Benzino is determined to continue his two-decade-plus beef with Eminem — and he knows exactly how to do it.
When speaking to TMZ over the weekend, Zino said that he was ready to go three rounds in a rap battle with Slim Shady.
“It’s not necessarily where I thought that I was lyrically better than Eminem. But at this point, after ‘Rap Elvis,’ I believe I could face-to-face battle with him, and I’m willing to do so,” he said.
“I’m willing to challenge him right here on TMZ, a face-to-face battle, three rounds. And I believe I could take him.”
Benzino admitted that when he and Em first squared off in the early aughts, he “probably wouldn’t have said” that he could beat Em face-to-face.
“But since then, I’ve mastered my craft and I’m in the best lyrical shape of my life and I’m ready to battle Eminem. And I think that would be great for Hip Hop,” he continued.
The Eminem/Benzino feud, which began in the early 2000s, was reignited at the beginning of this year when Em took some shots at the former Source magazine publisher on his song “Doomsday Pt. 2.”
Benzino then fired back with two songs of his own, “Vulturius” and the aforementioned “Rap Elvis.”
Despite claiming victory in their diss track battle, Zino appeared to backtrack during a tearful, alcohol-fueled Drink Champs interview, admitting he “doesn’t have nothing against Eminem.”
However, he resumed the fighting talk weeks later by saying he could defeat Em — and Joe Budden — in a boxing match.
The last of those incidents came during a recent Instagram Live, where the former Made Men rapper called out both Em and Budden and said he wanted to face them in the ring.
“50 [Cent] will fight Stevie J then I’ll fight Eminem. And then it would be the biggest pay-per-view celebrity boxing match in the history of the world,” he said.
“Sleeves and 50. Me and Eminem. It would be crazy. Put us on the undercard of Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. I need that to happen, y’all. I’ll fight Eminem. It’s 16 fucking ounce gloves. Like, come on. Them shits is damn near pillows.”
Benzino then suggested some potential match-ups for his imaginary boxing card: “Sleeves [Stevie J] and 50. My money on Sleeves all day. I know Sleeves will knock 50 out. I’ll knock Eminem out. 30 seconds into the round. Let’s just do it. Let’s get this bag. People want to see it.
“Shady and G-Unit versus the good guys. If you wanna throw Tony Yayo in there, we’ll get Peter Gunz. If you want to throw somebody else in, we’ll get Sisqo.”
He continued: “I would demolish him. I would beat the shit out of Eminem in a boxing match. There’s no question about it … I would love to fight Joe Budden. I’ll fight Joe Budden for free. I’ll do that for charity. I’ll break Joe Budden’s jaw for charity.”
