During his most recent interview with DJ Vlad, Tony Yayo recalled an unfortunate public reaction to G-Unit’s work with Eminem. Moreover, the rapper explained that a lot of people weren’t happy with the group’s embrace of a white MC. Of course, those conversations are still present in today’s hip-hop debates, even among legends of the genre. Still, during his remarks, Yayo defended the Detroit legend’s lyrical skill, his influence, and all that he did for the group during their peak. In addition, he spoke briefly on his relationship with Benzino and how hip-hop media outlets contributed to that backlash.

“We even got called house n***as for f***ing with Eminem,” Tony Yayo recalled. “The Source, they would take it to a whole ‘nother level. That’s when the disrespect for me was like, well damn, what does color have to do with anything with music? What does color have to do with anything with people? I don’t care what color or religion you are. That’s just me. We from New York. It’s a melting pot of people. We grew up around all kinds of people, so I don’t give a f**k what color you are. I don’t look at you as a culture vulture ’cause you white. That could be somebody else’s opinion. It’s not mine. Melle Mel said something about Eminem. He did more for me, him and 50, than anybody has ever done in my career.

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Tony Yayo Recalls G-Unit Getting Backlash For Working With Eminem

“Till the day it’s all said and done, I’ma shout-out Eminem,” Tony Yayo continued. “But everybody always blow shots at Eminem. He wouldn’t be on [Billboard‘s top 50 greatest rappers of all time] list if he wasn’t a f***ing lyrical tyrant. If he wasn’t f***ing nice with it, they wouldn’t be mad at him.” During a XXL op-ed in 2022, Marshall Mathers (or Slim Shady) reflected on these themes, as well. “When things started happening for me, I was getting a lot of heat, being a white rapper, and XXL wrote something about that,” he revealed. “I remember going to one of those newsstands in New York when the magazine had just started out, and I bought that and a couple of other rap magazines. I flipped to the last page first and XXL was dissing me. What the f**k?

“I don’t even know if I read the whole article,” he continued. “I was used to reading things like that about me, but it hurt because I felt they didn’t know me to make that kind of judgment. Coming up, I had to deal with that a lot. I wanted to be respectful because what I do is Black music. I knew I was coming into it as a guest in the house. And XXL, The Source, Rap Pages and VIBE were Hip Hop bibles at the time. I understood, at the same time, everybody’s perception of a white guy coming into Hip Hop and all of a sudden things start happening for him. So, if XXL would’ve even had a conversation with me, maybe they would’ve understood me more.” For more news and the latest updates on Tony Yayo and Eminem, stay up to date on HNHH.