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Posted by Robert
Rap News Network

12/22/2003 9:56:28 AM

Racially motivated songs from rapper Eminem's past continue to escalate hostilities between him and hip-hop magazine The Source.

They agree on this much, the hip-hop magazine The Source and rapper Eminem: Before the superstardom, before the controversies, before the Grammys and the Oscar, the rapper used racial slurs and racist stereotypes to rap about white women's superiority to black women.

The young Eminem rapped lines such as "Blacks and whites they sometimes mix, but black girls only want your money cause they're dumb chicks" and "Black girls and white girls just don't mix because black girls are dumb and white girls are good chicks."

That is where the agreement stops and the argument starts.

Eminem may have apologized, citing his youth and a breakup with an African-American girlfriend a short time before the songs were recorded, but to The Source co-owners David Mays and Ray "Benzino" Scott, Eminem's dangerous influence goes way beyond these racist raps. They may go after hip-hop's biggest star with an eagerness bordering on religious fervor, but the two insist their anger stems from a perversion of what they perceive as the essence of hip-hop. They feel Eminem's immense success has sucked the attention away from black hip-hop artists and forced them to seek attention with ever-more outrageous lyrics. The magazine also hopes to use Eminem's songs as the jumping-off point for a broader discussion of racial issues in hip-hop.

"This is a battle for hip-hop," Mays says, leaning forward in his office chair as he talks about Eminem and his corporate supporters. "They are literally feet from the goal line, and we are the defenders. If they succeed, they will destroy hip-hop's soul."

In the weeks since The Source called a press conference to unveil the Eminem songs, many prominent hip-hop leaders and artists, as well as hip-hop fans, have taken sides in the fight, though others have tried to stay out of the fray. The battle will likely intensify this week as early copies of The Source's February issue are expected to hit newsstands. Whether that plan will be delayed remains to be seen, since Eminem's attorneys on Tuesday got a court to block The Source from including a CD of the controversial songs with its upcoming issue. The February Source officially goes on sale Jan. 12.

This current controversy only adds to the uneasy feeling that hip-hop is at an important crossroads. Yes, the genre born on the streets of the Bronx has grown into the second-most purchased style of music in America (behind only rock) and is a $2-billion industry annually - not including all the related industries, such as clothing lines, limited- edition sneakers and platinum jewelry. However, is the current fascination with gangsta rappers like 50 Cent and the legions chasing bling-bling and babes painting the genre into a corner artistically?

Jay-Z, one of hip-hop's biggest stars, has announced his retirement, in part because he is bored by the music. Same with rapper DMX. Timbaland, one of the genre's best-known and most respected producers, is considering calling it quits as well.

The Source's Scott, who also raps as Benzino, says the rise of Eminem has forced black artists toward gangsta rap and materialistic pursuits to get attention from the handful of conglomerates that dominate the music industry and the radio stations and video channels needed to promote the music.

"Since Eminem has made his music and sold his music, every other black artist whether they were huge or small has taken a decline," Scott says. "The independent companies as we knew them are damn near wiped out. You see, this isn't about Eminem. It's about the monopolization of a culture to strip it from us, and then we don't get to reap the benefits."

Relaxing in his Manhattan recording studio near Union Square, Scott tries to calmly lay out his argument against Eminem. But as he talks about his beliefs that black hip-hop artists don't get the same opportunities as Eminem, he gets wound up. "Eminem gets to rap about whatever he wants and he gets attention," Scott says, thumping his chest. "We have to come up with 'rock the party' songs to get played."

Scott says it was this apparent double standard that led him to challenge Eminem last year with a battle rap called "Pull Up Your Skirt." Battle raps are a time- honored tradition in hip-hop, as rappers boast about who is best as well as try to belittle their opponents. Few of these beefs have turned violent; the vast majority are settled through the music.

When Scott attacked, Eminem responded with his own track, as is customary. However, his record company, Interscope Records, took it a step further - it pulled its advertising from The Source. It also gave The Source's competitor, XXL, a much sought-after interview with Eminem and his protege, 50 Cent. (Both Eminem and Interscope Records declined to comment on this story beyond the press releases already issued.)

Since that battle this spring, The Source has become Eminem's biggest critic, far surpassing the women's groups and gay-rights groups that previously protested against the controversial rapper for his sometimes violent lyrics. While some, Eminem included, dismiss the magazine's unveiling of the unreleased songs as part of some sort of vendetta against the rapper, Mays and Scott insist it is much more than that.

The battle between Benzino and Eminem seemed to be dying down this fall. But that changed in mid-October, when three white hip-hop fans from Detroit, Eminem's hometown, walked into The Source's Manhattan headquarters with a Maxell cassette tape.

"[Culture Editor] Fahiym Ratcliffe called me and said these kids have something you should hear." Mays says. "So they come in and they're trying to rewind the tape to find the right part. Ray was in Puerto Rico, and I play it for him and he was the first one to say, 'If this is really him, this is huge. Don't let those guys leave the office.'"

Scott says that the songs confirmed what he thought about Eminem all along, that he was not as respectful to black culture as he seemed to be. "I was elated when I heard it because at least I knew I was right," Scott says, thumping his chest to make the point. "I'm a very perceptive person, and I just knew. ... He's a phony. He's in it for the money. He had these thoughts, and he needs to be held accountable."

As soon as he heard the songs, Scott says he knew that The Source needed to let the public hear them. Mays, however, was skeptical. "His voice sounds a lot different, his flow has changed," Mays says. "But we started asking lots of questions, like 'Where did you get this? How do you know it's him?' The more we investigated, we knew it was him. It didn't hit me until I took the tape home and I was sitting at home by myself and it gave me an eerie kind of feeling, a weird feeling. It disturbed me. It offended me. It angered me."

Bringing the tape to the public wasn't about hurting Eminem, Scott and Mays say, it was about trying to show how the music industry infrastructure treated him differently. They ask, if a black artist used racial slurs about whites or another ethnic group at any stage in his or her career, what would have happened to that artist?

"This Eminem tape was the kind of evidence that finally substantiated what we've been saying," Mays says. "It was a way for us to tell people, 'Wake up and consider the big picture.'"

Eminem's supporters argue, however, that there is no big picture where these particular songs are concerned.

Russell Simmons, Hip-Hop Summit Action Network chairman and one of the culture's best-known entrepreneurs, calls the lyrics "disgusting," but defends Eminem against The Source. "We believe Eminem's apology is sincere and forthright," Simmons said in a statement on Nov. 25. "He continues not only to be an icon of hip-hop, but also has evolved into a good soldier who gives back money, time and energy to the community, encouraging this generation of youth to reach their highest aspirations." Earlier this year, Eminem organized a hip-hop summit in Detroit, drawing the city's mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, and 14,000 fans.

The defense led The Source's Mays to resign the next day from the board of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. Though Simmons' statement was supposed to come from the entire organization, not all its members agree with the defense. Irv Gotti, chief executive of the record label The Inc., for example, went against the board's feelings and Eminem at a recent press conference, saying in front of Simmons, "I love black women - I got a mother and five sisters, so I been around black women all my life, so I'm a defender of black women. ... I can't give him no pass."

For his part, Eminem is striking back at The Source and its allegations. "Dave Mays and Benzino are spitting in the face of what hip-hop and rap music have done to promote racial unity," Eminem says in a statement. "Their attempt to use this old, foolish recording to damage me and, in turn, the positivity that hip-hop promotes is really nothing more than blatant self-promotion for a failing magazine and one man's lifeless music career. They're scared of what can happen if the hip-hop community shows it can live without them."

Despite what Eminem may hope, The Source isn't "failing." The magazine remains the top-selling music magazine on the newsstands, according to magazine auditors for the Audit Bureau of Circulations, and circulation continues to grow, while ad pages remained flat.

Over the past eight years, The Source has seen revenues grow at an average annual rate of approximately 30 percent - beef with Eminem or not.

Mays and Scott are willing to risk that ongoing growth - as well as a new club in Miami, a new clothing line, its line of CDs and its plans to get into the hip-hop toy business.

"That's not a reason not to do this," Mays says in his stylish Union Square office. "I've been without money before."

Mays and Scott recognize that hip-hop success requires street credibility and that if this campaign against Eminem doesn't work out The Source could suffer. "It never even occurred to me not to fight," Mays says. "If we don't succeed, The Source would probably go down any way. We won't rep this new kind of hip-hop that MTV and [Interscope Records chairman] Jimmy Iovine are putting together."

The Source is looking to restore the time in hip-hop when artists achieved success regardless of the subject matter.

Outsiders say it's too early to tell who, if anyone, will win or lose this fight. "It is fair game for public discussion," says Michael Friedman, an entertainment-law attorney music companies turn to in times of crisis and a partner with Jenkens & Gilchrist Parker Chapin. "The hip-hop community has a right to have it made known and to evaluate the artist and all that's occurred since then."

Friedman says The Source has helped its reputation in the hip-hop world as defenders of the culture and that Eminem has done well in trying to defuse the situation by apologizing directly. "I think it will be a blip on his overall career if he continues to generate the same artistry and creativity he has so far. But ultimately, it will be the public that determines if they accept his explanation."

The Detroit rapper's career, so far, seems to be untouched by the controversy. He received five Grammy nominations earlier this month, including nods in the record of the year and song of the year categories. Rapper 50 Cent has the biggest-selling album of the year, and the follow-up CD from 50 Cent's crew, G-Unit, also is doing well.

Eminem's defenders are quick to point out that the tape came before he was a star and was never released as a single. They are also quick to point out that there is no shortage of black rappers who denigrate women in their lyrics.

Furthermore, Eminem's released work has never contained any hint of racism, though he has gone through controversies for lyrics that have been called misogynist and anti-gay. Unlike those cases, though, Eminem has apologized for the words on the songs The Source released. "While I think common sense tells you not to judge a man by what he may have said when he was a boy, I will say it straight up: I am sorry I said those things when I was 16," Eminem, 31, says in a statement. "And I don't want to let anybody turn this into an opportunity to promote their own -- agenda."

Nevertheless, Eminem wants to be clear that the racist statements on the tape do not reflect his current feelings. "I did and said a lot of stupid -- when I was a kid, but that's part of growing up," he says. "The tape of me rapping 15 years ago as a teenager that was recently put out by The Source in no way represents who I was then or who I am today."

This leads to one thing the two sides have in common: "Hip-hop is a divine culture, something God created to help defeat racism," Mays says, adding that The Source is planning a town hall meeting in January, perhaps on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, to further discuss racial issues in hip-hop.

In a way, Eminem says he wants to have a similar discussion. "In becoming an adult, I've seen what hip-hop and rap music can do to touch millions of people," he says. "The music can be truly powerful, and it has helped improve race relations in a very real way. I want to use this negative attack on me as a positive opportunity to show that."

BEST OF THE MC BATTLES

Benzino started the beef with Eminem late last year because he was fed up with what he believes is the preferential treatment the MC gets from the music industry and the media.

"Pull Your Skirt Up" is Benzino's challenge to Eminem, from the CD "Redemption."

"Let me start from the beginnin', you ain't reppin' the streets

You from the outskirts of Detroit, where the -- meet

I'm gonna pull your skirt up, expose your true sex

Antagonize your label, till I get my respect...

Respect the 'hood Marshall, or the hood'll take you out

You the real wanksta, and I don't care who you sign

Disrespect Benzino, that -- is mine...

2003 Vanilla Ice how you playin' it

If you ask me, you really ain't that nice you overrated...

I think we both know exactly what we here for

I want the streets back I'm comin to your door.

Eminem responded with "Nail in the Coffin" on a mix tape.

I would never claim to be no Ray Benzino

An 83-year-old fake Pacino

So how can he hold me over some balcony without

Blowing his lower back out as soon as he goes to lift me...

If you slew some crack, you'd make a lot more money then you do from rap

You'll never have no security, you'll never be famous

You'll never know what it's like to be rich; life's a -- ain't it?

Raymond? Here let me break the -- down in laymen's

Terms for you, just to make sure that you can understand it...

Here let me slow it down for so you could understand if I say it slower

... Let it go dawg, it's over...

And for those that don't know

Don't get it twisted y'all

The Source has a white owner.

Benzino responded with

"Die Another Day."

Let's take a closer look at what's really happenin'

He wants you to believe that it was all about rappin'

And all I try to do is open up my -- eyes

It wasn't about me and Em, you gotta realize

It's just a smoke screen my --, there's a bigger picture...

[If] this credibility is what we here for

Then why ain't the 'hoods sellin' units no more...

Marshall Mathers gotta die, rise up

No choice, the only way we gonna turn this -- around

Is put this little -- in the ground

And you better keep my kids out ya -- mouth

Before I put a glock in yo -- mouth

Tell Haley it ain't safe no more

Daddy better watch yo back at the candy store

We -- up, resort to plan B

-- around she end up like JonBenet Ramsey. ...

Eminem replied with "The Sauce."

No more Source for street cred, them days is dead

Ray's got AKs to Dave Mays' head...

It's extortion, and Ray owns a portion

So half of the staff up there is fresh out of jail from Boston

Bullyin' and bossin' Dave like a slave

They completely brainwashed him and forced him to stay

Locked in his own office

Afraid of the softest, fakest, wannabe gangsta in New York

And it's pitiful, cuz I would have never said -- if you'da

Kept your mouth shut -- now what?

-Glenn Gamboa

IN THIS CORNER...

EMINEM

(aka MARSHALL MATHERS)

AGE: 31

HOMETOWN: Detroit

CREDITS: Rapper (three multiplatinum albums, seven Grammy awards); actor ("8 Mile"); label head (Shady Records, home of 50 Cent and G-Unit).

DAVID MAYS

AGE: 35

HOMETOWN: Washington, D.C.

CREDITS: Publisher (co-owner-founder of The Source magazine in 1988); producer (line of platinum compilation CDs); entrepreneur (The Source Clothing Co., The Source Hip-Hop Music Awards, Club ZNo in Miami).

RAYMOND SCOTT

(aka BENZINO)

AGE: 37

HOMETOWN: Boston

CREDITS: Rapper (two CDs with The Almighty RSO, three CDs as a solo artist); publisher (co-owner of The Source); entrepreneur (The Source Clothing Co., The Source Hip-Hop Music Awards, Club ZNo in Miami).