Boosie Badazz has jumped on the Eminem criticism bandwagon, suggesting that the Detroit rap legend’s music holds little relevance in his hometown of Louisiana. Speaking in an interview with Cam Capone News, the “Wipe Me Down” rapper responded to Dr. Umar’s controversial claim that Em can’t be considered one of the greatest rappers of all time because he’s white.
“Where I’m from, we don’t listen to Eminem,” Boosie said. “I’m from the trenches. I never heard nobody come into my project playing Eminem. I’ma keep it real.”
While acknowledging Eminem’s lyrical prowess, Boosie emphasized that Eminem’s music simply doesn’t resonate in his community.
“When I hear him, I say, ‘He can rap.’ I always say that,” he continued. “I used to like that song ‘Slim Shady.’ But where I’m from? I’ve never heard one song in my project. I never heard Eminem not one time in the speakers in my project. None of my friends never said, ‘Put Eminem on. Play that new Eminem.’ I only saw him on MTV, you know, TV.”
“Everybody has their greats. If you put 10 people lined up on this couch, everybody gon’ tell you five different greats,” he said. “Eminem’s music has touched a lot of people. DMX‘s music has touched a lot of people.
“DMX is in my Top 5 ’cause I always felt, listening to his music, that he really lived that. Even though I wasn’t from New York, my street n-ggas still saluted him and played his music.”
Boosie’s comments echo sentiments expressed by other artists like The Game, Melle Mel, and Pan-Africanist Dr. Umar, who argue that Eminem’s success in hip-hop is partly due to his race. Dr. Umar, in particular, has contested Eminem’s status as the greatest rapper of all time, arguing that non-African individuals cannot be best in fields created by African people.
“No non-African can ever be the best of anything African,” Umar stated during an appearance on the Joe Budden podcast in December. “It’s an insult to the ancestors. It’s an insult to the race and it’s an insult to every Black person.”
“Do you think I can go to Palestine and be the best of anything of Palestinian culture? You never see that,” he continued. “You think I can go to Israel and be the best of anything in Israel whether it be a cook, an instrumentalist, a dancer? Hell no.”
“We have to stop naming non-African people as being the best of any aspect in our cultural product because it’s an insult,” he added.
Watch Boosie’s Cam Capone interview below.
