Benzino was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a Cape Verdean and German mother and a Puerto Rican and African American father. Along with his longtime friend, David Mays, Benzino is a principal of the hip hop magazine The Source, which was launched in 1988 as a single-sheet newsletter out of Mays' Harvard University dorm room. Benzino has said one of the primary inspirations to enter the genre of rap stems from his fondness of the film Wild Style. Benzino was a founding member of rap groups the Almighty RSO and Made Men. He has appeared on the reality television show , since 2012. He has also dated Karlie Redd and Althea Heart. On March 29, 2014, Benzino was shot in the shoulder and back by his nephew Gai Scott. The shooting took place in the town of Duxbury, Massachusetts, at his mother's funeral.
Benzino is known for being involved since 2003 in a widely publicized feud with rapper Eminem, since Benzino called him "2003 Vanilla Ice". The pair have created diss tracks about each other, including Benzino's "Pull Your Skirt Up" and "Die Another Day" and Eminem's "The Sauce" and "Nail in the Coffin". As a continuation of this animosity between the two, Benzino released a diss mixtape Benzino Presents: Die Another Day: Flawless Victory, disparaging Eminem.
Personal life
Benzino considered Edward DeJesus to be his father figure, especially in the duration of DeJesus's incarceration. Benzino's siblings include his sister Maureen, who took up medicine to become a medical doctor. His other sister, Anita Scott-Wilson, studied veterinarian medicine at the Tuskegee Institute for a nine-year period, in order to receive her master's degree. Benzino and Althea Heart had a son together in November 2015, but they broke off their engagement shortly thereafter. They appeared together on Season 6 of the television showMarriage Boot Camp chronicling their broken relationship. On June 22, 2019, Benzino was arrested for a bench warrant. Benzino was taken to police headquarters for booking and was jailed. As he was taken to jail, he launched a racial tirade against the Vietnamese-Americanpolice officer arresting him that included epithets like "pork-fried rice face", "gook", "chink", "wetback", "spic" "midget" and "slanty-eyed", along with calling the officer's mother a "gook bitch", and saying that "we should have killed all of you in Vietnam" and "can't you open your eyes?"
