A heated clash led to a psychologist attacking Eminem for his "White male" privileges, insisting that they prevent him from being the greatest rapper of all time.
Dr. Umar Johnson, a self-proclaimed "Pan-Afrikanist," appeared on "The Joe Budden Podcast," hosted by rapper Joe Budden. During the episode, Johnson vehemently attacked non-Black rappers for taking part in the hip-hop community, citing Eminem as an example.
"One of the issues I have [is] with the fact that we let non-Africans participate in our culture so much. They can do so as a hobby because whenever they want to take off their n-gga suit, they can put their White privilege suit right back on and pick up the privileges they had before they made the rap album," Johnson said.
Raising his voice, he continued, "Eminem has all the privileges of a White male, and the privileges of being in the hip-hop community. So we got to be careful about letting non-Africans come into our community, benefit or participate in our culture when they get to leave at the end of the night. Jane Elliott can leave at the end of the night."
Budden interrupted to ask, "You don’t think Eminem is one of the best rappers of all time?"
"Let me say something to you," Johnsoon shot back. "And this is going to my African fundamentalism. No non-African can ever be the best of anything African. It is an insult to the ancestors, it is an insult to the race, and it is an insult to every Black person," Johnson answered. "Do you think I could go to Palestine and be the best anything of Palestinian culture? You never see that. You think I could go to Israel and be the best of anything in Israel, whether it be a cook, an instrumentalist, a dancer — hell no."
Budden and his other guests tried to intervene, but Johnson continued to shout over them.
"Stay with me, now. Let me finish this. We got to stop naming non-African people as being the best of any aspect of our cultural power because it is an insult. It is an insult," Johnson said.
He added, "For you to put him at the top, that’s White supremacy, bro! That’s White supremacy!"
Johnson also accused Eminem of not giving back to the Black community, remarking that he doesn’t see the rapper "building schools and hospitals." However, Eminem previously knelt in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement during his half-time performance at the Super Bowl LVI in 2022.
"No non-African can be the best anything in my race just like I can’t be in theirs. And that’s the way it should be," Johnson concluded.
