The Eminem-Benzino beef has been one of the most famous and longstanding rap feuds. This is not, particularly because either artist kept going back and forth at each other, but how the feud spilled out of rap and into the personal lives of the artists. Eminem had kept all his attacks at Benzino within his music and Benzino has been vocalizing everything on Twitter for the past two decades.
Eminem vs Benzino Beef History
The Eminem vs Benzino feud goes back to 2003 when Benzino co-owned The Source magazine, a very popular hip-hop release back in the day. The beef was fueled when The Source magazine rated Eminem’s fourth studio album ‘The Eminem Show,’ four mics out of five. This is not a bad rating. But considering that ‘The Eminem Show’ is possibly Eminem’s greatest work, it was a rather low rating.
Eminem voiced his anger about the rating, stating that the poor rating was due to his skin color. Benzino went on to release a few diss tracks aiming at Eminem; namely “Pull Your Skirt Up” and “Die Another Day.”
The comment about Eminem’s skin color may have been validated as Benzino raps “The 2003 Vanilla Ice how you playin it…If you ask me, you really ain’t that nice you overrated” on “Pull Your Skirt Up” track, referring to Em’s skin color.
Eminem responded with “The Sauce” and “Nail in the Coffin,” the latter ending the feud with a clear win for Eminem. However, it was not meant to be.
Benzino also released a track titled “Better Lose Yourself,” a spin on Eminem’s hit track “Lose Yourself.” On “Die Another Day,” Benzino made the mistake of bringing in Eminem’s daughter into their feud; “Tell Hailie it ain’t safe no more (nah)…Daddy better watch yo’ back at the candy store” seemingly threatening a child.
Later Eminem released “Go To Sleep” and went hard at Benzino. On this track, Eminem mentions Ja Rule, who was in favor of The Source magazine and Benzino. Ja Rule makes a grave mistake of stepping across many boundaries by mentioning Eminem’s entire family on his diss track “Loose Change.” He tells that Hailie will be taking after her mother who is a promiscuous woman and Eminem’s mother who is a drug addict.
This comment sparks enrage among hip hop camps and G-Unit gets dragged into Eminem’s camp. Together, they release “Bump Heads” featuring G-Unit, “Doe Rae Me” featuring D12 and Obie Trice, “Hail Mary featuring 50 Cent, and “The Conspiracy Freestyle” targeting both Benzino and Ja Rule.
In response to this, Benzino releases “Fallin’ Down,” and “Untouchable” with Ja Rule. Later, Benzino thought he struck gold when he discovers “Ole’ Foolish Pride,” a song done by Eminem when he was 15-years-old. In the song, Eminem throws racial slurs at black women. This sparked outrage in hip-hop and The Source magazine even printed the racist lyrics on their magazine. However, Eminem released “Yellow Brick Road” in which he addressed this controversy and apologized for not knowing better when he was 15-years-old. The fans and other hip-hop artists seemed to have forgiven him since.
In 2005, Eminem brought the rap feud to closure with “I’m Gone” with Obie Trice which seemed to let this beef be a thing of the past. Hip-hop fans crowned Eminem the winner of the Benzino feud. [Source: Distractify]
Since then, Benzino had been active on Twitter calling out Eminem and his fan base for being cowards and not facing him head-on.
Benzino Ends the Beef with Eminem
After almost two decades of beefing with each other, Benzino seemed to have turned a new leaf. On March 17, 2022, he went on Twitter to officially call off the beef with Eminem and even recognized Eminem as part of the culture;
To all @Eminem fans & Stans all over the world, the beef is officially over. I’m letting y’all know I have no hate towards any of his fans & recognize his contributions to Hip Hop. He truly is apart of the culture & 1 of the best to rock the mic regardless of his color. 🤝🖤🤍
It takes a lot of guts to say this on social media considering he was clashing with Eminem, not more than a few weeks ago. Eminem has been silent through all of this.
Benzino followed up this Tweet with another saying that the beef back-and-forth with the Stans (because Eminem seems to be out of all the drama for a few years now) is not healthy for him and his legacy and especially for her daughter, Coi Leray, who is also a rising hip-hop artist.
I realize that me going back and forth with his fans is not good for the culture, my spirit, my legacy and most important, my beautiful, talented daughter Coi Leray 🆑. I don’t want any negativity from me affect her dream. This is truly over. God Bless All
Coi Leray has been having troubles in the industry, getting dragged into Benzino’s feuds with other rappers. In 2001, Coi Leray released “No More Parties,” in which she raps “My daddy let me down, but I promise you I won’t let up / I wanna say f* that man, but that s* won’t make me better.”
As late as this apology is, it is an apology and a step towards reconciliation. For Benzino, for Eminem, and for Coi Leray and Hailie, this is about time the white flag was waved over this feud. A rap feud is supposed to bring the best out of each artist on a rap song, not on Twitter. At least back in the day, both artists put out some incredible diss tracks. Now, it’s just two grown men (well, one grown man) just Tweeting out hatred.
So, let this beef rest.
We will have to wait to see how Eminem will respond to this unexpected apology. He probably will not respond on social media. But will likely touch on this in a new song, likely accepting the olive branch.
But, the problem with Eminem is…“you can be a permanent fixture in my lyrical mixture.”
Let us hear what you think about this beef between Benzino and Eminem and its ending after decades.