Who Is Coi Leray’s Dad, Benzino?

Coi Leray’s dad is Benzino, a popular record producer, and rapper. He is also very famous as one of the co-founders of the foremost hip-hop magazine named The Source.

Benzino ran The Source magazine for several years but eventually left in 2006. That departure also coincided with the demise of his marriage to Leray’s mom and this ultimately led to a fractured relationship with his daughter.

Coi Leray is now a fast-rising act in the rap world and she and her dad are trying to navigate their shared hip hop heritage. It hasn’t been easy though. Father and daughter have publicly beefed on social media with diss tracks and the likes. It however seems that they are now on the mend.

Summary of Benzino’s bio
  • Full name: Raymond Leon Scott
  • Nickname: Benzino
  • Gender: Male
  • Date of birth: 18th of July 1965
  • Benzino’s Age: 58
  • Ethnicity: African American
  • Nationality: American
  • Zodiac Sign: cancer
  • Sexual Orientation: straight
  • Religion: Christianity
  • Marital Status: divorced
  • Benzino’s Children: seven including rappers Coi Leray and Chavo
  • Benzino’s Parents: Mary Scott and Guy Scott
  • Siblings: Maureen Scott and Anita Scott-Wilson
  • Benzino’s Height in Inches: 5 feet 7 inches
  • Benzino’s Height in Centimetres: 170
  • Benzino’s Weight: 77 kg
  • Benzino’s Net worth: $1 million
  • Famous for: rapper, co-founder of The Source Magazine, and father of Coi Leray
  • Twitter: @iambenzino
  • Facebook: Benzino

Coi Leray’s Dad, Benzino, is a Rapper and Record Producer

Benzino’s real name is Raymond Leon Scott and he was born on the 18th of July 1965 in Boston. He has American nationality and African American ethnicity. He hails from a family of five which includes his late parents, Mary Scott and Guy Scott, as well as two sisters named Maureen Scott and Anita Scott-Wilson. Benzino grew up in Boston and commenced his hip-hop career as a founding member of the rap group, The Almighty RSO.

The group existed from 1986 to 1998 and dropped one studio album, Doomsday: Forever RSO, and one EP, Revenge of Da Badd Boyz. They also dropped other material and tasted moderate success before disbanding in 1998.

That same year, Benzino joined hands with some former members of Almighty RSO, as well as a new talent to form a new rap group known as Made Men. Made Men existed from 1998 to 2004 during which they dropped one album, Classic Limited Edition, which reached 61 on the Billboard 200.

He is Also a Reality TV Star and One of the Co-Founders of The Source Magazine

Asides from rap music, Coi Leray’s dad is also famous as one of the former co-owners of the iconic hip hop magazine – The Source. He was pivotal in turning the magazine into the world’s longest-running rap periodical. He later left the magazine in 2006 and has since founded Hip Hop Weekly, a Miami-based tabloid that covers rap music.

Benzino is also a reality TV star. He appeared on VH1’s Love and Hip Hop from 2012 and 2014. The series chronicled both his personal and professional lives but the former often stole the show. Benzino was in a relationship with rapper model and actress, Karlie Redd, in the first season and they even got engaged. They later broke up and he took back his ring. He later dated singer, Althea Hart. They even had a child together and got engaged but still did not get married.

Benzino’s Discography

Studio albums

  • Doomsday: Forever RSO (1996 – Almighty RSO)
  • Classic Limited Edition (1999 – Made Men)

EP

  • Revenge of Da Badd Boyz (1994 – Almighty RSO)

Who Are Coi Leray’s Parents?

Coi Leray’s parents include dad – Benzino, a popular rapper, record producer, and media proprietor. Her mom is an African American lady who once worked as a bartender. Sadly, beyond this, there are no details about Coi Leray’s mom, including her family background or hometown. Her name is also not available. She remains a mystery, although her famous daughter has alluded to her in interviews on several occasions. Her daughter has also paid her tribute on special occasions such as Mother’s Day and they remain close pals.

Coi Leray’s Parents Were Married For Several Years During Which They Had Six Kids Together

There are not many details on the marriage between Coi Leray’s parents but given her age, as well as her father’s age, it is reasonable to assume that her parents got married in the 80s. They stayed together for nearly two decades during which they went on to welcome a total of six kids, including five boys and one girl i.e. Coi Leray who was born in 1997.

At the time that Coi Leray was born, her father was already an established rapper. His magazine was also thriving and as such, she lived comfortably. This remained the situation for the first nine years of her life until her parents split.

Coi Leray
Coi Leray and her dad Image Source

The Couple Split in 2006 and Coi Leray Largely Grew Up with Her Mom

Coi Leray’s parents split after her father left The Source magazine in the year 2006. She was about nine years at that time and she primarily lived with her mom. Her dad tried his best to maintain an active presence in her life but things later soured to the extent that it has affected the relationship between father and daughter to date.

According to Leray, when her father left The Source, he squandered his wealth and couldn’t provide for her and her siblings. She had to drop out of school in the 10th grade to get a job and fend for herself. She and her mom and her siblings were also so poor that they had to depend on food stamps to get by.

These facts have been disputed by Coi Leray’s dad. According to Benzino, Coi Leray grew up in a mansion and had everything that she wanted. He claims that he regularly flew her out so that they could be together during holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, summer break, and spring break. He also refuted her claims that he went broke.

Coi Leray Dissed Her Dad in Her Hit 2021 Single – No More Parties

Despite the differences in account between Coi Leray and her dad about her formative years, one thing that is factual is that they had some form of relationship when she was growing up. He even allowed her to drop her initial rap singles on his YouTube channel, thus, kick-starting her career. As a result of this, they maintained amicable relations for several years and in 2020, Leray shared a picture of her dad and one of her brothers on Instagram and captioned it “My World”.

The underlying tension between father and daughter however burst open in 2021. Coi Leray granted a YouTube interview in which she famously made her allegation that her dad didn’t quite take care of her after he divorced her mom. She then followed it up by dropping her hit single, No More Parties, that same year. She took aim at her father in the lyrics, rapping “My daddy let me down, but I promise you I won’t let up”.

This Led to an Online Beef with Her Dad in Early 2021 But They Later Reconciled

Coi Leray’s dad was none too happy with her choice of words in her song and responded weeks later. He stated that he was there for her through thick and thin and maintained that she grew up comfortably. He also berated her for tarnishing his hard-won reputation for a storyline and attributed her actions to her mom. Coi Leray subsequently fired back in an Instagram live session and accused her father of being untruthful. She also stated that she was embarrassed to be his daughter.

This emotional outpouring triggered a strong response from her dad. He described her actions as most disrespectful and stated that he would not forgive nor forget the names she called him. He accused her of playing up the whole drama to satisfy fans, record label executives, and other forces of the music industry. He also blamed her mom as being one of the masterminds behind the whole thing.

Following that particular outburst, Coi Leray and her dad cooled off from each other for about a month and she subsequently took the path of peace by tweeting that “she loves her dad forever and always”. Her father initially rebuffed this peace offering by tweeting that fake love will make one hate love. He queried why the person that offended him would not pick up the same phone that she used to post stuff on the internet and call him and patch things up with him.

Despite this, they later reached out to each other privately and they chatted extensively. They were able to patch things up around April 2021 and her father took to his Instagram account to tell the world that the drama was over. He stated that he loved his daughter and apologized to her for the feeling that he wasn’t there when she needed him. He also accepted that he should indeed have been there for her and stated that he had no excuses.

Coi Leray and Her Dad Clashed After He Prematurely Announced Her Collabo with Nicki Minaj in 2022

The reconciliation between Coi Leray and her dad held true for several months but they later clashed again around March 2022. The beef between Coi Leray and her father this time around stemmed from the collaborative project that she had with superstar rapper – Nicki Minaj. Leray and Minaj had been working together on a hotly-anticipated single, Blick Blick, and as is normal in the industry, they kept it hush-hush.

Coi Leray hoped to announce it in a big way but her father stole her thunder by casually revealing in a clubhouse room in February 2022 that his daughter had a massive song coming out with Nicki Minaj. The leak upset both rappers involved. Coi Leray took to Instagram live to tell her dad to back off.

She told him that he had his time in the spotlight but that now was her turn. She, therefore, asked him to sit back and watch and applaud her rather than trying to basically steal her shine.

The whole thing also upset Nicki Minaj and she contemplated pulling the plug on the song. She even went ahead and declared in an Instagram story that she did not have any collaborative project coming up with anybody.

Nicki Minaj nearly lived up to her threat not to drop the single with Coi Leray anymore but she had a change of heart after a discussion with Leray. She felt bad that the young lady was denied the chance of announcing her big single in her own way and ultimately decided to go ahead with the project.

Coi Leray’s father also apologized for his role in the whole thing. He wrote on Instagram that he should have known better than breaking trust in a business where trust mattered. He stated that he did not mean to offend, disrespect, or otherwise do harm to anyone. The rapper accepted that he was 100% at fault and revealed that he felt horrible and sad. He thereafter promised that such a thing would not happen again.

This apology laid to rest the whole drama and when Blick Blick came out in March 2022, it lived up to its potential. The song charted in several countries, including Canada, the U.K., New Zealand, and South Africa. It also reached No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts with the video garnering 15 million views in its first month on YouTube.

Coi Leray’s Dad Allegedly Mocked the Low Sales of Her Debut Album

After the whole Nicki Minaj collabo drama died down, Coi Leray and her dad were embroiled in another controversy as a result of her debut album. The album, Trendsetter, was dropped on the 8th of April 2022 and in the lead-up, Coi Leray embarked on the customary media rounds to drum up support. One of her stops was the Breakfast Club Show in early April 2022 and she spoke passionately about her project. She also spoke about her dad and how they were broke in the past.

Her dad was obviously none too happy with this and texted her and her mom severally and allegedly threatened them. She was heartbroken by this and took to Twitter to tell him to back off. She berated him for the treatment that he had meted out to her and her mother and wondered why he was so bothered by the revelation that he was broken in the past. She wondered why he couldn’t be happy about her impending album release and congratulate her. She went on to describe him as bitter and evil and stated that she would be praying for him.

Coi Leray’s dad did not respond to this outburst publicly. This may have been borne out of the need to deescalate issues but the opposite ended up happening after the first-week sales figures for his daughter’s debut album came out. The album only sold about 11,000 units in its first week which many felt was disappointing. This figure was mocked by some quarters and one of those that allegedly joined in mocking Coi Leray was her dad.

He is alleged to have posted the sales figures on his Instagram page alongside some laughing emojis. He also went on to state that if Leray had a track with him, he would have listened. Many people criticized Benzino for mocking his own daughter, including singer, Tory Lanez, who wondered what sort of stuff that was. Benzino however came out with a terse statement, denying ever ridiculing his daughter.

He explained that he stopped using the particular Instagram handle in question about a year ago and lost his 1.3 million followers there. He stated that his old account must have been taken over by some nameless and faceless individual. The rapper threatened to sue anybody who defames his name and legacy. He went on to describe Leray as one of “the best things that I am” and stated that he was proud of her and her accomplishments.

 

Coi Leray’s dad subsequently went on to drop a new track on the 18th of April 2022. In that track, he paid tribute to his daughter stating “Coi, you know your daddy love you, love you love you”. Coi Leray is yet to respond to this latest episode of controversy with her dad but given his explanations as to his old Instagram account, as well as his latest song, there is hope to believe that the relationship between them is on the mend.

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