Grotesque, Demeaning, Yet Mean
A white rapper streams out and bust rhymes as sweat drips down his face. He thrusts his hands in a gangster rhythm and jumps viciously forwards and backwards as his face snarls with intimidation. The audience bounces along to the beat and listens word for word as the lyrics continuously burn over and over in their minds. This is the music created by Eminem, also known as Slim Shady, real name Marshall Mathers. Deep entrenched in Eminem's performance styles and values lays his disapproval of society's ignorance toward the violence of man; therefore, he strives to bring attention to violence by being vividly explicit in hopes of prevention. What makes him unique is the controversy that encompasses his music and image. The critics label Eminem as a white male exploiting the misery of the world and vividly drawing pictures of crime, rape, and racial and homosexual hatred to the virgin ears of the youth. His fans and other music moguls view Eminem as having explicit realism in his messages. Those messages are ironically mixed with fantasy in order to bring attention to the crazy actions of imbalanced people and events that have been deemed taboo in the world today. Eminem's music expresses a rage against a world that does not care
or "joke" about the inhuman intentions of man or the violent and mentally depressed individuals who haunt the world today. "I'm like a head trip to listen to / cause I'm only givin you things you joke about with your friends inside your living room / The only difference is I got the balls to say it / in front of y'all and I don't gotta be false or sugarcoated at all"("The Real Slim Shady"). Eminem's rebuttal in the criticism that he is too violently explicit is that what he is saying in his lyrics are real because people do have evil intentions, and he doesn't have to be nice and "sugarcoated" in expressing it. "You have the right to remain violent and start wilin'/ Start a fight with the same guy that was smart eyin' you /Get in your car, start it and start drivin'/ Over the island and cause a 42 car pile-up" ("Drug Ballad"). This excerpt is about how drinking and driving can make a person end up driving over an "island" and cause a "42 car pile-up." Critics would say this is crude and disgusting to advocate how fun it is to be drunk and "have the right to remain violent." Overall, many people can die from the "42 car pile-up" and there is no justice in starting fights. The main picture that the critics miss is Eminem's talent in his witty use of words to convey irony such as, "the right to remain violent." It is humor in subconsciously thinking of the phrase, "the right to remain silent," which is attributed to the police. The irony of "violent" in place of the "silent" shocks the audience into thinking: does one have any right to remain violent and drink and drive, and if it is, the result will be death in a "42 car pile up." Eminem reaches out to the world by bringing out violence and hatred in his music to bring attention to these issues. The critics misinterpret the explicitness as advocacy in those actions, and blame Eminem for the ongoing corruption of the youth. The way he describes himself as the adversary to the public makes him an attractive choice to blame upon the world's ongoing violence. "My nose is pointy / I'm the bad guy who makes fun of people that die / in plane crashes and laughs / As long as it ain't happened to him" ("Criminal"). The critics do nothing but find a scapegoat for blaming and the real problems are ignored. Eminem is c
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Approximate Word count = 1532
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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