KXNG CROOKED says he felt manipulated when Benzino and The Source made claims that Eminem was a racist back in 2003. The magazine released a song featuring a pre-fame Eminem dissing Black girls.
“When I was on Death Row Records, I was a fan of ‘Em and I was rolling through” New York, the artist formerly known as Crooked I says in an interview with VladTV. “I was with Benzino and [then-The Source owner] Dave Mays. We made a step into this big-ass banquet room. Lot of media lot of press. It was when Benzino decided to say Eminem is a racist. I stepped back like I didn’t know that was going on. I was just a young guy…this shit was dope to me. I walked into this shit, didn’t know what to expect. He made his announcement. He played the tape. Em said what he said on the tape. The room got quiet…It was the spearhead of that ‘Eminem is a racist’ shit, and I was a Death Row artist. Look at me now. I’m a Shady artist.”
The Slaughterhouse artist says he was not mad at the incident, but did feel manipulated by Benzino.
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“I wasn’t mad because I always stand for something,” KXNG CROOKED says in the interview. “I felt sideswiped because I didn’t know what we were doing. I started to feel manipulated. I was with a label with so much historical significance in Hip Hop and you feel like these guys are even stamping what I’m saying. That was the problem. A very crucial time in Hip Hop because it shows that corporations are powerful because shortly after that The Source started going down.”
Vlad and KXNG CROOKED discussed how many fans still believe Eminem is a racist, and sections of the community do not support Eminem.
“I don’t think enough people that have the same voice that you have would even admit that,” KXNG CROOKED says to Vlad. “They just gonna be politically correct, but there was a lot of Black people who were like, ‘No. Uh uh. I ain’t doing this. Eminem, uh uh.’”
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He says the Benzino claims in The Source added to the negativity surrounding Eminem.
“And then Benzino came in with the fuckin’ ‘Eminem is a racist’ shit, people ran with it,” KXNG CROOKED says. “Even people in my community ran with it. I’ve had black men tell me, ‘No Eminem.’”
KXNG CROOKED says that Eminem was pissed in the tape which depicts him spewing racial terms.
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“Em was pissed,” KXNG CROOKED says. “He was in a relationship with someone and he was pissed off. We might not agree with ourselves the next day, but you know what, we say things when we’re pissed off. As musicians, we go into the booth and spew what’s on our minds. I think the public doesn’t give us the opportunity to change our minds. They say, ‘You said it. It’s gonna stick to you like glue.’ And it’s like, ‘Really, that’s not even too serious, man.’”
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