Let’s put some context to the story. Benzino has been going at Eminem since the early 2000s when the former “Hip Hop Bible” announced in a press conference it was in possession of an old tape in which a young Eminem was rapping racial slurs against Black women.
The feud began after his The Source magazine rated The Eminem Show as four mics out of five. Eminem blamed the magazine and its co-founder Benzino for what he considered an unfair rating. Benzino even refused to help promote his movie 8 Mile during his performance in Puerto Rico.
In the mean time, Eminem released a song and video called “Just Lose it” in 2004 where he bashed Michael Jackson throughout the song and video. It was reported that Michael was really upset and even tried to get the video banned and made the statement: “I am very angry at Eminem’s depiction of me in his video. I feel that it is outrageous and disrespectful. It is one thing to spoof, but it is another to be demeaning and insensitive.”
In a radio interview, Michael added: “I’ve admired Eminem as an artist, and was shocked by this. The video was inappropriate and disrespectful to me, my children, my family and the community at large.”
In a new podcast released few days ago, Benzino has claimed Michael Jackson once personally phoned him and thanked him for roasting Eminem on wax.
In a clip from The Gauds Show podcast shared on Thursday (April 13), the former Source co-owner said he got the blessing from the King of Pop for his show of Black solidarity.
“Let me tell you, Michael Jackson called me,” Benzino told hosts Ray Daniels and Tamira Smith. “I knew Mike. I met Mike through Teddy [Riley]. He called me and he thanked me. Because when Eminem dissed him with the fire situation, in the [‘Just Lose It’] video, Mike called — and I remember his assistant put him on the phone — and I sat there and listened to him. And he thanked me.
“He started talking about Tommy Mottola. And it was one of the greatest moments of my life. And I’m not saying it because all white people are bad. We’re not saying that. Not all of them are devils. But Mike was referring to the situation in the music industry, and he was just going on a rant. But I’ll never forget that.
He continued: “I was at a point in my life that I didn’t have to answer to nobody. Everything I said was true. I said that Black people got Hip Hop and we got white people to finally buy into it. And now, they wanna give white people something that they can buy into. When Eminem came out, he just got different treatment than every other Black rapper. And I just didn’t appreciate that.”
Check out Benzino’s appearance on The Gauds Show podcast below:
