Running Head: Beautiful Me and You
Beautiful Me and You
Leticia Zavala
Texas A&M University of Corpus Christi
Autor Note
This paper was prepared for English 1301 taught by English Instructor Felicia Cain Dziadek
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Running Head: Beautiful Me and You
Abstract
You don’t know me and I don’t you so don’t judge me. Eminem’s song “Beautiful” sets
this point straight out to everyone. Within his lyrics he sets examples of allegories, repetitive
phrases, and rhyme to get this message to the audience. Setting this situations by his own
personal experience giving us a better understanding about the message he is conveying, which
is to stay to true to ourselves no matter what people think or say about us. Also, he wants for us
to feel his pain as he will feel our pain just to view life from his perspective.
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Running Head: Beautiful Me and You
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We all face obstacles that sometimes seem as if we will never escape, as a consequence,
of the stress we committee the wrong decisions, but that doesn’t give the right for people to
judge upon us. Nobody can tell you who you are, how much you are worth, nor how you should
live your life, if they don’t know what your situation is, but yourself. Eminem, a famous
American rapper, who had a rough childhood, has made the wrong choices for his life, but even
though he made mistakes he still succeed in his life, however, people judge him without knowing
how hard it was for him to become the famous American rapper he his till this day. Eminem
wrote a song titled “Beautiful” based on how people judge without knowing the problems that
people face in their life, which sets that we should stay true to ourselves, and not let anyone bring
us down no matter what we are beautiful (Peekir, Meaning of the song “Beautiful,” 2011). The
song sets meaningful messages about judgment and how we should appreciate who we are, and
also how he has experienced all this in his own life. Eminem is not trying to persuade only young
people or just his fans, instead he is illustrating to everyone that judging with ignorance is
blocking the beautiful of others. We should acknowledge that what each and every one of us
have been through strenuous situations in order to be where we are right now; proving that we
should always stay true to ourselves as he did to himself. In his song “Beautiful” Eminem opens
up his feelings pointing out that life is not easy, and that judging people with knowing their
background is vicious; supporting it with credibility by his own life experience in his song lyrics
containing repetitive phrases, allegories and rhyme.
Eminem’s song “Beautiful” reflects back on his life as a rapper. He makes himself the
target rather than telling someone’s love or life story. He hates himself for being famous and not
having his fans understand the pain that the circumstances are bringing in into his life. He feels
that his fans are judging upon his fame, money, and luxuries while not taking in consideration
Running Head: Beautiful Me and You
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the fact that he’s being separated from his family, the forceful demands that his career requires of
him, and all the down sides that being famous brings. This track is revolving the idea of selfinspiration and becoming comfortable with one’s self life. No matter the judgment we have to
stay true to ourselves and take the pain that life brings in just to test our strength (DeLine,
Culture Bully, 2009).
Eminem was inspired by the situation and pain he was facing at the moment when he
was in rehab. He found the inspiration within himself to sit and write the song “Beautiful” which
has become one of his best works. Eminem was interviewed by Jason, a writer for the website
rapbasement.com, on May 12, 2009 and was asked about his song “Beautiful” and this is what he
said, “There’s only one song on the record that I produced. It’s a track called ‘Beautiful,’ and one
of the only reasons that I put that track on there is that I feel like it’s the best song out that batch
that I did when I wasn’t sober. At the time I felt like, ‘This is it for me.’ I wrote the first verse
and a half in rehab, and when I came out, I finished it. It was the only song that marks that period
without bringing me back to that place,” (Eminem, Rap Basement, 2009).
Composition theorists Grant- Davie explains rhetorical situation to be, “An activity, an
event, or a situation rhetorical when it’s shaped by language or communication that tries to get
people to do something. It is necessary to understand the motivation of the people who generate
it” (Grant- Davie, 2011). The rhetorical situation suited by Eminem in his song “Beautiful” is
that people judge others without having knowledge of their pas life, therefore, people ignore the
pain that one might have of have been through. Eminem makes this point clear he says, “Feel
your pain, you feel mine, go inside each other’s minds,” this phrase shows that we all go through
situations that cause pain and people don’t realize it, thinking that someone who has fame has
happiness granted. Meanwhile, Eminem is showing us that money and fame does not grant
Running Head: Beautiful Me and You
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happiness, because his in the position of having all that but lacking happiness. He points out in
the verse of his song “I’m just so fucking depressed I just can’t seem to get out this slump”
(Beautiful, Eminem, 2008). This emphasizes the pain he is going through as a result of fame in
which he is seen as a role model where he is criticized if he makes mistakes. We all judge and
criticize people in the first few seconds we meet someone making wrong conclusions and them,
and to stay true to ourselves. What Eminem wants for us to do is to stop judging people by first
impression, and give them an opportunity to show us how beautiful they are. This message is
implied to everyone because we all see and say without knowing the true facts or circumstances
of a person’s life.
Eminem is one of the most popular and recognized music figures in the world. “Using his
biting wit incredible skill to vent on everything from his unhappy childhood to his contempt for
the mainstream media, his success became the biggest crossover success the genre had seen since
Dre’s solo debut seven years earlier. The controversy over his lyrics was the best publicity any
could musician could offer,” (Biography of Eminem) Eminem is aware of where his standing in
the rap history, and he knows that nobody can take his place when says, “I’ll be one tough act to
follow” (Eminem, Beautiful, 2008). Even though he’s a famous rapper he has a problem with
drugs which he is struggling to overcome when Eminem writes his first verse for his song
“Beautiful” while he was in rehab (Jason, Rap Basement, 2009). This makes his song
“Beautiful” credible to the audience since it was written based on his real life personal
experience as a human being. Most of his songs are based on his real life experience for example
“Cleanin’ out my closet” told about his dysfunctional childhood and his hatred towards his
mother (Biography of Eminem). And “Beautiful” is no exception his states the pain his going
through in rehab. Since he was young he faced harsh situations with his mother. Through his
Running Head: Beautiful Me and You
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music is that Eminem gets to open up and express his thoughts about his life for us to understand
his position and pain as well.
The chorus of the song “Don’t let them say you ain’t beautiful/ they can all get fucked,
just stay true to you” (Eminem, Beautiful, 2008) states that that the message is for everyone in
general. That same phrase also means that we shouldn’t put ourselves down when someone
judges us the wrong way and that we shouldn’t let anybody run over us and stomp on us. We
should comprehend that we should appreciate who we are and respect who others are. The
purpose of Eminem’s song is that it wants us, as the listeners, to walk in his shoes to see things
from his perspective, and not to be curl when judging him or when judging someone else.
The usage of allegories throughout the song sets logos (appeal to reason bring logic) and
gives us a better understanding of the rhetorical situation Eminem is giving us. An allegory is an
extended metaphor throughout the entire so that objects, persons, and actions in the text are
equated with meaning that lie outside the text (Silva Rhetoricae, 2007). The allegories that
Eminem uses in his lyrics are “In my shoes” and “Look at shit through each other’s eyes”
(Eminem, Beautiful, 2011). Eminem sets the “shoes” as his position in life and the way he
perceives life. The other allegory is “shit” which is the situation, the problem in which we go
through, and people don’t understand that we all face problems that cause pain maybe not as
much as one another. The pathos (appeal to emotion) expressed by this two allegories established
by the artist is to be comprehensive with each other’s life and not judge without having actual
facts of someone’s, or without understanding someone’s “shoes” and “shit.”
Eminem’s repetitive phrases are the main points of the song and key points of live as
well. The repetition of a phrase is unifying device in the poetry, and is an effective literary
Running Head: Beautiful Me and You
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device that may bring comfort, suggest order, or add special meaning to a piece of literature
(Literary Terms, 1998). “Don’t let them say you ain’t beautiful/ they can all get fucked, just stay
true to you” (Eminem, Beautiful, 2008). This phrase has a strong motivation upon us considering
that Eminem never gave up on his rapping career. We should always stay true to ourselves as
Eminem did with his music. Another phrase that he repeats is “Feel your pain, you feel mine, go
inside each other’s minds,” (Eminem, Beautiful, 2008) which indicates that he is willing to feel
our pain and we feel his pain. In order for us to understand that we are not the only ones who are
going through problems, and that our pain is not more or less painful then his.
“Beautiful” contains rhyme in the lyrics, “But I need that spark to get psyched back up, in
order to pick the mic back up” (Eminem, Beautiful, 2008). Eminem in this line illustrates with
his own life experience that he needs motivation to continue his life and doing what he knows
best rap. Rhyme connects gratefully with the rhythm and beat of the song. There were no special
instruments used for the beats of the song; just Eminem’s voice with some smooth beats makes
this song pleasurable to listen to. If this song would have been written in a different genre and
about someone one’s life it wouldn’t of had the same impact on people as it did the way Eminem
wrote it.
With the messages that Eminem is trying to display, within the lyrics of his song, many
discourse communities have been motivated to stay true to themselves and never give up. In the
first verse he says, “I took my bruises, took my lumps, fell down and I got right back up”
(Eminem, Beautiful, 2008) flourish that his life is difficult, regardless of his pain he has to
continue moving on with his life. For instance, Eminem was in rehab struggling with drug
addiction problems but that didn’t stop him from writing music, on the contrary, this situation
gave him strength and the opportunity to write about his feelings. People in rehab, prisoners, ill
Running Head: Beautiful Me and You
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people, and everyone who is going through some type of struggle, or like Eminem says “shit”,
connect with this song and feel motivated to overcome their “shit.”
Eminem gifted us with a song explain his pain, not telling us about another love story, but
giving us a little about his life and his perspective of life. I personally love this song because it
opens up our eyes into reality by applying a famous person on issues that common people face.
This song demonstrates that even famous, rich, and role models go through situations where
people point their fingers at them, and this cannot be stopped by offering money to people. It
also encourages me to not let anyone judge me without knowing my “shit,” or the “shoes” I’m
wearing. I am beautiful no matter how other judge me because that’s how God made me, and I
have to wear the “shoes” he gave me to walk through this life.
Running Head: Beautiful Me and You
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References
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DeLine, c. (2009, May 8).
Culture Bully
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