To many of us, Eminem will always be one of the best rappers out there.
For many nineties kids, listening to Eminem was a huge part of growing up as we all worryingly bonded together while we rapped the lyrics of ‘Stan.’
And it’s hard to deny the impact that 51-year-old has had on rap music – with his multi-syllabic style and tongue-in-cheek schemes, he’s loved by many.
However it appears that Dr Umar Johnson doesn’t agree as the motivational speaker has argued that Eminem ‘can’t be considered the GOAT of rap’ because he’s white.
Dr Umar joined Joe Budden on his podcast, The Joe Budden Podcast, and ended up slipping into a passionate tirade about white people participating in Black culture.
Claiming that they can do it ‘as a hobby’, he went to say: “Eminem has all the privileges of a white male and all the privileges of being in the hip hop community, so we got to be careful about letting non-africans into our community.”
Budden, who has had some beef himself with the rapper, added: “I don’t like that,” before interjecting: “You don’t think Eminem is one of the greatest rappers of all time?”
To which Dr Umar said: “According to who?”
And Budden responded: “According to rap fans?”
Umar continues to share his opinion, further claiming to Budden that putting him at the top of the list is ‘white supremacy’.
He said: “No non-African can ever be the best of anything African.”
“It’s an insult to the ancestors. It’s an insult to the race and it’s an insult to every Black person.”
He then goes on to say that he could never go to Palestine or Israel and be the ‘best anything’ of their culture.
Adding: “So we have to stop naming non-African people as being the best of any aspect of our culture because it’s an insult.”
However, one of Budden’s co-star stepped in to ‘acknowledge that the talent is there’.
And this isn’t the first time that someone has made a similar claim.
Earlier this year, rapper Melle Mel said: “If you were talking about sales, he’s sold more than everybody. If you were talking about rhyme style, okay he [Eminem] got a rhyme style. But he’s white. He’s white.”
He then went on to question whether Eminem would have made it into the top five if he was Black, arguing that a Black musician who could ‘rhyme just as good as him is [number] 35’.
“[A rapper] that had records and all that? He’s 35. [Eminem’s] white.”
However, Eminem himself has also acknowledged this, adding that he was ‘absolutely a guest’ within hip hop culture.
He told KXNG Crooked: “I’m absolutely a guest. I never said I wasn’t. I never said I was king of anything, right?”
