Melle Mel doesn’t doubt Eminem’s ability on the mic, but he believes he wouldn’t be ranked as high if it weren’t for the colour of his skin.
The topic came up while discussing Billboard’s recent list of the Top 50 Rappers of All Time, on which Eminem ranked fifth.
Melle Mel, who’s No. 48 on the list, began: “Obviously he’s a capable rapper. If you was talking about sales, he’s sold more than everybody. If you were talking about rhyme style, okay he got a rhyme style. But he’s white. He’s white!
“So now if Eminem was another n-gga like all the rest of us, would he be Top 5 on that list when a n-gga that could rhyme just as good as him is 35? That had records and all that? He’s 35. He’s white.”
He continued: “And anybody could be as mad … They could feel how they wanna feel. If you don’t think that race plays a part in the equation of how great he is — I heard one of the dudes that’s down with him, Royce Da 6’9″ [mislabelling Royce Da 5’9″] or one of those – I heard he’s just as good as Eminem. Why he ain’t as big as Eminem? Because he’s Black! Ain’t none of that shit hard to figure out. Eminem gets a top spot because he’s white.”
Future is who landed at No. 35 on Billboard‘s list, but it’s unclear if Mel was directly referring to him or picked an arbitrary number.