HipHopDX reports that in a recent episode of his “C’Mon Son!,” podcast and radio host Ed Lover took a firm stance against what he deemed unfair criticism of Eminem’s legacy by the controversial activist Dr. Umar. On his final episode of 2023 (Dec. 31), Lover questioned Dr. Umar’s qualifications and authority on hip-hop, asking, “Where did you get your doctorate? What makes you a doctor? And then, where did you come from, and what makes you an authority on hip-hop?”
The current backlash against Dr. Umar comes from the statement he made on the “Joe Budden Podcast” when asked if Eminem was one of the greatest rappers of all time. Dr. Umar replied, “No non-African can be the best at anything African, it is an insult to all the ancestors, and every race, and is an insult to any Black person.”
Lover defended Eminem’s place in hip-hop, emphasizing that the genre was inclusive and had influence worldwide. He stated, “Hip-hop might’ve been created by Black people, but the love of music, melodies, and rhymes have spread all over this world.”
Drawing parallels, Lover questioned the logic of excluding artists based on their race, saying, “That’s like saying [Big] Pun can’t be one of the greatest of all time because he’s not African American, ’cause he’s Puerto Rican; Fat Joe don’t deserve to be in hip-hop because he’s not African American. You weren’t there, Dr. Umar, respectively. You were not there.”
MC Shan, a member of the Juice Crew, also weighed in on Dr. Umar’s critique of Eminem. In an Instagram Live session, the rapper dismissed the racial aspect of the controversy, claiming that Dr. Umar is always playing the race card.
Shan refuted the notion that Eminem had unfairly exploited the rap game, highlighting the challenges the Detroit rapper faced. He stated, “Em wasn’t no rich muthaf—a that come and rob the rap game and step off. Em muthaf—in’ came in this muthafucka; he had more problems than any Black n-gga. His plate was just as f—ed up as some of us in the Black community.”
Shan asserted that if Dr. Umar refused to respect Eminem, it was his prerogative. “If you don’t wanna respect him, you do what you do, n-gga,” he concluded, adding that hip-hop and the Black community did not support Dr. Umar’s opinion of Eminem.
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