Redemption

Benzino’s album would likely come and go without so much as a sniff from music fans if it weren’t for his talent for self-promotion. As publisher for the hip-hop magazine, The Source, Benzino (aka Raymond Scott) was frequently accused of leveraging coverage to big-name artists, in return for their appearances on his records. With his latest record, he flexes his promotional talents some more, taking a wack whack at the ever-public Eminem on “Pull Your Skirt Up” calling him “the 2003 Vanilla Ice,” among other more cutting insults. While the beef was obviously manufactured, Eminem seems genetically incapable of responding to any perceived slight, even if it means giving Benzino exactly the free publicity he was after. Unfortunately, good business sense is about the extent of Benzino’s talents. The rest of Redemption is mostly just tired bullshit about how tough he is and how hard he likes to party, backed with music nondescript enough to make the lyrics the unquestioned highlight.