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Ed Lover has issued his take on the debate sparked by Dr. Umar Johnson questioning Eminem’s place in Hip-Hop, asking about the speaker’s own credentials.
Veteran Hip-Hop media personality Ed Lover has not only challenged Dr. Umar Johnson’s recent comments on Eminem only being relevant in Hip-Hop due to “white supremacy” during his appearance on Joe Budden’s podcast, but he also called the motivational speaker’s background into question. He did so on his C’mon Son podcast Sunday (Dec. 31), the last episode for 2023, by saying, “Dr. Umar, please. Please. What I want to know is, where did you get your doctorate?”
“What makes you a doctor? And then, where did you come from and what makes you a[n] authority on Hip-Hop, Ed Lover said before adding, “Now Eminem don’t need Dr. Umar to tell him he’s one of the greatest of all time because we’ve already said it. Hip-Hop is for everybody. Hip-Hop might’ve been created by Black people, but the love of music, melodies, and rhymes have spread all over this world.”
The former YO! MTV Raps host continued with his point. “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.” Ed Lover closed by referring to his resume. “I wasn’t even there in the very very beginning of Hip-Hop. I got on in ’89, I was able to show these videos and help spread the gospel of Hip-Hop across the globe, I am highly respected, way more than you, Dr. Umar.”
Dr. Umar’s comments have caused a stir with other notable figures in the culture, with MC Shan himself calling the often-controversial speaker out in a 13-minute video that was posted to YouTube. “You just make everything a race thing, n—a,” he began. “Everything ain’t no fuckin’ race thing. Eminem — muthafucka, you know that n—a nice. Em deserves a m———n’ slot in this game,” he stated.
