My thoughts on the criticism of Eminem's subject matter

[Devil'sAdvocate]

So Em is intentionally rapping about K-mart and McDonalds and what you consider white things? to show that hes white?

[Trimss]

I want to see Eminem rapping about Detroit and how poor and dangerous it is.
Not like "Welcome 2 Detroit City" but more like a Murder To Excellence track, basically just saying how the situation is fucked up and shit. But I don't think he will ever do that.

But I agree, Eminem can't talk about how he was hustling and b-balling when he was young, he barely references things black rappers mention like Basket Ball, and worst is that he loves it.

[Fleka]

This latest criticism is the most amusing of them all. As though there's something wrong with dissing talentless pop stars. MMLP-Eminem gets bashed for not going after "real lyricists"...newsflash: good lyricists don't give Eminem any reason to go after them. Eminem has been dissing terrible rappers/popstars because A) they suck, and deserve scorn, or B) they dissed him first.

I agree. Em dissed people that thought are wack and people that dissed him first. And that`s cool. And people act like he had to do somethimg like "Ok, N Sync suck, Moby is talking shit about me, Britney is garbage, Benzino sucks+talks shit about me but I will diss the fuck out of Jay Z or Nas. I admire them, but I need to diss them to be thug-gangsta.".

[_Hawk_]

He raps about what he wants to. I wouldn't call it middle class at all, it's actually more 'White Trash', epitomized by 'As the World Turns', for example. Stealing, hanging around with sluts, wanting to make it big, dreaming of success, having ridiculous stories...there's nothing middle class about it.

It's just not as shit as living like a poor black person (no racism intended).

[trinell05]

Hmm, I shop at Kmart and I occasionally eat at McDonalds. Fuck yes, I'm finally white. The people who get mad about Eminem rapping about "corny shit" are usually just jealous that they never thought to rap about those things before. Didn't Biggie rap about a Sega Genesis? Well, actually a Sega Genesis is better than Nintendo 64. Do y'all remember how fucked up the graphics were on The Rock's eyebrow on Nintendo 64?

What does make me upset is that Eminem hugged Justin Beiber. I mean, why? Hailie needs to quit tryin to fuck up his rep.

[WakeUpShow]

Em loves the genre, it wouldn't make sense for him to diss big guys like Nas and Jay-Z when he probably has all of their albums.

Even when a lyrical monster like Canibus was beefing with him, it seemed like...they both respected each other's skill as an emcee that they never went full out at one another. Especially since I think pre-famous Eminem used to say he was a fan of Canibus too.

give me an example

[WakeUpShow]

Em loves the genre, it wouldn't make sense for him to diss big guys like Nas and Jay-Z when he probably has all of their albums.

Even when a lyrical monster like Canibus was beefing with him, it seemed like...they both respected each other's skill as an emcee that they never went full out at one another. Especially since I think pre-famous Eminem used to say he was a fan of Canibus too.

give me an example

Of what? You'd be dumb to say Canibus doesn't focus a lot of rhymes. I'm not saying he's good He's a bland, boring "lyrical miracle" type of rapper.

what do you mean by "focus alot of rhymes"? I've never heard a clean cut, impressive multi from him. They are always a few syllables off and always a stretch.

[Norway kills]

Why all this focus on him mentioning K-Mart? I'm more worried about how this was the millionth time he said "parking lot".

[_Hawk_]

OK I've got you. And I completely agree as well (sorry for responding with such a simple post)

[Cube23]

what do you mean by "focus alot of rhymes"? I've never heard a clean cut, impressive multi from him. They are always a few syllables off and always a stretch.

You have got to be kidding me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUxHH1G6Do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXh_LlqETRM

Everyone stretches rhymes. That's an incredible stretch to try and deny his pure ability to rap. I don't listen to him very often because he doesn't make smooth or appealing music to the ear, but he is one of the best lyricists ever. I love Eminem, but I'd never deny the ability Canibus has.. because he is extremely talented.

Sorry for the bad quote. I'm an idiot.

[Willy]

Not even sure it's subconscious racism, maybe though. Eminem is on a pedestal because he is a superstar, and for some reason people expect him to live a more interesting life than they do. People don't want to hear about McDonalds or K-mart because coming from the biggest star on Earth those topics seem underwhelming, even if its just at surface value.. . which kind of makes it even more hilarious that he brings them up.

Or maybe its just musicians in general are not supposed to be that mundane. To the average listener it's really not about the execution, intent, or how well its written. It's about a hot beat and a catchy hook. They don't notice the tight rhymes fly by, but are able to catch "McDonalds" because it seems out of place with their established views on an artist's subject matter.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think you might be onto something. I don't think you've hit the nail on the head yet, or even close, but you're atleast holding a hammer. Rap music has always been portrayed as black music. A lot of guns, killing, drugs.... black people stuff. OK, all is well. Then you have this white dude come in, and its weird. But we accept him because this white dude is rapping about a lot of guns, killing, drugs... black people stuff. OK, we are pissed this guy is here, but whatever. Shit hits the fan though when this white dude stops rapping about black people stuff and mentions K-mart, hot-dogs, etc... It goes against everything we've learned thus far about hip hop, and because of years and years of being fed the same images about the music and culture, we react differently to it.

Especially today, when its so much easier to legitimately dislike Eminem, people don't need a good reason to shit on a song. They hear "K-mart", and start typing "Feminem fell off !@11!". Everyone else is saying basically the same thing, so they jump on that bandwagon without having a reason as to why referencing K mart is bad because: a) There isn't a good reason. and b) Other people will provide legitimate reasons as to why the song is bad for them.

Anyways I need to go to bed.

[Heffernan]

I want to see Eminem rapping about Detroit and how poor and dangerous it is.

nah fuck that, id rather hear him talk about going to k-mart dressed like a cross-dressing mobster

in all seriousness if eminem made a song about how poor and fucked up detroit is..id be pissed..i listen to eminem becuase of the music he has made already..i know the artist eminem is thats why i like him...if he started rapping like common or nas...that would be a huge turn off

[Blu]

You know Amadeo, I never thought of it like that. But you're right. For his first three albums, he built this somewhat of a gangster image. By the time Relapse (I'm on mobile) came around, it was almost like he picked up a new distinctive sound and look. On Recovery he was no longer talking about being a thug!

Think you hit the nail on the head tbh.

[MikeNUFC]

The majority, though, dislike these references because, deep down, they know that Eminem is incredibly influential, and if the white guy raps about hot dogs/Walmart/K Mart, they foresee a future where rap is dominated by a bunch of white guys rapping about Playstations/computers/iPhones and typically "white guy stuff." And the "blackness" of the culture will have been diluted, which is an unfavourable outcome to racist people. Racist people made up of black purists and non-black people who are inversely discriminating and trying to balance the scales, as EminemInsider once put it.

TL;DR Eminem has become more stereotypically "white" in recent years, fashion-wise and lyrically, and there's a whole lot of racist backlash to this.

This is really interesting.

I think the reason he's become more stereotypically 'white' in recent years is because he's now so far dettached from his early life in Detroit. In his first few years in the mainstream he was still really close to his 'former life', so to speak, because of how quickly him blowing up had happened. His whole image and style then was a reflection of that.

This is why I think there's a backlash NOW when he raps about these things. His whole style/image then was so close to the 'ghetto' (for use of a better word) because he himself still felt close to it and it was what many saw hip-hop/rap as being about (keeping to your roots, or whatever). Now he's so dettached from that (which is bound to happen over time), and his lyrics reflect that, there's a fear that, because he's so popular, he has the power of moving hip-hop/rap away from what it was supposedly meant to be about, in a way.

Good topic.

[CrashBand]

Interesting topic and I agree with most of what you're saying.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the gist of it being:
-Hip hop was a part of the black culture
-it's moving away from that
-people are annoyed about this
-this is a form of discrimination

But there is still that fact that we are 'diluting' the original culture of something.

I can kind of see both sides of the coin. Like, just say there is an African tribal dance that is very sacred to a culture and it was 'westernized'. People are not going to like this because you are 'taking away' from the original culture.

Now is this a form of discrimination? Not wanting westerners to partake in this activity because perhaps unintentionally but ultimately they change it and 'dilute' the culture.

I think the pop star issue is slightly different in terms of 'purists' for anything probably aren't too fond of pop culture references regardless of race or class.