Alex Bowland
USEM Youth Culture
11-6-09
Eminem: The Real Deal
In the United States there are many different types of music, enjoyed by different types of
people. There is rap, club, rock, pop, and country to name a few of the many genres.
Many people strive to be authentic in all their music that they produce, but no genre does
a better job of keeping it real, than rap. In rap, there are three types of authenticity that
are evident in the music. The first kind is the concern of keeping true to oneself. Rap
exemplifies individuality in all of the music. The next kind is singing about location. In
rap music the artists definitely identifies their territory/city in their music. The last kind is
the question of whether the singer has proximity to the original source of rap. All these
are immensely evident in rap music. Rap has several sub-categories used to describe it
such as gangsta rap, alternative rap, or non-gangsta rap. The largest and most listened to
subcategory is gangsta rap. Of all the gangsta rappers, Eminem is by far the most popular.
Eminem is the most authentic when it comes to what he sings about compared to most of
the other rappers. He stays true to who he is, sings about what he wants to, and instead of
trying to hide the fact that he is white, he announces it to everyone and make it a unique
thing about him.
Most all rappers try to be authentic and true to themselves with all their songs. Most
rappers even believe that that the subject that they sing about is not as important as
staying true to who you are. The most common type of authenticity is “First person
authenticity” which is when artists successfully convey the impression that what they are
singing about is true. This is the type of authenticity that Eminem strives for. The
words/lyrics of the music really matter to Eminem, and some even say that he is obsessed
with staying real. In several songs, he sings about staying true to who you are and staying
real. It is really important to him and shows some of his authenticity as a rapper. In the
song Beautiful for instance, he sings:
“….So don't let 'em say you ain't beautiful
They can all get f**ked, just stay true to you…”
“…..God gave you shoes to fit you
So put 'em on and wear 'em
Be yourself man, be proud of who you are
Even if it sounds corny
Don't ever let anyone tell you you ain't beautiful..”
He is different then many other gangsta rappers in that for many other rappers their image
takes much more precedence over the words. Many of the other rappers sing about
money, expensive cars, large mansions and being the most popular compared to other
rappers. An example of someone trying to show off in some of these ways is Lil’ Wayne.
In his music he always seems to say at least a few times how rich he is. In Lil’ Wayne’s
song Shine for example he starts off the song by singing:
“…What, wha, wha, wha, wha
Cash Mo-ney Millionaires…”
“…Yellow Viper, yellow Hummer, Yellow Benz
Yellow PT Cruiser, yellow 'Lac on rims
Drop yellow 'Vette and a platinum Rolls Royce
That's seven different cars, everyday I got a choice…”
It is extremely important to other rappers that they make the impression that they have
great wealth. This is different then what Eminem believes where the lyrics “are the
vehicle for expressing self-identity and revealing personal truths” (Armstrong 337).
Eminem seems like he never sings about any wealth or owning expensive possessions.
He remains authentic and true to who he is, despite the fact that others are singing
differently.
In rap, staying true to who you are can be somewhat deceiving because most of the
gangsta rappers don’t actually commit the crimes, do the drugs, and act like what they rap
about. This is true about most rappers. They pretend like they are from a certain place,
and commit crimes, and treat people in a way that they don’t actually do in real life. They
want everyone to get the impression that they are street thugs, deal dope, and commit a
lot of crimes. According to several sources, the main consumer of gangsta rap music is
white people, and there have been studies that found that the more obscene and violent
the songs are, the more people buy them. When the original gangsta rappers began to
make their lyrics more obscene and violent, there was a large increase in the amount of
money that they brought in from their music. The nation’s largest consumer of rap today
is “white middle-class suburban teenagers” (Armstrong 336).
Even though Eminem also doesn’t do all the crimes that he sings about, he has
experienced most of these things. He grew up in a poor black housing project
neighborhood in Detroit, where he witnessed crime everyday. His mom was a welfare
recipient, and according to him, she did drugs. He never knew his father. He dropped out
of school after 9th grade, and until he got picked up by Dr. Dre, he was just working a day
job. Dre helped him by having Eminem work with him, and Eminem got to start
recording his songs through Dre’s studio, and Interscope Records. Also when Eminem
made the movie 8 mile, Dre was there at every step, approving or disapproving the
scenes. He has been very influential in Eminem’s success, and Eminem acknowledges
that he really helped him. He says: “Dre basically saved my life; my s**t was going
nowhere. Dre took me in” (Weiner 93).
Another important topic is that of Eminem being white in an industry where almost
everyone is black. At the time that Eminem started, black rappers outnumbered white
rappers 38 to 1 (“Discographies”). He proves his authenticity when he says that he is
white and does not try to pretend that he is black. He’s white, and he is fine with telling
everyone that. He even sings about him being white in several of his songs. In The Way I
Am he says:
“…And I just do not have the patience
To deal with this cocky Caucasians
Who think I'm some wigga who just tries to be black
Cause I talk with an accent and grab on my balls
So they always keep asking the same f**king questions
What school did I go to?
What hood I grew up in?
The why? The who, what?
When and where and the how? Till I'm grabbing my hair and I'm tearing it out
You've been driving me crazy…..”
Many black rappers have told Eminem that he should give up rap, because he is white,
but he still sings. They say that “rap is black life” (Baker 184), and that white boys can’t
rap. Eminem does say that the white factor still gets to him today. Many headlines of
articles about Eminem have also pointed out the fact that he is white, and he had got a lot
more publicity from the media. Instead of deemphasizing being white, he emphasizes it
and it defines who he is as a rapper. He says that he doesn’t make black music or white
music, he makes fight music. He has said that he hates anyone that disses him just
because he is white, and if they wanted to judge him, they should look at his music rather
than his race. There are other rappers that really like him such as Dre, and Ice-T. Dre
even said in an interview that he knows a lot of black people who think that Eminem is
tight. Even Kon-Artist, a man that worked with Eminem, said of him “That n***a ain’t
white. He got white in him, but he ain’t white” (Toure 70).
Another unique distinction that Eminem sings about in his music is that most of his lyrics
are extremely violent and glorifying crimes such as murder, rape, assault, and violent
misogyny. This makes him authentic and unique as he outdoes all the other gangsta
rappers in the amount of violence. For example, the total number of violent misogyny
that he sang about in all of his first 4 albums was 36. That meant that about 63% of the
songs that he sung contained some form of violent misogyny. This was more than the
titleholder of violent misogyny: The Baby Ghetto Boys. They sung about it 48 percent of
the time. They were nowhere near as successful as Eminem.
Another authentic and noticeable trait about Eminem is that he never says n****r in any
of his songs. Ever. In albums of his featuring other rappers, n****r will sometimes be
used by other rappers, but Eminem has never, and will never utter that word. In an
interview that he had with Rolling Stone, he says “That word is not even in my
vocabulary….And I do black music, so out of respect, why would I put that word in my
vocabulary?” (DeCurtis 18). In rap music the word is not usually liked to a certain race,
but instead to “streetwise, strong, hard black men” (Farley 142) They are usually people
who live in the city, and are living in poverty. Today the word has pretty much lost its
value, though, and many people use it interchangeably when talking about a person. Even
today though, Eminem refuses to say that word.
Eminem is a very unique and authentic person. He refuses to say n****r, sings about
whatever he wants to, including profuse amounts of violence and crime, and makes a
point of singing about his race in several songs. He is not into singing about image or
trying to sing to only a certain audience. His success speaks for itself. He is the biggest
selling rap artist (Hilburn), and the second most popular rap artist. He has sold 80 million
albums, second only to 2-Pac (who is no longer living). He starred in one movie already
(8 Mile), and will soon star in another move, the Shady Talez. All of Eminem’s albums
have won many awards. In 1999, Eminem’s first album, The Slim Shady LP won a
Grammy award for best rap album. Then in 2000, his Marshall Mathers LP became the
fastest selling rap album of all time, the fastest selling rap album by a solo artist, the
second fastest selling album of all time (Violanti). He also got a Grammy award for best
rap album. In 2000, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube went on a tour
together. The tour was the most successful rap tour in history. In 2001, the group that
Eminem was in (D-12; including Eminem, Bizarre, Kon Artis, and Swifty) made an
album that went to went to number 1 quickly. In 2002, Eminem’s The Eminem Show and
8 Mile Soundtrack also went to number 1 on the charts. The Billboard’s Hot 100 rated
Lose Yourself, a song on the 8 Mile soundtrack, number 1 for the last 9 weeks in
2002(“Charts”). Many people have even said that 2002 was “The year of Eminem”
(McCollum, Strauss). Eminem has become extremely popular, and is still making albums
He obviously knows what he is doing as he has become immensely successful in his
music. People like the authenticity that radiates through his music that he produces. He
stays true to who he is, cares about the lyrics that he is singing, and flaunts the fact that
he is a white rapper in an industry where most people are black. He has risen from a
rapper selling his albums out of the trunk of his car, to a rap superstar.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Edward G. “Eminem’s Construction of Authenticity.” Popular Music and
Society, Vol. 27, No. 3, 2004.
Baker, Houston A., Jr. “Handling ‘Crises’: Great Books, Rap Music, and the End of
Western Homogeneity (Reflections on the Humanities in America).” Callaloo 13.2
(1990): 173-94.
“Charts: The Billboard Hot 100.” Billboard 2 Nov. 2002-28, Dec. 2002, 25 Dec. 2002
DeCurtis, Anthony. “Eminem Hate Rhymes.” Rolling Stone 3 Aug. 2001.
“Discographies.” The Krib: On-Line Hip Hop Magazine. 5 Dec. 1998.
Farley, Jonathan D. “Players and Professors.” Essence Nov. 2000.
Hilburn, Robert. “Cover Story: Has He No Shame?” Los Angeles Times 14 May 2000
McCollum, Brian “Pop Music.” Detroit Free Press 22-23 Dec. 2002.
Strauss, Neil. “2002: The Year That Pop Lost Popularity.” New York Times 26 Dec.
2002.
Toure. [sic] “D-12.” Rolling Stone 15 Feb. 2001.
Violanti, Anthony. “The Rap on Eminem.” Buffalo News 7 June 2000.
Weiner, Chuck. Eminem: In His Own Words. London: Omnibus, 2001.