Benzino
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Raymond Scott (born October 24, 1965) is a rapper known as Benzino. The rapper was the former co-owner of The Source, a popular hip hop magazine in the United States. Originally the rapper was residing in Boston, Massachusetts when he met The Source founder Dave Mays while visiting Harvard University. From 1988 to 2001, Benzino was a silent partner in the growth of the business. However, in 2001, Benzino acknowledged his involvement in the publication.
As a rapper, Benzino's career has been unsuccessful, compared to many of the artists featured in the publication. Though known for his run-ins with the police, Benzino is most famous for his on-going feud with rap superstar Eminem.
Biography
Benzino's impact on The Source
Benzino started his rap career with a group called the Almighty RSO. The group was known mainly for their anti-police song "One In The Chamba" from the Forever Doomsday album released through Tommy Boy Records. The single and album were considered controversial for the tone of the rap group and the open encouragement of murdering law enforcement. In 1994 The Boston Police and the Fraternal Order of Police union had placed the group on high priority at the time forcing RSO to be dropped from the label. After the RSO broke up, Benzino created a group called Made Men and went to record with former RSO members Antonio Twice Thou and Mr. Gzus.
Dave Mays was a friend and manager of the group. Usually without the consent of editors and shareholders, he would frequently insert stories and reviews featuring Benzino into The Source. Editors claimed that Benzino and his associates visited the magazine, threatening journalists and stealing property. In 1994 and 1999, Mays had severe friction with editors after he slipped in articles on Benzino's group forcing a majority of the staff to walkout in protest. After the walkout, GQ Magazine criticized Mays' decision on working with Benzino. The result caused scrunity on the rapper and the publication. When the publication held its annual award show, Benzino was nominated for awards even though his music was rarely seen or heard in the media. In 2001, after a taping of an award show, Benzino was arrested in a dispute with law enforcement in Miami. When arrested by the police, Benzino acknowledged himself to be co-owner of the publication. Allegedly, Benzino forced out the original founders of The Source. When reviewing albums, the publication judged them by "mics" (a star rating). Insiders believe that Benzino was involved in rating albums. Therefore his role as the "five-mic giver" has been well recognized in the pages of the publication.
After acknowledging his position as co-owner of The Source, he went forth to record a solo album. Benzino was signed to Motown Records and released The Benzino Project. The debut album featured many notable rappers, and also Pink. However, the album sold poorly, causing Motown to drop him from their label. The remains of the album was turned into a remix album featuring the same artists and a few different beats. Tarnished but undeterred, Benzino released his sophomore album under Elektra Records.
The Feud With Eminem
For years, Eminem was called the rising star of the publication. After Eminem received a rating for his album The Marshall Mathers LP, which was judged two "mics", it was later changed to a four "mic" rating after complaints from readers. Benzino's group Made Men was rated four-and-a-half "mics", despite not achieving any success commercially. Eminem was upset and addressed the magazine on his follow-up album The Eminem Show.
When the situation escalated, Benzino decided to air out his concerns with Eminem. The rapper claimed that Eminem's success ruins blacks and Latino rappers' chances of success. Benzino believes that corporations are controlling and supporting Eminem, which allows him talk about meaningful topics, while black rappers must rap about materialistic things.
Benzino held MTV responsible for the problems facing of hip-hop. Executives at the MTV Video Music Awards allowed Eminem to show up with over 100 blonde clones dressed like him marching on stage for their 2000 awards show. Benzino claims that most of the blame should belong to Interscope's Jimmy Iovine for Eminem's rise to stardom. The one thing that most angered Benzino was the lyrics from "Without Me," from The Eminem Show: “Though I'm not the first king of controversy/ I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley/ To do Black music so selfishly/ and use it to make myself wealthy" (although in the context of the song, it was not likely a comment intended to be taken seriously). Benzino considered this to be the last straw.
Before Benzino released his next album, he recorded a "diss" record mixtape addressed to Eminem. In some of his interviews he has stated that Eminem is a part of the corporate "machine" and it is destroying hip hop. When Eminem caught wind of Benzino’s comments, the rapper decided to respond. Eminem recorded two vicious tracks, "The Sauce" and "Nail in the Coffin", attacking the credibility of The Source and ruined the rap career of Benzino. Not to be outdone by Eminem, Benzino threw out the claims of a corporate takeover and started to insult Eminem personally. He recorded a response to Eminem’s lyrical attacks by threatening his daughter and dubbing him the “2003 Vanilla Ice” and “Rap Hitler.”
Eminem decided to air the feud with Benzino out on radio. Deejay personality Angie Martinez allowed Eminem to express his problems, in which Eminem branded Benzino as the “worst rapper in the world”. Benzino phoned in later, threatening to fight Eminem if they crossed paths. Elektra Records dropped Benzino, even before his sophomore album was ever released. Benzino's album Redemption sold 14,000 units. Meanwhile, The Eminem Show, has sold 20 million copies.
Benzino has also been the subject of scrutiny for using his magazine as a personal promotional platform as well as a tool against his enemies. In 2003, The Source released recordings of Eminem which included derogatory references to Blacks and women. Eminem apologized for making the tapes but also stated The Source's vendetta against him were the reasons for the allegations. The recordings, made in 1988, were the subject of a lawsuit from the rapper [1]. Eminem sued The Source for defamation and copyright infringement. The federal courts allowed an injunction to distribute a minimal amount of lyrics of the alleged tape. Benzino and the publication ignored the injunction and went forth to publish the entire lyrics on its website and in its magazine. By ignoring the injunction, The Source was found in contempt of court and were forced to pay Eminem and his label, Shady Records, a large compensation sum.
Later Benzino and The Source would urge video stations to ban Eminem's video, "Just Lose It", and issue an apology to Michael Jackson. The video depicts Jackson in a negative light and the publication wanted to boycott the rapper. In spite of their efforts, BET has been the only network to ban the video. Eminem released the single "Like Toy Soldiers" from Encore, in which he pleads to Benzino to end his feud. Undaunted, Benzino responded with his single "Look Into My Eyes", in which parodies Eminem for being scared the rapper had caused the death of Eminem's friend Proof (who, in a case of sad irony, was killed in an unrelated shooting on April 11, 2006).
While visiting a Detroit radio station, the publication's founder Mays and Eminem got into a heated dispute, which resulted in Benzino feuding again. This time his beef included rappers 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes and many others who were associated with Eminem. There were numerous reports that Benzino had influenced editors to write a critical piece about G-Unit after a comments was made by members of the group. When Mays was injured after a confrontation with Busta Rhymes, Benzino began criticizing him also. The aftermath from feuding with Eminem caused seemingly irreparable damage to the magazine's credibility. This also forced Interscope and other record labels to pull advertising from The Source.
Benzino's Termination From The Source
In April 2005 fans and supporters of Eminem believed that Benzino formally resigned from his position as co-owner of The Source [2]. There were reports, the rapper had conflicts with Black Enterprises in the beginning and it had led to him leaving the publication. The departure was short-lived. Benzino soon returned to his position at The Source claiming that he was trying to prevent Jimmy Iovine from firing Def Jam president L.A. Reid. Benzino also blamed Russell Simmons for pressuring Reid to remove Def Jam advertising from The Source. Industry insiders from publication claims that Benzino as well as Mays, created a blantant publicity stunt to encourage advertising in the magazine [3]. The owners wanted information to be leaked out so they can ease the advertisers' worries about associating with The Source.
When Benzino returned, he was hit with multiple lawsuits. Former editor-in-chief Kim Osorio, and many female workers filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Benzino and The Source for sexual harassment and gender discrimination. After a taping of the previous Source Awards, Benzino was dealt numerous lawsuits for unpaid expenses and missing jewelry after he and Mays had invited their families to the award shows [4]. While filming a music video down in the Dominican Republic, the staff at The Source held another walkout. The Source's staff were upset about having received non-clearing paychecks with no response from senior management.
Then in January 2006, The Source Magazine's board of directors voted to officially remove founder Mays and Benzino due to their damaging influence on the publication. Benzino tried to avert the termination by obtaining a temporary restraining order to prevent him from losing his post as chief brand executive and president. After the restraining order was lifted, the board formally dismissed Mays and Benzino. Former operation officer and editor Jeremy Miller became president and CEO of The Source. Miller acknowledged that Mays and Benzino are no longer involved in the publication, and promised the readers that the feud with Eminem is officially over.
After the departure from The Source, Benzino and Mays launched their new publication, Hip Hop Weekly, a weekly tabloid featuring hip-hop. The new partnership with Hip Hop Global Media will help the rapper begin a new magazine without the influences of other media. This magazine also is partnership with former Vibe editor, Mimi Valez, controverisal radio personalities Troi "Star" Torain and Wendy Williams.
Discography
Albums
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Almighty RSO
Revenge Of Da Badd Boyz ^ -
Almighty RSO
Doomsday: Forever RSO^ -
Made Men
Classic Limited Edition^ -
The Benzino Project^ -
The Benzino Remix Project
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Redemption
^These albums are no longer available in retailers.
Singles