Eminem to release a new track against the Source

A lyrical salvo fired by Eminem, seemingly toward rapper and The Source magazine co-founder Benzino, leaked onto the Internet over the weekend.

The song, called “Bully,” would appear to be retaliation for Benzino’s public unveiling last week of a 15-year-old Eminem freestyle in which the white rapper used offensive lyrics in describing black women (see “The Source Digs Up Tape Of Eminem Using Racial Slurs”).

The song, however, is 6 months old, according to Eminem’s people, and was never released officially or otherwise. That would put the track’s production around the timeline of the last Benzino/Eminem mixtape flare-up when Benzino fired off tracks like “Pull Ya Skirt Up” and Eminem responded with cuts like “The Sauce” and “Nail in the Coffin.” Em’s spokespeople said the rapper and his camp had nothing to do with the leak.

The lyrics of “Bully” — or at least the parts that were leaked — aren’t particularly scathing, and Benzino is never called out by name. Em begins by speaking from the perspective of his target, saying, “It’s my right to insist that he acknowledges my existence, but he just displays complete lack of respect.” Then he adds, “That’s what he says to himself as he uses magazines to trash me/ As he sits with both his feet up at his desk/ Smokes a bag of his weed/ And starts imagining things/ And he just can’t see that he’s manically depressed.”

Over a simple keyboard and drum beat and with Eminem half-singing his lyrics, he continues elsewhere with the lines “And it’s destroying him slowly/ ‘Cause he does not even know me/ Even though he sees me everywhere he goes/ So he tortures himself/ He has no fortune and wealth/ So he extorts someone else to get his dough.”

Meanwhile, Benzino issued a statement on Monday (November 24) calling Russell Simmons’ defense of Eminem through his Hip-Hop Summit Action Network “irresponsible.” Last week, Simmons’ group called Eminem’s tape “regrettable” but accepted his “sincere and forthright” apology. Benzino’s statement implied that Simmons has a conflict of interest since both he and Eminem report to the same corporate parent, Vivendi Universal. He called Simmons’ opinion “not impartial.”

Benzino also used the occasion to resign from the board of directors of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.