Benzino full interview, Part 1: Benzino opens up about selling drugs at 13, heroin addiction, Boston mob ties, Whitey Bulger and surviving Boston’s streets.
In this HipHopIsReal and Know The Game Podcast conversation, Benzino reveals the childhood and street history that shaped his journey to RSO, The Source magazine and hip-hop history.
Long before the fame, television appearances and internet controversies, Benzino says his father introduced him to Boston’s street life while he was still a child. He explains how he began selling drugs around 12–13 years old, grew up around organized-crime figures and carried messages connected to members of Boston and Rhode Island’s criminal underworld.
Benzino also discusses his father’s alleged shootout with Whitey Bulger, his family’s connections to Boston mob figures and the dangerous environment surrounding his childhood in Roxbury, Dorchester and Four Corners.
In one of the most personal moments of the interview, Benzino reflects on beginning to use drugs at an early age and later becoming addicted to heroin. He explains how the addiction progressed, why many of the people around him never survived and how his mother, hip hop and his own determination helped him change direction.
Benzino discusses:
• Selling drugs at only 13 years old
• How his father introduced him to the street life
• Growing up in Roxbury, Dorchester and Four Corners
• His family’s Boston mob connections
• His father’s alleged shootout with Whitey Bulger
• His personal battle with heroin addiction
• Losing friends to addiction and street violence
• His connections to figures associated with the Shower Posse and YBI
• Knowing people connected to the true story that inspired In Too Deep
• Surviving Boston street wars and multiple shootings
• Being shot while traveling to his mother’s funeral
• Experiencing racism and aggressive policing in Boston
• Using street money to purchase music equipment
• Organizing block parties and bringing New York hip-hop culture to Boston
• Forming RSO and helping build Boston’s early hip-hop movement
• His journey toward The Source magazine and the music industry
• His memories of Black Rob and one of his final performances
• Why internet criticism does not match the love he receives in real life
• Why peace, family, freedom and time now mean more than money
Benzino explains that hip hop gave his ambition another purpose. He invested in speakers, generators, equipment and neighborhood block parties, helping create the foundation that eventually took him from Boston’s streets into the music industry.
This Part 1 interview is a personal and documentary-style reflection on childhood, addiction recovery, survival, family and hip-hop history. It does not promote or glorify drug use, violence or criminal activity.
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💬 COMMENT BELOW: What surprised you most—Benzino selling drugs at 13, his father’s influence, the heroin addiction, the Whitey Bulger story or the Boston mob connections?
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