During the latest episode of Joe Budden’s The Joe Budden Podcast Dr. Umar “Ifatunde” Johnson, a staunch Pan-Africanist, motivational speaker, psychologist, activist and social media personality, talked about Eminem‘s status in hip-hop culture and said: “Let me say something to you. 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’s an insult to the race and it is an insult to every Black person. Do you think I can go to Palestine and be the best of anything of Palestinian culture? You never see that. You think I can go to Israel and be the best of anything in Israel whether it be a cook, an instrumentalist, a dancer? Hell no. We have to stop naming non-African people as being the best of any aspect in our cultural product because it’s an insult. I can acknowledge Eminem’s talent but for you to put him at the top, that’s white supremacy bro. I don’t see Eminem building schools and hospitals. I don’t see DJ Khaled building schools and hospitals.”
Later, Dr. Umar went live on his Instagram to clarify his words and defend himself from the backlash he received on social media.
“Let me say this. I have nothing personal against Eminem. My comments on the Joe Budden podcast had nothing to do with Mr. Marshall Mathers, personally. And I want Mr. Marshall Mathers to understand that Dr. Umar Ifatunde harbors no personal ill will towards you. This is not personal! This is business. Eminem, I want to hear me young man. This is not personal! This is business! You are a talented musician, lyricist, producer and you seem you are an ‘okay’ guy. You never done nothing to me. And you never done anything that I personally witnessed to be worthy of condemnation. So, my comments are not personal. They apply to any non-African. This is about the business! The business about protecting the integrity of African culture.” said Dr. Umar.
Then he continued: “I said my comments on the Joe Budden podcast was about the business! Not personal! The business of protecting the sacredness, authenticity and integrity of the African culture. I said that no non-African can ever be the best of anything in African culture. You can’t be the best cook of African food. You can’t be the best rapper of African hip-hop. You can’t be the best singer. You can’t be the best priest of African culture. Nothing we create can a non-African be the best at. I don’t even see how an African can come to the conclusion that a non-African can be the best at anything when we are the oldest people. We are the first people. So, when you say a non-African is better at X, Y and Z than a member of the race, you are saying that this person can do this better than two billion Africans on the planet.”
You can watch the entire thing below:
