Introduction
Many rappers commend Eminem for his clear pronunciation, complex rhyming style, and the very good word playing skill. In the music industry, he was labeled as the most successful white rapper due to his awards and music sales. Eminem has also been subjected to many debates weather he has a positive or negative influence for the issues of gender, race and class. Many politicians and other celebrities also despised him because of his violent words, corruption of youth, misogyny, homophobia and other allegations. However, there are also critics that value his influence and contributions to the world of Hip Hop. Most of the people value his representational tactics and unique style of influencing his intended audience about the negative side of racism, homophobia and class struggles.
Marshall Bruce Mathers III, or also known as Eminem or Slim Shady, entered dramatically into the Hip Hop world in the 1990s (Rux 15). He started to sing songs about himself such as “The real slim shady” and “My name is” creating an image that could make him a celebrity from the usual audience of the Hip Hop genre. He started to win awards and creating an image of an idol by singing about himself as a lifting an unusual problem such as the songs “Cleaning out my closet” and “8 mile” (Rux 20). The objective of this essay is to analyze the influence of Marshall Bruce Mathers III or Slim Shady or Eminem to the issues of gender, race and class. This essay also opts to analyze how he influences the world of Hip Hop in his emergence in the 1990s.
Gender
His attitude towards the gender issues such as misogyny and homophobia could be one of the most prominent allegations towards his career as a rapper. In counting the predetermined keywords in his early songs, it could be observed that he denotes homophobia and misogyny. In his song “Criminal”, there is a lyrics that says “My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge, That'll stab you in the head, whether you're a fag or lez, Or the homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-vest, Pants or dress—hate fags? The answer's 'yes”. It constantly denotes hatting any kind of homosexuals. However, there could be other interpretations for his lyrical and word style. The interpretation could change if the analyst could add irony and hyperbole in the evaluation of his songs (Velde 1).
One critic can simply put allegations to Eminem if the analyst only accepts the predetermined words in the lyrics and his way or style of rapping. However, most critics also used his songs to allow different views about a moral issue. One example of this moral issue is the music video of the song “Cleaning out my closet.” In the music video, the important issue of domestic violence was depicted (Eminem, np). It could be observed that what is revealed in the video is not important but it is what is concealed that is really matters. Eminem is one of the singers that influence the notion that everyone could be a victim of the domestic violence. Most of the critics despised him as biased against women at homosexuals, but what really is important is that he opens the minds of people about the negative effects of some important issues (Velde 2).
Race
Eminem influence in the Hip Hop world is very important since the industry is dominated mostly by blacks. He got his popularity to the world because he is white and he gains the respect of the blacks due to his collaborations with the respectable African Americans rappers and celebrity. One of his techniques in influencing the equality in the race is his representational scheme in the music industry. He uses different aura in his music to distinctly separate him in his art to his real life (Dawkins 470).
When his aura is the stage name “Slim Shady”, he pertains his negation and exclusion of himself to the world of Hip Hop. His target audience is the different racial groups which he wants to unite in one art or genre. The example of his songs is “The real Slim Shady” with lyrics “20 million white rappers emerge”. When his pertains to his real name Marshall Bruce Mathers III, his target audience is the mainstream audience which is mostly whites. On the other hand, he uses his songs to promote battle for equality in his songs when he pertains to himself as Eminem. Examples of these songs are the “8 mile” and “The way I am” (Dawkins 471).
The class struggle was characterized in his Movie “8 mile” where poverty and inequality becomes the reason for his violence and style. Class struggle is one issue that is very important to the singer since he always fought for it even in his emergence in the 1990s. One major influence that Eminem left in the music industry is the notion that everyone has a real “Slim Shady” within us. It means everyone has an alter ego which is sometimes bad but also sometimes good to a person (Osorio 70).
Works Cited:
Dawkins, Marcia. Close to the Edge: The Representational Tactics of Eminem. The Journal of Popular Culture. 2010. Print.
Osorio, Kim. The Real Slim Shady. The Source. 2004. Print.
Rux, Carl. Eminem: The New White Negro. New York: Harlem Moon Books. 2011. Print.
Velde, Jonas. From Liminal to Liminoid: Eminem’s Trickstering. The Journal of Popular Culture. 2007. Print
Eminem. Cleaning out my closet. 2002. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ9_TKayu9s.
