- Grandmaster Melle Mel, the lead rapper & lyricist for the seminal hip hop group Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, has been in the news lately for his comments about Eminem.
- During an interview with Art of Dialogue, he claimed that Em was only rated as a top five rapper because he is white. He called out Billboard and Vibe magazine for ranking these rappers above a number of other rappers who are weighted in by fewer fans and more established figures.
- He issued a follow-up statement saying, “Melle Mel has nothing against nobody in Hip-Hop. I’ve been in Hip-Hop for 40 years, very competitive. I really have nothing against nobody. I’m not jealous by nobody. I’m not intimidated by anybody or anything, and I’m not bitter. I just come across as I come across ’cause I’m a man, and I say what I say. And when I say what I say, I say what I say.”
- I have nothing against nobody, no MCs. I have nothing against anybody. Now what gives Billboard magazine or anybody the credentials put that out is beyond me. And whoever wrote the list, I think he should step forward to try to clarify his rational and his justification of putting out such a list. Everything that I said, that I commented on, it was a comment on what he wrote and who he put on this said list,” he continued.