On the Joe Budden podcast, a controversial social media activist who claims to be a vessel of pan-Africanism said that to put Eminem in the top rappers is white supremacy.
So-called Dr. Umar, who several years ago faced charges of practising psychology without a license, promotes ideas of pan-African unity while declaring homosexuality a disease, used as a population control strategy in the black community, condemning interracial marriage, denying learning disabilities, and spreading conspiracy theories.
You would not expect this man to like Eminem’s music. And you are right, he doesn’t.
Joe Budden asked Umar Rashad Ibn Abdullah-Johnson (born Jermaine Shoemake) whether he thought Eminem was one of the best rappers of all time. Umar exploded:
According to who?! Let me say something to you. And this is going to my African fundamentalism. No non-African can ever be the best of anything African. It is an insult to the ancestors. It’s an insult to the race, and it is an insult to every Black person. Do you think I can go to Palestine and be the best of anything of Palestinian culture? You never see that. You think I can go to Israel and be the best of anything in Israel, whether it be a cook, an instrumentalist, a dancer? Hell no.
He got so heated as if he was inciting a riot from a pulpit. When Joe Budden tried to offer his argument, Dr. Umar was not going to pause:
Stay with me! Let me finish this! We have to stop naming non-African people as being the best of any aspect of our cultural product because it’s an insult. For you to put him at the top, that’s white supremacy! I don’t see Eminem building schools and hospitals.
The last bit is funny. Understandably, Dr. Umar doesn’t want to know anything about the Marshall Mathers Foundation and the multiple ways it supports disadvantaged youth in Detroit, from financial assistance to keeping them involved in sports. Meanwhile, Dr. Umar’s school project, a boarding school for Black boys, got marred in controversy and suspicious financial operations. It has never come to fruition since it was announced in 2014.
Many media have already picked that segment up and run with it, using it to ignite a slowly withering debate about Eminem’s place in the hip hop culture. Since no serious artist can say anything to diminish Marshall’s impact on hip hop,
Dr. Umar says on The Joe Budden Podcast that Eminem isn't the best rapper of all time because he's not Black.
Umar believes it's an insult to the African race.
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) December 25, 2023
