” Melle continued, “If he woulda just made that record a pure New York record, it would have been a way bigger record. But he went the route of trying to sound hard because 50 Cent sound hard. And it was still a good record, but I’m just saying. If he woulda just made it a pure New York record like how Jay-Z did with his New York record. See what I’m saying? If he woulda went along the same lines as that.”
Elsewhere in the clip, Melle Mel discussed how the street life is a detriment to Hip Hop. He argued that “consciousness does have its place in Hip Hop, but everybody is too scared about not being hard. And that’s the destruction of the whole game.” Watch the video of Melle Mel on The Art of Dialogue discussing Hip Hop, 50 Cent, and Ja Rule above.
Melle Mel says that Kendrick Lamar, Nas, and many other of today’s biggest artists aren’t truly great because they “talk a lot of shit.” The iconic Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five rapper explained his reasoning during his viral interview with The Art Of Dialogue. Speaking with the outlet, Melle Mel criticized numerous other artists in response to Billboard‘s recent Top 50 Rappers of All Time list. He landed at No. 48.
“What did JAY-Z say that you could consider truly great? You just like the song,” Melle said. “As far as how I felt about hip-hop, I’ve never liked what nobody was doing. I don’t even like the shit that I did after I did it. I’m trying to do some other shit. It tarnishes the game and then it tarnishes society as well. Don’t take hip-hop all that serious. The bottom line to all of this, whether you believe there’s one great MC or whether you believe that there’s 500 great MC’s, this is just some n***a talking shit.”
Melle Mel’s Grammys Performance
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 05: (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) (L-R) Scorpio and Melle Mel perform onstage during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
From there, he explained he explained that JAY-Z can get away with “talking shit.” “This is just some n***a talking shit and everybody is caught up in all that shit. JAY-Z, that n***a can talk shit. Who’s the number two guy on that list? [Kendrick Lamar] is just another n***a talking shit. I’m not gonna put him number two. [Nas] another n***a talking shit… How you gonna take a n***a talking shit that serious? Who is this n***a and what has this n***a done for you to take whatever has come out his mouth serious? That’s why the streets is fucked up.”
Melle Mel touched on a number of other topics during the interview as well. At one point, he attributed Eminem’s legendary status to being white, argued that DMX & Tupac were better actors than rappers, and much more.
at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 02, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for ESSENCE)
