Elliott Wilson, the founder and CEO of Rap Radar and former editor-in-chief of XXL Magazine, explained how the beef between the XXL magazine and Eminem was squashed and how 50 Cent became an unexpected peacemaker.
In a recent interview with VladTV, Wilson explained that he took over at XXL in the early 2000s when he was handed over a full-blown feud with Eminem. The magazine had previously published an article that rubbed Em the wrong way, questioning his place as a white artist in hip hop:
Eminem already had a beef with XXL magazine. I inherited his beef. I tried to resolve it. They had already written an article before I got there, like questioning a white person running hip-hop, the white MC. So he was offended by that. He was in good rapport with The Source at that time, so he was anti-XXL. When I got to XXL, my first mission was to resolve this beef with Eminem and get Eminem on my side. But he wouldn’t accept it. So then I wrote up and did a whole magazine against him because he wouldn’t embrace me yet.
Despite Wilson’s efforts to squash the beef and win Em over, the rapper wasn’t having it. In fact, Eminem fired back with a diss on his legendary Marshall Mathers LP, taking a shot at the magazine for something Wilson admits he regrets to this day:
And then he dissed us on The Marshall Mathers album cause the first issue I did put a nasty illustration that I regret to this day, about his mother spanking him, so he’s talking about that in the song. But it’s legendary, man. I got dissed on a title track of Marshall Mathers LP, which is a classic, so…
But things took a surprising turn when 50 Cent entered the picture. At the time, Fifty was the hottest artist in New York, and XXL had been giving him tons of support, featuring him prominently in the magazine. Wilson feared the worst when Fif signed with Eminem, especially because of their personal difficulties. Instead, 50 Cent saved the day:
50 Cent does not like me. Let’s give 50 Cent all the credit in the world. 50 Cent was the reason I was able to finally resolve this conflict I inherited with Eminem. We were supporting Fifty. I remember going to the office, and everybody was pumping his mixtapes. Fifty was the hottest guy at that moment in New York. You could not deny his impact. So, we just started doing these stories on him and just continually putting him in the magazine, continually showing support. We built a great rapport with him, so we just kept supporting him. So, when he signed to Eminem, we were like, “Oh, shit. Is he going to cut us off?” We thought Fifty was going to say, “I can’t fuck with you all. Eminem and those guys don’t fuck with you”. He ended up being the bridge to help solve the situation.
Around the same time, Benzino dropped a diss track aimed at Eminem, sparking even more tension. But in the end, the situation led to XXL securing that legendary cover, while The Source, Benzino’s magazine, lost its Interscope advertisements to XXL. Wilson recounted how, during a meeting with Eminem’s manager, Paul Rosenberg, a plan was hatched that would not only resolve the conflict but also lead to one of the most iconic XXL covers of all time: 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, and Eminem, united:
Benzino made a record dissing Eminem at the same time. I went to have a meeting with Paul Rosenberg to resolve this conflict cause I wanted that 50 Cent cover. So, we had this whole sit down, and Paul was like, “How would you like Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent cover?” I was like, “This guy is fucking with me”. I just wanted 50 Cent. He was like, “You didn’t hear last night? Benzino dropped the diss record”. I had not heard it. I missed it. So everything led to having that moment. Then Interscope pulled all the advertisements from The Source and gave it to us, which empowered us to go on the run that we began.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
