Thug Life Army

Benzino

Benzino is angry. Actually, he's more than angry, he's furious.

He's got some rage boiling up inside of him that he's ready to unload to the hip-hop masses, that is, if folks bite on his indie project, "Arch Nemesis," which hit stores last week.

Rap artist Benzino, has a vendetta against rapper Eminem and he won''t stop talking or rapping about it.

"It's a situation where I feel like it's a double standard being used in hip-hop. The people that are handling him are using the fact that he's a white rapper to monopolize the game so to speak. I just spoke up on it as an artist. Not as somebody from the Source. I''m an artist first. I made a couple of songs on a mix tape and went at him," Benzino says.

"This guy goes at people all the time. But I guess I struck a nerve and he came back at me. His stuff was more personal. I had a real motive for what I did and why I did it. I feel like hip-hop as it's growing, is in danger of being stripped from us like how rock music was. I''m just being that voice of the street, that's all."

For those who missed the saga of the last year or so, here's a quick catch-up: Benzino is best friends with David Mays, and both publish the Source magazine, which for years has been the place to go for everything hip-hop. The magazine was the first national publication to give Eminem props. In 1998, it featured him in its influential "Unsigned " section. After Interscope Records signed him, the magazine nominated him for multiple Source awards and championed him as the first white hip-hop artist of significance.

Then something changed. Through underground mix tapes and Benzino's own CD, he traded barbs with Eminem and his label, Shady Records, for most of 2003. Scott called Eminem a "rap David Duke, a rap Hitler, a culture-stealer," and was pictured in the Source holding Em's head. Eminem called Benzino the "softest, fakest wanna-be gangster in New York."

Then there was the cover story the Source printed that depicted Em as a racist. That edition came with a CD containing snippets of raps Eminem made, before he was a star, that include derogatory comments about black women. Exactly when they were made is disputed - Eminem said it was after a teenage breakup - but the lyrics caused a stir when the Source played them at a news conference and posted them on its Web site. The article talked about the rapper's early career, and Mays says they''ve collected a lot of evidence that suggests Eminem may not be sensitive to the black community and issues of race.

Lawsuits followed and court decisions. Among them: Could the CDs be distributed with the magazine? (Not the full songs.) Were there copyright infringements? (An injunction was granted against using the lyrics on the Web site.) Should the Source pay damages? (No.)

The hip-hop hoopla died down for a minute. Then Eminem released "Encore," which talks very personally about these struggles and others in "Like Toy Soldiers."

He raps: "I am never supposed to show it, my crew ain''t supposed to know it/Even if it means goin'' toe to toe with a Benzino it don''t matter/I''d never drag them in battles that I can''t handle unless I absolutely have to/I''m supposed to set an example."

Benzino responded with the single, "Look Into My Eyes." The video picks up where "Like Toy Soldiers" ends, having an actor who looks like Eminem calling someone named Jimmy (likely Interscope Records Jimmy Iovine), and telling him he's scared and wants to get out of the business.

The entire album isn''t about his beef with Eminem. It's autobiographical and talks about his life and growing up in Boston.

"This is what I''ve been going through the last two years. Everything that I went through is on this album. Admittedly, I''ve stepped up my whole lyric game. My whole rap game," Scott says. "The whole concept of ''Look Into My Eyes '' is basically an answer to what Eminem did. He came out with ''Toy Soldiers,'' acting like he's trying to squash the beef. He said he helped big up hip-hop. What he's trying to do is fool everybody to try to get their sympathy. Eminem is an all-right rhymer. But there's a lot of talented guys out there and they''ll never get the shot. His people are monopolizing the airwaves and TV. '' Arch Nemesis'' is just my testimonial of what's happened these last couple of years in my life. And I''m proud of my work."

Source