Eminem’s team of longtime friends and collaborators stands up for him! Aside from MC Shan and DJ Akademiks, who have recently spoken in defense of Eminem’s legacy, the brother’s in arms, Royce 5’9″, Mr. Porter, D12’s Swifty and Kxng Crooked also stepped in to set things right.
Denaun addressed the issue in several of his posts on Instagram:
So, never heard or seen my brother say he was anything but grateful and happy to be a part of the culture. He’s not even on that. He just happens to write relentlessly, gives 100 percent effort relentlessly and always respectfully to the culture recklessly s–t on any other artist that came before him. You never heard nobody say he did sh–t to them only what he didn’t do for them. And while he might not have built an actual school, the dude never wants a camera around for anything he does charity wise…because he’s not about that, he ain’t ever been nothing but stand up donating and helping with respect to the persons situations.
In my opinion, people choose to hate a motherf–ker these days because he doesn’t donate to the cause you deem worthy. A man counting your pocket doesn’t mean he know who you have helped. I respect Dr. Umar for what he tries to accomplish but this is just an opinion. It doesn’t change the character or is anywhere near altering to how homie moves with the highest respect for and in the culture. He knows he ain’t black. He also doesn’t act like it or expect s–t. He does try every time his best, he just humbly is one of the dopest motherf–kers that ever touched a pen and that makes some of y’all uncomfortable. Respectfully and gracefully I don’t give a f–k what a ni–a say about my brother. He will always be one of the GOATs.
Royce 5’9″ delivered his point of view on the matter saying it’s just one n****’s very humble opinion, and we should let him have it:
Dr. Umar said it was nothing personal. Bro is top 5 dead or alive and been that for decades via general consensus. No one man’s opinion could ever change that so let the man have his opinion lol. Nothing to be upset about. I get what he is trying to say. He feels hip-hop originated in Africa, therefore non-African could never be at the pinnacle. It originated in Queens, New York and it is not a color code but there is a few cultural characteristics that are unique to just black people. Nobody could ever crip a Cali ni–a but the whole world is slanging and banging.
This is an art form and a business but most important, a skillset. Bro came up with his own way to do it on the highest level and pushed every boundary, checked every box. He cold dog. Now on the flip side, Umar is just looking at rap how high level white executives look. We gotta shock the world to be come a billionaires and we still might end up broke and in jail if we piss of the wrong gate keeper.
D12’s Swifty McVay also came out in Eminem’s defense, being perplexed by Umar’s ignorance:
Some fans think he’s the GOAT, some fans don’t. Just like with any other legendary lyrical architect. But why it gotta turn into a race thing though?! S–ts stupid as f–k. He was the wrong person to ask about Em. SMH.
Kxng Crooked apparently discussed this moment during the taping of an upcoming Crook’s Corner podcast which is not out yet, so he gave us a sneak peek. The mastermind of complex multi-syllable poetics flipped the situation on its back like a pro:
Dr. Umar was almost right, when he paired Eminem with white supremacy. Because, Eminem is white and he’s a supreme emcee. He’s white! And he’s supreme MC! Almost like white supremacy but really nothing like white supremacy.
