he only thing more noteworthy than the viciousness of Eminem's feuds is the quantity of them. At one time or another, he's been in a protracted public fight with at least a dozen different celebrities, up to and including a dog puppet. These feuds provide great amusement for the rest of us, while we hope Eminem manages to keep his mouth shut when confronted with an adversary more formidable than Moby or his ex-wife. After all, it would be a shame to lose him in Tupac fashion, when he's still got decades of amusement value left in him.

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November 21, 2003

Amusing article about a battle in the rap community.  Well, it's sort of in the rap community.  It's Eminem vs. the guy who started Source magazine.

Benzino is credited with beginning the rift between the two rappers after he referred to Em as a "2003 Vanilla Ice" in his song "Pull Your Skirt Up," and the "rap Hitler" in "Die Another Day." He also called Slim Shady a "culture stealer" and indicated that his success is due solely to the color of his skin.

Eminem rebounded from Benzino's zings with two hard-hitting response tracks of his own: "The Sauce" and "Nail in the Coffin." In the second, he references an infamous rumor that Benzino uses his position at The Source to wheedle guest performances on his albums--offering coverage in the mag in exchange.

Benzino has also used the pages of The Source to attack his rival, creating full-page posters and cartoon depictions of Em as Elvis and of himself crushing M&M candies. Numerous articles have appeared in the magazine aimed at discrediting Shady Records artists such as 50 Cent.

Hip-hop insiders believe that Benzino is attacking Eminem in a desperate attempt to increase his own fame--a mind-boggling strategy from his rival's point of view.

The lyrics in question include the following lines:

Blacks and whites they sometimes mix
But black girls only want your money cause they're dumb chicks
So I'ma say like this
Don't date a black girl, take it as a diss
If you want, but if you don't
I'ma tell you like this, I surely won't.

Though Eminem expressed regret over the clip's undeniably inflammatory language, he made clear that he considered its release to be a direct consequence of the long-standing beef between Benzino and himself.

"Ray Benzino, Dave Mays and The Source have had a vendetta against me, Shady Records and our artists for a long time," Eminem said in response to the press conference. "The tape they played today was something I made out of anger, stupidity and frustration when I was a teenager. I'd just broken up with my girlfriend, who was African-American, and I reacted like the angry, stupid kid I was. I hope people will take it for the foolishness that it was, not for what somebody is trying to make it into today."

The rapper was recently awarded temporary full custody of his seven-year-old daughter with ex-wife Kim Mathers, after Mathers disappeared for several weeks, missing a series of court appearances tied to various drug-related arrests.

Police caught up with Mathers Tuesday and arrested her on a bench warrant. She was arraigned in a Macomb County court and posted $50,000 bail.

August 30, 2003

Eminem meets Moby.  Keep in mind that Moby is this mellow guy in his late 30's who has never done anything mean to anyone, and just cranks out the happy tune electronica. He called Eminem a homophobe based on Eminem's... homophobic comments, and for some reason Eminem is upset by that. In return Eminem put nasty comments about Moby on his last album, which while funny is sort of cheesy, in a beating-up-a-cripple way.

Eminem won a ton, just to rub salt in Moby's wound: Video of the Year, Best Male Video, Best Rap Video and Best Direction.

Eminem (R) confronts fellow artist Moby (bald head) and is held back at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York on August 29, 2002. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn

Now that would be a funny fight.  Geek vs. freak style.

December 14, 2003

Moby got punched out by a couple of punks.  The assumption by everyone is that they're fans of Eminem, since he and Moby have had a feud going for a while, highlighted by the animosity Eminem was showing at the Mtv Awards.  Not that anyone thinks Eminem personally put them up to it, but just that his exhortations for violence and public hatred of Moby inspired it.

The whole feud is weird, I mean Moby called Eminem a misogynist and homophobe based on his misogynistic and homophobic lyrics.  And for some reason that upset Eminem.

Junior, don't write songs about how you hate "bitches" and "fags", and you won't have to worry about people calling you on it.  If you do, take it like a goddamn man.  So to speak.  Eminem obviously has a lot of issues, I mean he almost got in a fight with a dog puppet at the Mtv awards after a couple of mild jokes.  You'd think he'd be a lot more thick-skinned and have some anger management skills, as a public personality.

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