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Benzino Information
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'Benzino' (born 'Raymond Scott' in 1964) is an African American rapper as well as the CEO and co-owner of 'The Source', a formerly top-selling hip-hop magazine in the United States. Raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Benzino met The Source founder and co-owner Dave Mays while Mays was a student at Harvard University; from 1988 to 2001 Benzino served as a silent partner, finally acknowledging his ownership of the magazine in 2001. Benzino's rapping career has been relatively unsuccessful, compared to many of the star hip-hop recording artists featured in his magazine. Although infamous for his run-ins with the police, and his role at The Source, he is most famous for his ill-fated battle with multi-platinum rapper Eminem.
Biography
Made Men and The Source
He started his rap career with a group called the Almighty RSO. The RSO were known for their anti-police song "One In The Chamba" off the Forever Doomsday album released through Tommy Boy Records. The single and album were considered controversial for the tone of the rap group using references to invoking murder on local 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 being dropped from the label, his friend David Mays, the founder of The Source slipped a four page article about the RSO in the magazine forcing a major walkout of the writers.
Benzino went on to record under the guise of the Made Men. Former editors claimed that Benzino (then known as Ray Dogg) and his associates would frequently visit the magazine, threatening journalists. He was considered the muscle of the magazine. Benzino's impact was known through secretly inserting favorable coverage and advertising featuring him and members of the Made Men. The Source offered most of the group's promotion during his time with them.
The Made Men were nominated for the magazine's annual awards even though their music was rarely seen or heard in the media. Benzino somehow managed to overthrow the original founders of The Source and then took over. Therefore his role as the "five-mic giver" has been well recognized in the pages of the publication. Back in 1999, Dave Mays changed the rating of Made Men's album in The Source forcing Selwyn Hinds, the editor to resign in protest of Benzino's influence. Often critics blast the magazine for not addressing the issues in the urban communities. The Source still garnishes the title stories that address the concerns of hip-hop.
Benzino officially began his reign at The Source in 2001. After the RSO/Made Men fiasco, he managed to record his own solo album. Benzino was once signed to Motown Records and he was slated to release his album The Benzino Project. His album debut featured many A-list rappers. Even pop artist Pink was contributing vocals on the album. This album sold poorly forcing Motown to drop him from their label. What was left of his album was done into a poor remix album featuring the same artists and a few different beats. After the fiasco at Motown, he released his sophomore album under Elektra Records.
Benzino vs. Eminem
See also: Hip-Hop Rivalries
Although it is not clear why Benzino decided to air out his concerns with White multi-platinum MC Eminem, but he claims that Eminem's success was hurting Blacks and Latino artists. He believes that the corporations are controlling and supporting Eminem. Benzino stated that Eminem can talk about dark moody expressions, while Black rappers are forced to talk about bling-bling (materialistic things).
One possible contributing factor for Benzino's concerns was Eminem's rating of his critically acclaimed album The Marshall Mathers LP. The Source gave him a two-star rating for his album, while Benzino's Made Men were rated four-and-a-half stars. Eminem was upset and he blasted the magazine on his follow-up album The Eminem Show.
Benzino also placed the blame on MTV. He claims that 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 also blames Interscope for Eminem's rise to stardom. The thing that bugged Benzino the most was the little comment Eminem made on "Without Me," one of his singles 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's not a comment likely intended to be taken seriously). Benzino considered this the last straw.
Before Benzino released his album, he recorded a dis record mixtape devoted to Eminem. In some of his interviews he states that Eminem was a part of the corporate "machine" and it was destroying hip-hop. Eminem caught wind of Benzinos disses and decided to respond. Eminem recorded two vicious disses, destroying the credibility of The Source and the rap career of Benzino.
Not to be outdone by Eminem, Benzino threw out the claims of a corporate takeover and started to diss Eminem personally. He recorded a response to Eminems diss by threatening his daughter and dubbing him the 2003 Vanilla Ice and Rap Hitler. Eminem was fed up with The Source; he decides to air it out on radio. DJ personality Angie Martinez allowed Eminem to air out his concerns with The Source. He branded Benzino as the worst rapper in the world. Benzino phoned in later, threatening to fight Eminem if they crossed paths. During that time Elektra Records dropped the rapper, even before his sophomore album was ever released. Benzino's album Redemption sold 14,000 units, a major disappointment compared to his rival's album, The Eminem Show, selling over 4 million copies.
Benzino has been the subject of journalistic 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. He apologized for making the tapes but also stated The Source Magazine's vendetta against him were the reasons for the allegations. The recordings, made in 1988, were the subject of a lawsuit from the rapper . Eminem had 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 hefty sum of compensation.
Benzino and The Source urged video stations to ban Eminem's video, "Just Lose It", and urged to have the song removed from Eminem's album, because of the video's depiction of Michael Jackson. As a result of their efforts, BET has been the only network to ban the video. Currently Eminem and Benzino continue to feud on albums, despite Eminem's plead to end the beef with The Source (through the single "Like Toy Soldiers" off of Encore) . Benzino responded with his diss record "". The song's video parodies Eminem for being scared of Benzino, and for being willing to give up the rap game in order not to see the death of Eminem's friend Proof.
At a time, the two were willing to sit down together and eventually settle their differences. All of that was halted after a confrontation between Eminem and co-founder David Mays. They got into a heated dispute, forcing Benzino to reignite the beef. There were numerous reports that Benzino had influenced editors to write a critical piece about 50 Cent and G-Unit after a comment was made by members of the group. The situation is unclear, but it's once again attacking Eminem and his Shady Records. After the magazine was printed, Benzino and Mays were criticized for allowing their vendetta against Interscope ruin the credibility of The Source. The issue addresses the controversy surrounding Hot 97 personality Funkmaster Flex and rappers associated to Eminem and 50 Cent.
The Call For Benzino's Resignation
After fans and supporters of Eminem called for the removal of the rapper from the publication Benzino formally resigned from his position as co-owner of The Source . The rapper decided to exit the magazine due to the controversy surrounding his involvement and citing that a dispute between the publishers of Black Enterprises, alongside Eminem were things contributing for him to resigned. The departure from the publication was short-lived. Benzino soon returned to his position of The Source citing that his reason for leaving was to prevent the firing of Def Jam president L.A. Reid. Benzino placed the blame on Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine as well as Russell Simmons for pressuring Reid's to remove Def Jam advertising from The Source. Insiders from The Source claimed that Benzino as well as Mays were in part of a blantant publicity stunt to encourage advertising in the magazine . The owners wanted information to be leaked out so they can ease the advertisers worries about associating with The Source.
After returning back to the publication Benzino was hit with multiple lawsuits. Former editor-in-chief Kim Osorio, and many female workers filed a multi-million lawsuit against Benzino and The Source over sexual harassment and gender discrimination. After a taping of the previous Source Awards, Benzino was hit with numerous lawsuits from unpaid expenses and missing jewelry after he and Mays invited their families to the award shows . While filming a music video down in the Dominican Republic, the staff at The Source had another walkout. The Source's staff were upset about not received non-clearing paychecks with no response from upper management. Benzino's latest album, Arch-Nemesis, was released quietly in 2005 and has sold 10,000 units to date. The Source's top music executives from Boston were accused of a nightclub shooting in New York. Leroy Peebles and Alvin Chiles both were accused of the shooting that landing three people in the hospital.
The current editor-in-chief Joshua "Fahyim" Ratcliffe, has recently left the magazine. Ratcliffe stated that a conflict of interest between the rating of highly acclaimed The Minstrel Show from rap group Little Brother was being changed after threats made upon him from Benzino. Ratcliffe believes that Benzino's jealousy of the group deserving a five star rating is too much at The Source. Ratcliffe resigned after being forced to change the rating of the album. Lil' Kim who released The Naked Truth received the five mic rating instead. Although critics speculated that Lil' Kim's manager is currently Dave Mays, this is the first time that a female rapper ever received the highest rating in the magazine. The Little Brother album received a four-and-a-half mic rating instead of a five. It's uncertain that the situations Benzino is facing may lead to a public perception of the publication, but it's affects are certainly leading to the demise of the once trusted magazine devoted to hip-hop culture.
Discography
*Almighty RSO- Doomsday: Forever RSO (1992?)^
*Made Men- Classic Limited Edition (1998)^
*The Benzino Project (2001)^
*The Benzino Remix Project (2002)
*Redemption (2003)
*Arch-Nemesis (2005)
^It's noted that these albums are no longer found in retailers.
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