Interview With Hot 97 Disses Benzino
Angie:  It's Hot 97, and I got my man on the phone. You know 7 billion dollars first week in at the box office, on 8 Mile. Can we have one time please Eminem *clapping* is on the telephone.

Eminem:  Angie, Angie, Angie. *Angie laughing* What's up?

Angie:  Wh.. why the stress in your voice?

Eminem:  Wh.. why the stress?

Angie:  Yeah?

Eminem:  No distress.

Angie:  You know what I have to say to you before we talk about anything, just congratulations man 'cause..

Eminem:  Thank you Angie, you too!

Angie:  Thank you man!

Eminem:  They're banging the single out here. They're banging.

Angie:  I was in Detroit two days ago, I like it there.
Eminem:  Yeah, I told them to!

Angie:  Oh that's what it was? *Laughing*

Eminem:  I told em' to!

Angie:  I actually.. I actually used the "Lose Yourself" instrumental to come out to.. I figured you know, I was in your town, it would work, it was big for me

Eminem:  Well right, being the [?] I figured that was the right thing to do

Angie:  Yeah yeah, thank you. No man, but the 8 Mile thing just you know, just received so well and just, you know, and incredible job man, so congratulations on all that

Eminem:  Thank you I've had a beautiful time

Angie:  So how you feeling man? What's [?] some [?]

Eminem:  I'm good, success is good, everything is..

Angie:  I'm not used to this side of you

Eminem:  You're not used to this side?

Angie:  No *Laughing*, you sound very grown up

Eminem:  Um, I'm growing up a little bit, I'm trying

Angie:  Alright, talk to me man, what the hell is going on?

Eminem:  Alright, I did.. first of all, I want to make a little comment, you know, I just want to comment on this whole thing that's going on, this little, this little whatever it..

Angie:  Feud?

Eminem:  Yeah, this little feud.

Angie:  I saw it on MTV yesterday, it's official now!

Eminem:  It's crazy!

Angie:  You and Benzino..

Eminem:  First time he's ever been on TV, I want to congratulate him. The first time he's ever been on MTV and he did 106 & Park, so I want to congratulate him on that too.

Angie:  So he's getting public.

Eminem:  I'm definitely bringing a lot of success to this man, but you know what, like honestly, like this dude, I buried him already. He's speaking from the grave Angie, this dude is speaking from the grave.

Angie:  Oh would you be referring to the song on the Green Lantern Mixtape?

Eminem:  I'll be referring to, I'd be referring to the one, the new one that he has. The newest one, the.. the one with the.. the fake "Victory" beat. I think he calls it “I Lost”…

Angie:  Oh the one Benzino did? Right right, but you then came on the, I the joint I heard came from you was on the Green Lantern Mixtape
Eminem:  Yeah see, I'm gonna tell you the story what happened

Angie:  Okay

Eminem:  He dissed me on a record, I didn't respond right, I didn't respond. Then he dissed me again, went back in the studio again. I think he was mad that I didn't respond.

Angie:  He finally..

Eminem:  Not that it didn't hit my radar 'cause this dude owns half of The Source  magazine. That's why it hit my radar, but my manager, once again, Paul Rosenberg, you know, tried to talk me out of it. "Don't respond, it's not worth it". The second time he did it I said "You know what, I'm gonna let him have it". So I gave it to him. Two songs.. two songs, to his two songs.

Angie:  Right

Eminem:  Now this next time, now I already buried him. I put the nail in the coffin, I kick the dirt on his grave.

*Eminem with muffled voice imitating the buried Benzino*

"This [?] is [?].. I'm never gonna get out! Somebody please let me out!"

Angie:  *Laughing*

Eminem:  He's done. And all the stuff that, you know, all this.. all this gangster shit that he wants to talk, mr. Tough Guy and this and that. Let me tell you something. This dude talks about killing my daughter on the record, he does not want to take it there, he does not? want to take it there. If he really wanted to take it there, and take it on a street level, like he's saying and screaming and jumping up and down in his records he would.. he would not have went back in the studio 'cause a mic can't fight you back dawg, a mic cannot fight you back. He would not have went back in the studio..

Angie:  Okay okay, would.. okay. Ca.. can I just take it back to the beginning with the first song where he came at you. Just the jump off to this whole thing..

Eminem:  It's not a song.

Angie:  A freestyle.

Eminem:  It's not even a free.. I hope to God he was freestyling 'cause if he wrote that, I really feel bad.

Angie:  Alright, let's you took, uhm, I'm talking of exhibit A. The first thing from Benzino. Di.. did you, I mean, did something happen to spark that between you and him, did anything happen, I mean..

Eminem:  Angie, i swear on my daughter's life, I never met this dude, I never met this man, this girl in my life. I never met this woman, she is obsessed with me. I can.. I cannot understand it, you know what it is? I think that.. I think Angie, a lot of times being that I've been out for like, you know, the last four years or whatever, I think people are starting to forget a little bit, that I came from the bottom

Angie:  *Softly* Mhm, right

Eminem:  You know what I'm saying? I took those cards and I remember Denaun.. Kon Artist from D12 told me some deep shit the other day. He said: "Remember when we was flipping burgers at Gilbert's, and you was mad, you was always punching walls and breaking mirrors, and saying "I can't get a deal 'cause I'm white, can't get a deal, I'm white I'm white, it's 'cause I'm white, it's 'cause I'm white". And then I took the cards I was dealt in life, and I flipped them. I flipped the cards and now I'm selling so many records because I'm white, you know what I'm saying?

Angie:  Right.. Right

Eminem:  So I flip the cards I was dealt, but this dude is a fat 40 year old, shriveled up, wrinkled prune, with a big puffy.. big puffy clown hair. So take them cards you were dealt with and say that in your rap, flip them cards. You know what I'm saying? Take them cards that you're dealt. Stop being mad at me, stop concentrating on my life so much and get one on your own.

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Angie:  Is it fair to say that you are, not just from Benzino, but just in general, like you're just tired of hearing people beef about that?

Eminem:  I'm sick of the excuses, that everybody making excuses, like if people must not listen to my songs, like in "White America", like I clown about it. You know what I'm saying I.., but the truth of the matter is that I flip the card Angie, I flip the card. Everybody has a set of cards you're dealt with in life, then flip them. You got to take them cards and flip them. If he doesn't have.. is smart to flip them cards, don't blame me. Don't blame me 'cause you suck. This dude, Angie, I think could very well, after hearing his last record, I truly believe, and I'm not even exaggerating, this dude, could possibly be the worst rapper in the world.

Angie:  In your opinion?

Eminem:  In a lot of people's opinion. Well I'm serious like I've never, I've never thought I would see the day where I met or heard, the whackest rapper in the world. I've heard a lot of whack rappers, but he very well, possibly could be, the worst rapper in the world, going against one of the best. And that's not to say, to toot my own horn, I.. I.. I.. never would consider myself the best, if anything.

Angie:  Do you.. do you not?

Eminem:  No.

Angie:  'Cause some people would right now consider you, right now, the best out.

Eminem:  I would not consider myself best out.

Angie:  Who is?

Eminem:  You got Jay-Z, you got Nas, you got Fifty. All of them guys, all of them cats, Redman, all of them guys, are.. are the best at what they do and, you know what I'm saying? I think a lot of times, maybe it, I don't know, maybe it bugs some people's mind a little bit, that I'm not only.. I'm not only rapping, but I'm making the beats too now. I'm making the beats, I'm doing the producing, you know what I'm saying?

Angie:  At least you're getting a lot of money, some people get tight about that man.

Eminem:  It' not even, Angie, it's not even about the money, because I have yet to charge for a track.

Angie:  Really?

Eminem:  I did a track for Jay, I didn't charge. I did a track for Nas, I did a track for Xzibit, I don't even charge for the tracks. I'm free! If I respect you as an artist, and I like your shit, I'm gonna give you a track, I'm gonna give it to you. 'Cause to me it's not about the money, it's about hip hop.

*Hot 97 - Hot 97 - Hot 97.com*


Angie:  Eminem is still on the phone, I have a million questions about the whole 50 Cent thing, but let's pick up where we left off before, just for a second.

Eminem:  Going back to what we was talking about, as far as just..

Angie:  If you just tuned in Eminem is on the phone. He's kinda talking about his side, his perspective on this whole thing that happened with Benzino and..

Eminem:  You know, I guess. They say... they say this when you.. when you hit forty, that you go through your second childhood, so I think that is what this man is going through. It's the second childhood, but I haven't got there yet.

Angie:  Did you ever speak.. Have you ever spoken to him?

Eminem:  I've never even spoke to this man, you can't speak to him, because he record conversations. I might.. what if.. what if I call this man and I threaten him over the phone

Angie:  How do you know that? How do you know that?

Eminem:  Huh?

Angie:  How do you know that?

Eminem:  Because he took a tape. He called Paul and was taping, was taping Paul the whole time, and Angie, you know Paul. Paul's not a fighter. It's Paul's job to de-escalate the situation, so he took that screaming at Paul, and put that on the beginning of his song.

Angie:  *To someone in the studio* You heard that thing?

Eminem:  Now this man is not talking to me, he's talking to my manager, it's my manager's job to de-escalate the situation. I'm on probation. Paul has seen before how I've reacted to certain things and thought he was doing the right thing, by trying to squash it. This dude trying to play dirty pool

Angie:  Wow

Eminem:  What this dude is, I think it's a mid-life crisis Angie, he's going through a mid-life crisis. He's done everything from Will Smith records, to "Rock The Party", trying to come back to the streets.

Angie:  Is he really getting under your skin? No, I mean I can't, I mean..

Eminem:  The only reason.. The only reason that I responded to this clown in the first place, is because of the extortion that is going on between him and Dave Mays. Nobody wanted to address it. Everybody in the business you talk to, any rapper in the business, and I'm not gonna put you on the blast Angie, but we all know what's going on at The Source. Ray Benzino has Dave Mays shook. And you can't play two sides of the fence, you can't be a rapper... you can't be a rapper and own a magazine... own half of a magazine. Because then what happens is, you call rappers that you like, you call them and you want them to make a guest appearance on your album, and if they don't want to do it because you suck. He's gonna  then he's gonna shut you out of his magazine, so you can't play both sides of the fence like that. You just can't do it.

Angie:  So that's what motivated you to see...

Eminem:  That's what motivated me..

Angie:  Was that something that was bothering you, before he started getting at you?

Eminem:  You know what used to bother me it's been.. it's been the mic.. the mic rating system in The Source. Like, when I was a kid growing up in the early 90's on hip hop, The Source as we used to know it, was the bible of hip hop. Like what... it was... their word was gold. If somebody got a four mics you was going to cop it. If somebody got five mics you was going to cop it. If somebody got three and a half, yeah, you know, you wouldn't know, but their word was gold and it was usually right. Now what's happened is this dude is doing the mic rating system, he even said so in his song "The five mic giver". I give the mic, I distribute the mics, but I'm a rapper too. You can't do that. He's fucking the game up and like...

Angie:   I know that you have yet to receive a five mic review in The Source. Is that something that has...

Eminem:  I have yet to receive even a four and a half. Everybody gets a four, everybody, like that's the standard now, that's the standard. If you get a four and a half that must mean that Benzino wants you on his album, you know what I'm saying? And as far as my contribution to hip hop, him calling me a culture stealer and an invader and all that stuff. As far as my contribution to hip hop. How was my contribution to hip hop any different than Dave Mays and Jonathan Shecter when they started The Source twelve-thirteen years ago, was to make hip-hop bigger and expand it. If I can take hip hop and open more white people's ears to hip hop so that artists like Nelly, and Ja Rule, and Jay-Z, and Cameron, and Ludacris and Nas can sell more records, then that's my contribution to hip hop. You know what I'm saying?

Angie:  Right

Eminem:  I'm just.. I'm only.. I'm only.. being real and I swear to you Angie, this dude can.. can.. he can scrounge up change and call you from a payphone after this interview and he can.. can scream, he can jump up and down and scream all he want, he can make... go in the studio and make a hundred thousand more records about me, and base his whole life around mine, I will not make another song about this man. He cannot afford to pay the bill when I [?] for the studio time. Then he owes me back. This dude is so whack, I can't even get D12 to do a song about him. They're screaming at me like "why are you even giving this guy the energy?" Because unfortunately I'm in a position where the more attention I pay to something, the bigger it get.

Angie:  So how you gonna... how you gonna... how you gonna not now. What if the dude just keeps making song after song after song, and every now and then he say something that get on your nerves, you just not responding anymore?

Eminem:  I'm done. Anything he does from.. from now on
*Eminem in muffled voice* "Will be like this" Speaking from the grave, I buried him, I buried him, I put the nail in the coffin, I threw the dirt on the top of his grave. I don't even think I'll put him in the coffin, I think I just buried him in a hole and threw the dirt on his grave.

Angie:  What happens if you see this dude man?

Eminem:  What happens if I see him?

Angie:  Yeah?

Eminem:  I'm on probation. I'm on probation, so I really would not like to comment on that, but I will let it be known that I got three months left of probation.

Angie:  Alright, but you don't want to jeopardize any of this..

Eminem:   No, I'm not trying to yo. I'm trying.. yo I'm trying to stay in the studio, I'm trying to release my records, make my artists big and spend time with my little girl.

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Angie:  Your song is No.1 today...

Eminem:  That's a beautiful thing.

Angie:  How do you decide who you respond to?

Eminem:   If I get 10 people coming to me on the street saying why is such & such dissin' you, if it gets to the point where I hear it everywhere I go. But this woman here, she is done... she is outta my life.