Famous Detroit battle rapper Marv Won sat down with the Rap Grid podcast and shared memories of filming “8 Mile” and his reaction to Benzino’s diss.
He gracefully accepted praise for some of his old lines, but contributed impact more to the rich creative environment he worked within:
Detroit produces the most technical rappers. We’re the best technical rappers. You may not like the content, but technically, when you break down the words, we produce the best rappers.
How did Marv Won get involved in the “8 Mile” filming process? Did he know that he was destined to play such a significant role in the plot? No, he says. That was truly a place where all Detroit rappers came together.
We were all extras. When people my age or older from the city say, “Yo, Em didn’t do enough”, it doesn’t sit well with me. Because if you were a rapper at that time, you were an extra in that movie. You legitimately got a check from Eminem. No matter how big or how small, you got a check from him. And you got three square meals a day from that nigga. That’s a lot. I was an extra. They knew everybody were rappers. They were trying to keep the morale up in the city. On the set, they wanted to do a contest just for B-roll footage. Just so you can see yourself and be like, oh, shit, that’s me. They just had rappers rap. That was really easy for me. I was amongst our peers. I knew everybody there. And it just so happens that by the grace of god, I was one of the people they picked. I’m always grateful to Eminem, to Paul Rosenberg, to Curtis Hanson, to everybody who was involved in picking what they chose to sell the DVDs. ‘Cause it’s literally changed my life. It legitimately changed my life. You never catch me saying a bad word about Eminem.
Marv says he doesn’t like talking much about t time, not to give an impression that time has stopped for him with the “8 Mile” premiere. He has done incredible things in his career as a battle rapper, an artist, and an actor. Still, nothing can change how grateful he is for that experience.
It made a host to draw Marv’s attention to a recent Benzino’s diss and how Marv’s name was thrown in there:
Last time you battled, shit was like 22 years ago, vs Marv Won,
What was the outcome of that match-up? Marv won.
Marv was bewildered to hear that. Just like Icewear Vezzo, another Detroit rapper Benzino tried to drag into his war, Marv is not having it. He also doesn’t think that Benzino wrote these lines himself:
Who the fuck wrote this? This man has no idea who I am. Who the fuck wrote that? Even if [Eminem] clearly lost a battle to me, he’s won in life. He’s won the war. So it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t fucking matter. And two, you’ll never get me in any kind of form going against my fucking friend. Whether it’s for your recognition or not. If that’s the case, I’ll scream from the mountaintop that I lost. You’ll never be the person to say I won the battle. That’s my legitimate friend. Don’t try to weaponise me against my friend.
Now, when the audience, and Benzino most of all, awaits Marshall’s next move, does Marv think that Eminem will respond with a new diss? No, the Detroit veteran has no reason to believe so:
I think Em is counting money. Respectfully, why would you pour gas on a fire that’s dying out? That’s what a response would be. It wouldn’t make sense to me. Competitive-wise, I get it. But I feel like for the greater good, the bigger picture, it wouldn’t make sense.
Watch the video below:
