Benzino says he regrets beefing with Eminem and taking extremely personal shots at the rapper's daughter Hailie.
Perhaps one of the most volatile and highly publicized Hip Hop feuds of the past decade occurred betweenBenzino and Eminem. Now, in a recent video interview with Global Grind TV, Benzino reflects on his verbal back-and-forth with the Detroit emcee.
Benzino said that in that era, he felt untouchable because of his position as CEO and co-owner of The Source. As a result, he had no qualms about publishing content disparaging Em or even threatening Em's daughter Hailie on a song. But now, 10 years removed, Benzino says that he regrets taking their beef to such a personal level, and would apologize to the Shady Records impresario if he ever got the chance.
"When the Eminem situation happened, I was just on top and I didn't have to answer to nobody," he said. "When you're on top and even with a lot of people in New York [and] even with labels, you still have to answer to somebody. Me and Dave [Mays, co-founder] was [at The Source], and at that point, I wanted to prove to everybody like, 'Listen, I'm the one running this here and I can do this without reservation'…it was a mistake for me getting involved in the situation with Eminem."
He added, "The Eminem thing started getting uglier and uglier, and of course I can take responsibility for some of the stuff I said as far as directly towards his family, you know, really personal shots. It was out of order. I believe some of the stuff that he said was out of order also, but at the end of the day, it's all fair in war…if I could do it over again, I definitely would. Eminem was and still is a major force. Hip Hop has brought cultures together - Asian, Latino, Black, White - and I should have been more responsible…[If I met him today] first I'd want to apologize for the Hailie references."