Benzino

Benzino may be a rapper, but he's far better known for his disrepute, in particular the discredit he brought to The Source, once the leading rap music magazine. No stranger to controversy, Benzino was long plagued by scandal, from a 1992 incident with the Boston police that drove Tommy Boy Records to drop his group the Almighty RSO from its recording contract on account of "One in the Chamba" (a "Cop Killer" knockoff); to his partnership with David Mays, co-owner of The Source, which he used to promote himself and his music associates in the pages of the magazine; to his relentless attack on Eminem and, by extension, Interscope Records in the name of racism; to his eventual termination from The Source by its board of directors in 2006 and the lawsuits that followed. Given all of the controversy associated with Benzino, his rap career was often written off as irrelevant, a mere byproduct of the power he held as an executive at The Source. Yet while his disrepute did in fact inflict irreversible harm upon his music career, especially his credibility, Benzino was a persistent rapper: no matter how many times his recordings failed to inspire a viable following, and consequently a major label that would continue to support him in the face of anemic sales and mounting controversy, he doggedly kept rapping and kept recording new albums, regardless of whether or not they fell upon deaf ears. Originally known as Raydog (aka Ray Dogg), the Boston rapper/producer (born Ray Scott on October 24, 1965) began his rap career as part of the group Almighty RSO (i.e., Roxbury Street Organization, Real Strong Organization, Rock Sh*t On, Ray Scott Organization -- take your pick). Comprised also of DJ Deff Jeff, Tony Rhome, and E-Devious, the Almighty RSO made their recording debut in 1986...