Raymond Scott, also known by his stage name Benzino (born October 24, 1965), is an American rapper and former co-owner of The Source, a hip hop magazine in the United States. Originally he 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. is the 283rd day of the year (284th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... Rapping is one of the elements of hip hop and the distinguishing feature of hip hop music; it is a form of rhyming lyrics spoken rhythmically over musical instruments, with a musical backdrop of sampling, scratching and mixing by DJs. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... In the early years of the phonograph in the late 19th century, the music industry was dominated by the publishers of sheet music. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. ... Made Men was previously known as the Almighty RSO, a rap group from Boston, Massachusetts. ... is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... Rap redirects here. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Hip hop is a subculture, which is said to have begun with the work of DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, and Afrika Bambaattaa. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Boston redirects here. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... David Mays is the co-founder and co-owner of The Source magazine. ... Harvard redirects here. ...

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. Tommy Boy Records is a record label started in 1981 by Tom Silverman after borrowing $5000 from his parents. ... Made Men was previously known as the Almighty RSO, a rap group from Boston, Massachusetts. ...

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 scrutiny 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. ... Miami redirects here. ...

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 second album under Elektra Records. It failed to chart, selling less than 30,000 copies. His next album sold just over 15,000, and his album after that sold less than 1,500. Motown Records, also known as Tamla-Motown outside of the United States, is a record label originally based out of Detroit, Michigan (Motor City, hence mo(tor)town), from where it achieved widespread international success. ... Alecia Beth Moore (born September 8, 1979 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania), better known by her stage name P!NK (also written as Pink), is an American singer-songwriter who gained prominence in early January of 2000. ... Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, and today operates under Atlantic Records Group. ...

Feud with Eminem and The Source (magazine)

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" album following numerous complaints from readers. Eminem was upset and addressed the magazine on his follow-up album The Eminem Show. When the situation escalated, Benzino then decided to air out his concerns with Eminem. The rapper then claimed that Eminem's success ruins blacks and Latino rappers' chances of success (when in fact, he has advocated and promoted many eventual and up-and-coming platinum selling artists associated with his record label). Benzino believes that corporations are controlling and supporting Eminem, which allows him to talk about meaningful topics, while black rappers must rap about materialistic things. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

It is believed that Benzino held MTV responsible for the problems facing 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 inevitable rise to stardom. The one thing that most angered Benzino was the lyric 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 likely not a comment intended to be taken seriously). Then for some reason, 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 is destroying hip hop. When Eminem caught wind of Benzino’s comments, the rapper decided not to respond, which angered Benzino even more. Shortly afterwards, Benzino went ahead and recorded a diss track called "Pull Your Skirt Up" and featured the song on his second album Redemption. In response to "Pull Your Skirt up", and the first diss record by Benzino, Eminem recorded two tremedously vulgar tracks, "The Sauce" and "Nail in the Coffin", attacking both the credibility of The Source and indeed, 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, and branded Benzino as the “worst rapper in the world”. Benzino phoned in later, threatening to fight Eminem if they crossed paths, much to the dismay of his record label. Elektra Records then dropped Benzino off of their label before his second album was ever released, due to poor record sales. Benzino's album Redemption failed commercially, selling around 10,000 units. Meanwhile, The Eminem Show sold 8 million copies. Angela Martinez (born January 9, 1971 in The Bronx, New York) is an American radio and television personality, hip-hop recording artist, actress, and model. ...

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. This would prove to be a costly mistake. 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 primary reasons for the allegations. The recordings would subsequently become the subject of a lawsuit from the rapper.[1]

Eminem then 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 his publication then ignored the injunction and went forth to publish the entire lyrics on its website and in its magazine. By doing so, The Source was found in contempt of court and were forced to pay Eminem and his label, Shady Records, a large compensation sum. Benzino's actions would prove to be detrimental not only to the publication, but to his own reputation and credentials.

Later, Benzino and The Source would urge video and radio 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 was the only network to ban the video. BET claimed Benzino was not the reason for the banning, but rather that it was out of admiration of Jackson. Eminem released the single "Like Toy Soldiers" from Encore, in which he states he'll "walk away from it all before it gets any further". Undaunted, Benzino responded with the "diss" track, "Look Into My Eyes", in which he claims Eminem does not want to fight anymore because he is scared.

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, Trick-Trick and many others who were associated with Eminem. There were numerous reports that Benzino had threatened editors to write a critical piece about G-Unit after comments were made by members of the group. When Mays was injured after a confrontation with Busta Rhymes, Benzino began criticizing and dissing him, losing that battle also. The aftermath from feuding with Eminem caused seemingly irreparable damage to the magazine's credibility. This forced Interscope and other record labels to pull advertising from The Source as well. 50 cents may refer to 50 subunits of currencies where the subunit is called a cent. ... Trevor Smith (born on May 20, 1972), better known as Busta Rhymes, is an American hip hop musician and actor. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... G-Unit is a rap group which consists of 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Young Buck, (The) Game, R & B singer Olivia and, most recently, Spider Loc. ...

Discography

Albums

The Benzino Project is Benzinos first album as a solo artist and features guest stars such as P Diddy, Scarface, Snoop Dogg, Black Rob, and Pink. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Motown Records, also known as Tamla-Motown outside of the United States, is a record label originally based out of Detroit, Michigan (Motor City, hence mo(tor)town), from where it achieved widespread international success. ... Redemption is an album by rapper Benzino. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Elektra Records is a record label started in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickholt, who both invested $300. ... Arch Nemesis is a 2005 album by Benzino. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ...

Singles

“Hot 100” redirects here. ... The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, formerly known as Top Soul Singles, Top Black Singles, and Top R&B Singles (before the hip-hop term was added in the late 1990s), lists the most popular songs, calculated weekly by airplay and sales, in traditionally African American venues... The Hot Rap Tracks chart lists the most popular songs, calculated weekly by airplay and sales, in hip hop-focused or exclusive markets. ... The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry. ... John Jackson (born November 18, 1977),[1] better known by his stage name Fabolous, is an American rapper. ... G. Dep is an acronym for Ghetto Dependant (born Trevell Michael Coleman) (born on September 12, 1978 in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA) nicknamed The Deputy joined Bad Boy Entertainment in 1999 after Black Rob recommended him to P. Diddy who listened to his demo and decided... McCoy at the Premiere of Beauty Shop LisaRaye McCoy (born September 23, 1966 in Chicago, Illinois) is an African-American actress. ... Mario Winans is an R&B and gospel music producer, writer, and singer. ... Look Into My Eyes is a 2005 smash hit single off the album Arch Nemesis and a response to Eminems Like Toy Soldiers. ... Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better known as Eminem or Slim Shady, is a Grammy and Academy Award-winning American rapper, record producer and actor from the Detroit, Michigan area. ...

External links

• Benzino MySpace official website
• Benzino Fan Page
• Hip Hop Weekly magazine official myspace
• Hip Hop Weekly magazine official website