Raymond Scott (born July 18, 1965) from Boston Massachusetts, better
known by his stage name Benzino is an American hip hop media executive,
rapper, and record producer.[1]
Along with David Mays, his partner for over 20 years, Benzino is
known for being part of the Hip Hop magazine The Source, which was
launched in 1988 as a single sheet newsletter out of Mays’s
Harvard University dorm room. Benzino is also known for being involved
in a widely publicized feud with rapper Eminem.[2][3] He was also
a founding member of several rap groups before finally becoming a
solo artist.
Benzino started his rap career with a group called the 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 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.
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. Benzino released his second album under Elektra Records. It
failed to chart, selling less than 30,000 copies. Benzino released
his next two albums independently on his own label.
[edit] Benzino and his role at The Source
After the original editors resigned from the publication, the magazine
experienced several years of success as it grew along with the exploding
popularity of rap music and hip-hop culture under the magazine's
second editor-in-chief, Adario Strange. Several years later, with
Selwyn Hinds in the editor's seat, it was suddenly announced that
Raymond Scott—a rap artist known professionally as Benzino
-- had been made a co-owner of The Source.
Benzino's relationship with the magazine dated back to its early
days. He was a member of the Boston-based group Almighty RSO when
he first met David Mays while visiting Harvard. He needed support
from Mays to get his group some credibility, and Mays soon became
the Almighty RSO's manager. While Mays was gaining support from advertisers
willing to invest in The Source, Benzino managed to broker a label
deal at Tommy Boy Records to distribute his group. The Almighty RSO
was known for their controversial song "One in the Chamba".
In 1994, Benzino pressured Mays to slip a four page article about
the group into the magazine against the will of the editors. The
article forced a major walk-out among staff members.
The magazine had indeed inserted favorable coverage to Benzino on
various occasions (including the reformed Almighty RSO, now known
as the Made Men). Even at The Source Awards, Benzino, a relative
unknown, performed at the show to the surprise of a stunned audience.
When Benzino was arrested in Florida after taping The Source Awards,
Mays rallied for an investigation of the Miami police department
for their treatment of the rapper, and threatened a boycott against
Miami.
Benzino also received a notorious reputation as co-owner of the
publication. Benzino threatened many staffers after an issue was
raised about his new group, Made Men, being shunned for other performers.
This is an example of the things that provoked a number of editors
at The Source to quit or walk out. In a 1999 issue, Made Men received
a rating of four and-a-half mics for their album Classic Limited
Edition. The author of that review, "J. J. Dillinger," did
not exist, and was merely a false alias used by Benzino to catapult
his own album.
[edit] The feud with Eminem
In 2002, Benzino started a feud with rapper Eminem. Benzino claimed
that Eminem was "a product of the machine that sought to discredit
black and Latino artists contributions to hip-hop".[cite this
quote] Benzino released a diss record called "I Don't Wanna" where
he claimed that Eminem was not real and true to the rap culture.
Although Benzino didn't expect Eminem to respond, Eminem did with
a track named "Bully". Benzino then replied with "Pull
up ya Skirt" which featured on his 2003 album Redemption. After
releasing this, Eminem released another two diss tracks named "The
Sauce" and "Nail in the Coffin". In "Nail in
the Coffin" Eminem attacks the heart of The Source by revealing
their tactics of "butt kissing motherfuckers for guest appearances" and
claiming "real lyricists don't even respect you or take you
serious". Eminem continues to attack Benzino and his magazine.
He mentions the fact that Benzino's older age makes him less competition
and that he uses his son to help him financially as he suffers in
the hip hop industry. Benzino then replied with the track "Die
Another Day" which seemingly ended the beef. Benzino then went
on to do mixtape tracks "Built for This" and "Lose
Yourself."
The Source unearthed an old tape in which a young Eminem was rapping
racial slurs against Black women. The magazine devoted its entire
coverage to the discovery of the tapes, and also the (allegedly)
negative impact that Eminem has had on the hip-hop industry. For
his part, Eminem did not deny making the tapes; he claimed that he
made them after a bitter break up with a black girlfriend (a situation
upon which he elaborates on "Yellow Brick Road" on his
Encore album). He apologized for making the tapes but also exhorted
the public to consider the origin of the allegations.
Nevertheless, Eminem sued The Source for defamation and copyright
infringement. The federal courts allowed an injunction to limit the
distribution of the tape's lyrics. The Source 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 considerable sum in compensation. In 2005, lawyers for
Eminem were preparing for trial over copyright infringement but abruptly
withdrew stating that the rapper no longer has any issue with The
Source. Benzino still hasn't officially squashed the beef with Eminem.
Mays and Benzino both countered the withdrawal of the lawsuit calling
it a "cowardly" move. They both claimed they can finally
expose the truth about Eminem and planned to eventually release the "racist
tapes" in a future magazine. Nevertheless, The Source was satisfied
with the results, and felt that the move was considered a win for
both parties.
[edit] Benzino's firing
Benzino still continues to feud with Eminem and many others associated
to him. Internet bloggers had rallied a petition for the removal
of Benzino and Dave Mays. Under pressure, Benzino decided to step
down from his post at The Source. In 2005, Benzino formally announced
that he was resigning as chief operations officer and co-owner of
The Source. Benzino stated that his battle with Eminem and the magazine's
publishers were hurting the revenue of The Source. Within a few mere
days Benzino announced that he returned to The Source as co-owner.
Industry insiders believed that The Source staged a fake event in
order to encourage advertisers to invest in the controversial magazine.
The rapper refuted his claims about saving The Source, and instead
blamed Interscope's chairman Jimmy Iovine. Benzino believed that
Iovine was pressuring to fire rap mogul L.A. Reid if he didn't have
Def Jam advertising removed from The Source. The reason why Benzino
stepped down was to save Reid's position as president of Island Def
Jam, or so he claimed. Last year, Benzino had been on radio denouncing
Def Jam's founder Russell Simmons for not participating in his smear
campaign to expose Eminem as a racist. He had used racial comments
about Simmons in the past forcing Def Jam to pull a vast majority
of their ads from The Source. As of today, Interscope, Def Jam, Tommy
Boy, Virgin, Motown and Universal have pulled advertising from The
Source. It is noted that Benzino was signed to each of these labels
before the massive decrease in general advertising.
Joshua "Fahyim" Ratcliffe was appointed to the publication.
Ratcliffe abruptly left after he was ordered to lower the rating
of Little Brother's The Minstrel Show from four-and-a-half to four.
Lil' Kim's release, The Naked Truth, received the five mic rating
instead. Although critics speculated that Lil' Kim's manager was
dating Dave Mays, this was the first time that a female rapper ever
received the highest rating in the magazine.
[edit] Hip Hop Weekly
Benzino and Dave Mays, the founders of The Source, launched their
new magazine Hip Hop Weekly on newsstands on October 16 2006. It
is the world’s first weekly hip hop magazine. The magazine
was launched in high glossy form in January 2007. Hip Hop Weekly
has been so successful that it was recognized by the prominent MIN
Awards as one of the 15 top new magazines of the year, beating out
more than 700 new magazines. The magazine features major contributions
from some the best writers and radio hosts in hip hop. Such as Wendy
Williams and Star who both have their own weekly columns in the magazine.
Hip Hop Weekly is sold mainly at super markets, airports and convenience
stores, as well as traditional major newsstands and bookstores.
[edit] Music
[edit] The Almighty RSO Era
Main article: The Almighty RSO
[edit] The Made Men Era
Main article: Made Men (group)
[edit] Z-No Era
After being recruited by Teddy Riley to start his solo career, Benzino
released his first album in 2001, which included collaborations with
P Diddy, Scarface, Snoop Dogg, Pink, and Bobby Brown, among others.
In 2003, Sylvia Rhone signed Benzino to Elektra Records, and he
released his second solo project, Redemption. Benzino left Elektra
in 2004, and started his own imprint ZNO Records.
[edit] Solo discography
* 2001: The Benzino Project
* 2002: The Benzino Remix Project
* 2003: Redemption
* 2005: Arch Nemesis
* 2007: The Antidote
* 2011: Im Commin Back
[edit] Group Discography
[edit] Made Men
* Classic Limited Edition
[edit] Hangmen 3
* No Skits Vol. 1
[edit] Mixtapes
* Benzino Presents: Die Another Day: Flawless Victory