One-time co-owner of the Source Magazine, Benzino recently asserted that he got a massive co-sign during his beef with Eminem. The 57-year-old American TV Personality said that the late king of Pop, Michael Jackson called and applauded him for his commentary on the Detroit rapper’s “Just Lose It” video from 2004.
“Let me tell you, Michael Jackson called me,” the ‘Rock the Party’ rapper said during a Tuesday (April 11) episode of The Gauds Show podcast; “I knew Mike. I met Mike through Teddy [Riley]. He called me and he thanked me. Because when Eminem dissed him with the fire situation, in the [‘Just Lose It’] video, Mike called — and I remember his assistant put him on the phone — and I sat there and listened to him. And he thanked me.”
The Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta star started again, mentioning that the ‘Human Nature’ crooner also spouted about Tommy Mottola, the former Chairman and CEO of Sony Music Group.
Benzino proceeded to elucidate his own emotions about white people in Hip-Hop. “And I’m not saying it because all white people are bad. We’re not saying that. Not all of them are devils. […] Black people got Hip Hop and we got white people to finally buy into it. […] When Eminem came out, he just got different treatment than every other Black rapper. And I just didn’t appreciate that.”
Michael Jackson and Eminem were at loggerheads following the latter’s depiction of the former in his controversial 2004 music video. “Just Lose It” referenced MJ’s alleged inappropriate relationships with young boys, his plastic surgeries, and the time when his hair caught on fire during a 1984 commercial shoot for Pepsi.
The leader of the Jackson 5 attempted to have networks cease showing the music video and BET eventually relented. Representation on Eminem’s side felt that Jackson was violating the “Lose Yourself” artist’s freedom of speech and taking evident jokes too extremely.
© 2023 • Edem Latsu Nukafu
Writer’s email: edemlatsu093@gmail.com
