The beef goes on between Eminem and Benzino

What’s beef? In the world of hip-hop, it sure isn’t that piece of meat that comes on a sesame bun slapped with special sauce. Rap rivalries are nothing new; MC battles have been around since rappers first picked up a mic. Careers can be started by going after already established acts, (Salt & Pepa’s Showstopper) or the beef can get down right nasty with a barrage of words attacking a rapper’s personal life such as Jay Z’s Super Ugly.The latest hip-hop beef pits a veteran against a multi-platinum selling junior. Rapper Benzino has attacked Eminem calling him a “2003 Vanilla Ice” on the track Pull Your Skirt Up from his forthcoming album Redemption. Raymond ‘Benzino’ Scott, a co-founder and co-owner of The Source magazine, rhymes about how Eminem would not be who he is today without the shine Benzino gave him in his magazine: “You was unsigned hype before you ever met Dre/ I birthed your little career, now you owe your life to Ray.”Benzino claims that the thoughts behind Pull Your Skirt Up are much bigger than just a personal attack on Eminem; they are his reaction to racism and the double standard in hip-hop. Benzino says that he has a problem with “the machine” and the way some media outlets have proclaimed Eminem to be the savior of hip-hop without recognizing the guys who created the art form. Believing that Eminem’s skin color allows him to get away with things such as grabbing his crotch, getting in people’s faces, rhyming about killing his mother and beating up his girlfriend, Benzino fires these lyrics at Eminem: “Five shades darker, you’d be Canibus / And no one would care about your complicated rhyme style/ As far as I’m concerned, you’re just industry excitement.””Yeah, if I was white I could do anything,” said Jason Chunn, a mass communication major. “I agree that Em would not sell as many units if he was black.”But why is that so? Is it jealousy on Benzino’s half or truth to what he is saying?”The Source magazine presents some biases. The Hangman Three album (Benzino’s squad) was a mediocre record that got four and a half mics,” said Brandon King, a senior mass communication major.The Eminem/Benzino beef has escalated further with a new diss track that has arisen recently. Benzino has responded yet again to Eminem on the controversial Die Another Day which goes at Eminem, D-12, Obie Trice and Paul Rosenberg. The track, which appears on DJ Kay Slay’s Street Justice Part 7 also has Benzino dropping lyrics that can be deciphered as a racist or a rapper who has a point. The real conflict is going to arise when the mass media starts to compare him to Notorious B. I. G. or Tupac.