news archives

December 29, 2003 - Renee Graham of the Boston Globe weighed in on the Eminem dispute with The Source magazine over his old recording making derogatory remarks about black women. Graham says, "Eminem has acknowledged the tape's veracity and has apologized. It's time to move on. Perhaps when The Source becomes as concerned with the state of rap music as with playing out a strange, personal vendetta with its own racist undertones, then the magazine may be more successful in exposing and ridding hip-hop of its corrupting influences." Read more.

December 25, 2003 - The Associated Press reports U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Lynch authorized The Source magazine to publish up to 20 seconds of material from two Eminem recordings. The magazine said it would enclose the CDs in its next issue. The judge said limited reproduction of the recording falls within the magazine's right to "fair use" of copyrighted material for the purpose of criticism. Read more.

December 25, 2003 - Eminem and Interscope Records are conducting a "witch hunt" to find out who in the rapper's camp stole three unfinished tracks for his next album and tried to sell them on eBay, music insiders tell The New York Post. "Eminem is in the studio right now doing his new album," our source said. "He has a very close-knit group of people he works with - he knows everybody who goes in and out of that studio. About a week and a half ago, somebody copied three unfinished raps onto CDs and tried to sell them on eBay." Read more.

December 25, 2003 - Jeannette Walls of MSNBC.com spoke with Eminem's rep as dubious reports of a gay romance spread on the web and British tabloids. "This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen," the rep e-mailed Walls. "We are not even gonna respond to it." Read more.

December 22, 2003 - Apparently the fictional account that appeared on a few rap music websites, incorrectly attributed to The Detroit News, have convinced British tabloid The People to report on the story today. The article states, "a 34-year-old fellow-Detroit dweller, who refuses to accept money for his revelations, has emerged with photos he claims show him with a young Eminem. And according to this guy's account to US papers, he and the previously openly homophobic Eminem had a passionate relationship 11 years ago." Read more.

December 22, 2003 - Josh Kun of the Boston Phoenix weighed in on the soundtrack to the documentary 'Tupac: Resurrection', and Eminem's contribution to the album. Kun says of 'One Day at a Time': "Eminem's 'duet' with Tupac obscures the latter's legacy of black radicalism in favor of Em's brand of white narcissism." Read more.

December 22, 2003 - An article on World Wide Connected is alleging that "a 34 year-old former Detroit resident, who asked to remain unnamed, yesterday admitted that he'd had a 'love affair' with the rapper 11 years ago." The article is listing The Detroit News as a source. A search of the newspaper's website indicates no such article exists. Check out the questionable account here.

December 15, 2003 - Anonymous writes "Last week, Eminem responded again to the racist accusations the Source is pointing out from the songs he recorded in his past. Today, the Source Magazine has released another statement regarding Eminem's second apology. The Source is still maintaining that the tapes were recorded in 1993, when Eminem was 21, not 16 as he claims. The Source is stating that the actual Maxell tape that Eminem recorded direct-to-tape on is model XL II – 90, lot # J1920322. The Maxell Corporation of America’s Technical Support Unit has confirmed that this tape was assembled October 19, 1992. Read more."

December 10, 2003 - Russell Simmons spoke with Vanessa E. Jones of the Boston Globe about the recent flak Eminem received over a tape that emerged from his teenage days, where he made racial remarks about black women. "I think he's honest when he makes his apology," Simmons says of Eminem. "He's made donations, some anonymously, to organizations that support African-American women! No one's aware of that. Do you tell them that? Is that a good excuse, a better indicator of who I am?" Read more.

December 10, 2003 - The Secret Service is planning to conduct an interview with Eminem, government sources tell the Drudge Report, after a new song by the artist appeared on the Internet -- a song that wished the "president dead." A well-placed government source directly involved in the matter said over the weekend, "We take all matters involving comments made about the death of a sitting president very seriously. This matter will be investigated fully, and I expect Mr. Mathers will be interviewed directly." Read more.

December 10, 2003 - Eminem's rep is fuming that lyrics the rapper sings on 'We As Americans' (note: the track can be found on KaZaA as 'We Are Americans' by artist 'A'), including the line he'd "rather see the president dead", were not necessarily going to be included on one of his CDs. "That was from an unfinished track that was lost or stolen," the rep told Jeannette Walls of MSNBC.com. "It was not anything we released, and may not have ever been released at all." Read more.

December 7, 2003 - It will be a battle pitting R&B/hip-hop against country for favorite male and female musical performer at the 30th People's Choice Awards. Country artist Tim McGraw will face rappers Eminem and 50 Cent in the male category, while Beyoncé will vie for the female honor against Faith Hill and Shania Twain. The awards will be broadcast live January 11th on CBS. Check out a complete list of nominees here.

December 7, 2003 - Grammy voters took notice of hip hop and R&B this year, doling out six nominations each to Destiny's Child star Beyonce Knowles, Jay-Z, OutKast and Pharrell Williams. Five nominations apiece went to Missy Elliott, Eminem, Evanescence, 50 Cent, Chad Hugo, Ricky Skaggs, Justin Timberlake, the ailing Luther Vandross and the late Warren Zevon. Check out an entire list of nominees here.

December 7, 2003 - EmR writes "MTV News reports that in his second statement on the matter, Eminem apologized Thursday (December 4) for an old freestyle in which he offensively disses black women saying the tape "in no way represents who I was then or who I am today. In becoming an adult, I've seen what hip-hop and rap music can do to touch millions of people. The music can be truly powerful, and it has helped improve race relations in a very real way. I want to use this negative attack on me as a positive opportunity to show that." Though Eminem's initial statement two weeks ago didn't feature the words "I'm sorry," this time he put forth a clear apology. "So while I think common sense tells you not to judge a man by what he may have said when he was a boy, I will say it straight up: I am sorry I said those things when I was 16. And I don't want to let anybody turn this into an opportunity to promote their own bullsh** agenda." Read more."

December 7, 2003 - A new shock song from rapper Eminem wishes the president dead, the Drudge Report has learned. On the track 'We As Americans', obtained by Drudge, Slim shockingly rants: "Fu** money. I don't rap for dead presidents. I'd rather see the president dead. It's never been said, but I set precedents and the standards and they can't stand it... We as Americans. Us as a citizen. We've got to protect ourselves..."

December 3, 2003 - SOHH.com caught up with Ja Rule for a Q&A where the rapper laid into 50 Cent, Eminem and Dr. Dre. "My thing is I don't really give a fu** about 50 or Eminem or Dr. Dre or any of them fu**in' clowns. I don't care about none of them. I don't want to be friends with them, I don't want to do records with these ni**as. Farrakhan asked me if I would sit down at a roundtable that he set for the betterment of hip-hop and the children. I said it would be disrespectful if I didn't sit at that table. So not saying that I don't want peace but peace is always a great thing but am I looking for peace? No. I'm looking for my kids to eat and continue what they doing. If Farrakhan can bring peace out of this situation that he would like to see, great. If not, we continue the war, we continue to fu**in' slaughter. It's nothing. But I would sit with Farrakhan and talk about the situation. For the kids and the sake of hip-hop. But for 50 and them I don't give a fu** about them. They can fall off of planet Earth. I don't give a fu**." Check out the interview transcript here.

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