Ray Benzino is a well-known name in the world of hip-hop. Born Raymond Scott, most know Benzino as the former co-owner of The Source. Initially founded as a newsletter in 1988, the publication grew slowly but surely to become one of America’s leading hip-hop music publications. By the turn of the millennium, The Source was identified as the number-one-selling music magazine on newsstands in the US. However, with so much power and influence the magazine began to make enemies and Eminem was one of them.
In the early 2000s, the magazine put together its own award ceremony, The Source Awards. Known as one of the biggest underground hip-hop award shows, it was renowned for being an edgy and slightly precarious untelevised event. During the 2000s, the magazine’s heyday, its co-owner and editor-in-chief was Benzino, and he became a prominent figure within the culture. Not only was he the editor-in-chief of The Source, but he was also a record producer and rapper.
With this being the case, Benzino brushed shoulders with many artists. However, he didn’t get along with everyone he met, and one of those people was the legendary Detroit rapper Eminem. The two icons have had a long-running feud that has been ongoing since 2003.
The feud’s origins are pretty simple. Benzino’s The Source did not give Eminem’s 2002 album The Eminem Show five mics (the equivalent of five stars). Furthermore, the co-owner refused to help Eminem promote 8 Mile. Feeling like Benzino was constantly denying him for no apparent reason, things between Eminem and the editor grew tense. However, in 2003, the situation came to a head as Benzino released ‘Pull Your Skirt Up’, a diss track aimed at Eminem, in which he calls him “the 2003 Vanilla Ice”.
In retaliation, Eminem released ‘The Sauce’ and ‘Nail in the Coffin’ and ever since the two have been indirectly and directly disparaging each other on social media. Recently, Detroit rapper Money Man posted a tweet in which he wrote, “I ain’t never listened to no Eminem. Nobody in my hood did.” Of course, Benzino caught wind of this and used it for ammunition as he proceeded to go on a tirade against Eminem.
Benzino proceeded to post an Eminem freestyle from 1988 called ‘Foolish Pride,’ in which the then-teenaged rapper disses Black women. From here, Eminem fans mobilised and, in droves, began attacking him in defence of Em. Talking to the fans of Eminem, Benzino then took to Twitter and posted an extremely incendiary and brash rant.
The post made by the rapper read, “To all you p*ssy ass Stans, we all know y’all are the most corniest non violent coward fan base hip hop has ever seen,” he tweeted. “I have a restaurant in Atlanta 5071 Peachtree industrial boulevard Chamblee GA. stop tweeting and pull up on me you p*ssies.” He then went on to post, “I been left this sh*t alone but since the COWARD ASS STANS still wanna talk shit and hide then it’s still f*ck Eminem and if you got a problem with me, do something about it nothing you ever said has affected me in anyway. I know how to fight and I got big sticks. So pull up.”
These since-deleted tweets went unnoticed by Eminem who was most likely unbothered by a beef over two decades old. However, obviously for Benzino, the beef is still alive and kicking. You can listen to ‘Pull Up Your Skirt’ in the video below.
