Dr. Umar’s back with his hot take, saying Eminem can’t be the GOAT because he’s white. But now this motivational speaker goes with a torch after hip hop stars who support Marshall.
As usual, Dr Umar starts with a point nobody argues with — the hip hop roots are undoubtedly Black. But respect goes where respect’s due, and Eminem’s lyrical skills are undeniable. He’s earned his stripes in the game, battling his way to the top with raw talent and relentless flow. Not for Dr. Umar, though:
If you want to say he’s one of the greatest, make that argument, but you will not call him the GOAT of a Black cultural icon. You are not doing that! Our culture is our culture. We don’t share it. If you want to give people the privilege to participate, then they have participation privilege, but you can not be the face of something my people made. This is not only true for me, this is true for most groups. But because Black people suffer from post-traumatic slavery disease and we crave white validation more than oxygen, we are always looking to annoy some non-African as the face of something African people created. When I said Eminem can not be a GOAT, I never said he couldn’t rap. I never said he didn’t have talent. I simply said he can’t be the GOAT. No more than DJ Khaled could ever be considered as a DJ or producer cause you are not African.
When Dr. Umar came out swinging back then, rappers like Royce 5’9”, Mr. Porter, Swifty McVay, Kxng Crooked, Fat Joe, Chuck D, Ed Lover, MC Shan, Tony Yayo, Math Hoffa and more stepped up to bat for Eminem. These are not yes-men; they’re heavyweight champions in their own right, recognising true talent when they hear it. They’re all about celebrating hip-hop’s diversity, not gatekeeping it based on skin colour. But Dr. Umar looks upset not just by the fact that they do it but by the notion that they do it without being paid:
A lot of hip-hop artists took offence, they came out of the woodworks with their unlicensed law degrees. They served as Eminem’s expert lawyer and publicist to the black world, and they defended him better than Johnny Cochran defended OJ Simpson. Basically, they told me I had no right to speak on the topic because I’m not a rapper. I don’t have to be a drug dealer to speak about drug dealing. I don’t have to be a surgeon to speak on the racism that the Black suffer in the medical industry. I don’t have to be a rapper to speak on rap music, but as an African who grew up in hip-hop, as an African who partakes in hip-hop, as an African who is a safeguard of all African culture, I will speak on anything my people create and anything my people are affected by, and I’m just disappointed brother.
So-called gangster rappers took Eminem’s against your good brother Dr. Umar, and you know what bothered me the most? About all of these rappers defending Eminem without him even asking them to, without him even paying for them to do it, what offended me the most about it is I’ve never seen any of them defend black women the same way. Not one of these rappers who defended Eminem against me, I’ve never seen a single one of them defending black women as ferociously as they defended Eminem. What did I say earlier? Politically effeminate. Our gangsta rappers are politically effeminate. Our basketball players, NFL players, are politically effeminate. Whenever it comes to holding white people responsible for appropriating black culture, here comes the gangsta rappers to defend their white Jesus. It’s absolutely insane. Black celebrities never defend us. They never defend black America, but whenever white folks are offended by black people, they are the first people to pop up.
A passionate defender of a title Eminem never claimed to be his, Dr. Umar calls their position a hypocrisy. He mentions how Beyoncé got roasted for dipping into country music while Eminem got a free pass. Nobody has seen this free pass, and Marshall had his fair share of being blocked on the base of his skin colour, and he’s got roasted on the Internet all the time. But just as with Beyonce, his music speaks for itself and makes numbers regardless of media clout.
Dr. Umar may raise a valid point about cultural ownership. But there’s a difference between appreciating a culture and claiming it as your own. Hip hop has always embraced influences from other genres. Run-DMC sampled rock legends like Aerosmith, and that exchange is part of what makes hip hop so dynamic. Eminem respects hip hop’s roots, but he brings his own unique flavor to the table, pushing the boundaries of the genre. That’s what makes him so good.
The Art Of Dialogue YouTube channel specialises in posting interviews where some rappers challenge Eminem’s legacy. And now, when Shady’s new single, “Houdini”, conquers the charts and breaks records, all eyes are on Eminem, they will get more views than ever from this video. But the thing is, he does not care. He’s a hip hop legend who has earned the respect of his peers and fans alike. Doc Umar might have thrown some shade, but Eminem’s staying focused on what he does best: dropping fire rhymes.
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