Disclaimer: I've never been a big Eminem stan, at least not post-high school, & think his music has taken a huge nosedive in recent years. Okay, actually everything after The Eminem Show if I'm honest. He's been a hypocrite in many ways, making music his younger self would've mocked relentlessly (collabs with pop stars like Rihanna & Ed Sheeran and continuing to rap into his 50's to name a couple examples). Plus there's only so much you can say about life in the trailer parks with your "blonde whore" girlfriend and Munchausen mom. His voice is corny and the beats he attempted to make circa 2003 for the 2Pac: Resurrection soundtrack & Loyal 2 the Game album were dreadful, so he clearly can't produce. That anti-Trump cypher thing he did in 2017 was embarrassing lyrical miracle crap just like all his other attempts at political commentary have been. And there are serious claims (with evidence!) that he stole his whole style from one of the members of The Outsidaz rap crew while failing to work with them after they basically made him famous when he was a nobody.
But when it comes to diss tracks, there's not a rapper alive who's fucking with him & everybody who tries ends up putting out some of the worst work in their discography, probably because they're intimidated & KNOW it's not happening. In their weak attempts to predict his response to every line, they end up Ether'ing themselves after a 1st Round K.O. by their own hand (see what I did there?). See: The Game's 10-minute Single White Female-esque track & Melle Mel's side-splitting diss that sounds like it's fresh out of 1979.
If you can sit through this cringefest, you're a champ.
Granted, these rappers have valid criticisms, it's just that--actually, no they don't. They WOULD be valid if we were talking about Vanilla Ice, Iggy Azalea or some other no-talent white rapper who made it big solely for being white & aping Black music, but that's not the case. While Eminem has been accused of stealing the styles of other MC's early in his career and using people (namely, women & Black people) to further his brand, his talent still stands on its own, both in real-time rap battles as well as on albums and Billboard-ready singles like "Sing for the Moment" and "The Way I Am". And raw talent makes up for a host of sins as we're about to see.
Like it or not, Eminem truly is one of the most influential rappers of the last 30 years, with his style of complex rhyming evident in younger rappers from Hopsin to Tyler The Creator to Norwegian rapper Mads Veslelia (who I think also bears a striking physical resemblance to Mr. Shady, though he doesn't appreciate the comparison).
"Nail in the Coffin" was the 2nd in a pair of diss tracks by Eminem aimed at Source Magazine owner-turned-rapper Benzino. The beef is somewhat complicated but can be boiled down to this: Benzino attacked Em for his whiteness and accused him of stealing opportunities from talented Black artists by, I dunno, being so popular? He even called a press conference to play a snippet of a song Eminem recorded as a teen about why Black girls 'aren't as good' as white girls. Em had previously accused Benzino of cheating his albums out of 5 mic ratings (aka the perfect score) at The Source due to his racial bias (though what was that accusation originally based on? IDK, can't find where Benzino's 1st anti-Eminem/anti-white rapper sentiments were expressed). Benzino fired the 1st official shots in a freestyle & the rest is history. Thank fuck because that man can't rap.
Press conference revealing Eminem's lost racist track
Honestly, the lack of reaction by the public to Em's hateful song was kinda disheartening but can be explained mostly by misogyny. If there's one thing Eminem's not afraid of, it's shit-talking women & using sexist slurs/threats of violence against us. He's never used the n-word in his entire career & knocked it off with the homophobia after the pushback in the early 2000's, but women have always been fair game. (I listened to "Kim" and some other songs from The Marshall Mathers LP recently and... yikes. Now I remember why I stopped listening to this artist once I graduated high school, got over my 1st immature relationship &, you know, grew tf up).
This reflects the general public's unspoken view that misogyny is the last acceptable prejudice. The shameful track was about Black WOMEN, therefore nobody could be arsed to lift a mic to respond. (And honestly, Eminem isn't alone in dissing Black women in the rap world, it's just that maybe others haven't come right out and said "white girls are better than Black girls" (or light skinned women > dark-skinned women) in so many words. Imagine if he'd insulted Black males, claiming their manhood was lesser or they were somehow "not as good" as white males. Yeah, I don't think that would've flown.
But it also comes back to the basic tenet: talent makes up for a plethora of sins. And there's no denying Eminem (like other so-called "problematic" celebrity males such as Kanye, R. Kelly, Harvey Weinstein & Woody Allen) is talented. In fact that's one of the biggest takeaways from the Black girls diss track: how far his rhyming skills had come since then. Benzino's? Not so much. Take this sloppy couplet from "Die Another Day:"
You dyed your hair blond but I'mma make it red
How you gonna sell records Marshall when you're dead? 🥴👌
...yeah. Benzino has the Blackness & the credibility from running one of the world's most well-known Hip Hop magazines, but it all falls apart when he tries to step into the rap arena and grab the mic from a talent like Eminem, who admits "I don't know shit about no shoppin' rocks" (selling dope) & doesn't pretend to be something he's not. He sticks to what he DOES know: making words rhyme to a beat & rippin' bad rappers new assholes. And how.
While there were several other minor disses back and forth after "Nail in the Coffin," none reached this level of greatness. The beef has since been squashed, with Benzino acknowledging Eminem's greatness as an MC & his staying power in the rap game. Edit: Oh snap! I take it back. I was looking through a friend's playlist recently & spotted an unfamiliar track by Eminem ("Doomsday Pt. 2") & did some digging. Turns out it's a shiny new diss against Benzino circa 2024. This, after 20 years of silence on the issue. Looks like it was a response to Benzino's "Rap Elvis" (2024). The reason for this new round of beef isn't known yet but be sure to check it out because this is truly one of the most hilarious, mismatched verbal slapfights of all time.
...aaaaand again, Benzino is throwing the race/racism card at anyone who prefers Em's track, calling his fans "Saltines" (apparently not realizing that the racial term "cracker" is a reference to whip crackers, not the edible kind you enjoy with soup) & claiming they're not real hip-hop fans. Yawn. Brush the chip off your shoulder, bruh.
Slap my mom! Slap the fuck out of her! She can't sue you, she wouldn't get a buck out of ya Cause you're broke as fuck, you suck, you're a fuckin' joke! If you was really sellin' coke, well, then what the fuck You stop for, dummy? If you slew some crack You'd make a lot more money than you do from rap
When you was watchin' me from... Whatever fuckin' TV he was watchin' me from In Boston… the mean streets of Boston
And for those who don't know Don't get it twisted y'all... The Source has a white owner!
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