Benzino continues to apply pressure on Eminem. After declaring the Detroit rapper a “culture vulture” in his previous diss track “Vulturious.” The former co-owner of The Source magazine doubles down on the insults in a second diss track.
On “Rap Elvis,” released on Wednesday (Jan. 31), Benzino continues to accuse Eminem of appropriating Black culture.
“Rock & Roll was a Black thing until Elvis came and made it different/ You can’t self sustain, you too selfish wait and listen,” the 58-year-old raps early on in the track, alluding to popular claims that the controversial rock and roll icon stole from Black culture.
He also questions Eminem’s loyalty to his hometown of Detroit, citing a recent interview by local rapper Icewear Vezzo, who said that Eminem does not show enough love to the city. He further criticized Eminem for not supporting the battle rap scene, unlike Drake, who has co-hosted events and endorsed battlers.
“You say you come from battle rap, but why don’t you support none of these battle cats? (Why?) Drake be at these smack events, where your ass was at?’,” he questions.
Benz also brings up Eminem’s track record as a label boss, listing the artists who have left Shady Records over the years, such as Westside Gunn, Benny The Butcher, Conway The Machine, Royce Da 5’9″, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I, Yelawolf, Obie Trice and more. He implies that Eminem did not treat them fairly or promote them properly.
“So let’s go down your stable, Gun left your label/ Benny left your label, Con left your label, Royce left your label,” he jabs.
“Joe Budden left your label, Ortiz left your label/ Crooked I couldn’t save you, Yelawolf been out here floppin’/ And where the hell Ca$his been at though?/ Only heard from Obie Trice only twice and not a word from Stat Quo/ With all them false lines that you pitched them/ Shady records sound like less of a name and more like a description.”
Additionally, Benzino attacks Eminem for his past feuds with pop stars like Britney Spears, Elton John, and Iggy Azalea, instead of confronting rappers who have called him out, such as Young Zee and Pacewon. “You like to pick the low hanging fruit let’s get this clear.”
“Rap Elvis” is the latest chapter in the long-running beef between Benzino and Eminem, which dates back to the early 2000s, when The Source magazine gave Eminem’s album The Marshall Mathers LP a negative review and accused him of racism. The two rappers have exchanged several diss tracks over the years, including “Nail in the Coffin,” “The Sauce,” “Pull Your Skirt Up,” and “Die Another Day.”
Benzino reignited the feud last week when he reacted to Eminem’s verse on “Doomsday Pt. 2,” a song from the Lyrical Lemonade compilation album All Is Yellow. In the song, Eminem raps, “Go at his neck, how the f**k is that?/ How can I go at something he doesn’t have/ Arms so short he can’t even touch his hands/ When they’re above his head doing jumping jacks/ Sorry, I don’t mean to upset you Ben/ When I talk about all the debt you in/ I hear that you been creeping on the low/ In them cheap hotels that they catch you in.”
Benzino took offense to these lines, and responded with “Vulturious,” on which he questioned Eminem’s sexuality.
Eminem has not yet responded to Benzino’s diss tracks, but he has previously said that he regrets giving Benzino attention in the past. In a 2018 interview with Sway Calloway, he said, “I shouldn’t have done that. Because it just made him bigger. It made people care about him more. And I don’t care about him at all.”
Listen to Benzino’s Eminem diss, “Rap Elvis,” below.
