Eminem’s Brand of White, Male Anger In 2018
To be a female Hip-hop fan is to live like Rihanna in that song “Love on the Brain.” On the one hand, this male-dominated genre figuratively beats women black and blue with its hyper-masculine and misogynistic sentiments. But damn if it doesn’t also pleasure them good with dope bars, creativity, and poignant social commentary. Last Friday, Eminem sneak-dropped his Kamikaze album on music platforms. For Em stans, Kamikaze was a much-appreciated return to the rapper’s previous genius. However, for women, the album affirmed a long-known truth — Eminem hates the fuck out of them.
While this sentiment was sprinkled throughout the album’s 13 tracks, it was most strongly felt on the 5th track, “Normal.” A brilliant, if not also angry and ugly song, Marshall laid bare the same violently hateful feeling he still carries for the opposite sex. To his credit, he made a bare-minimum attempt at accountability by first asking a question women likely already knew the answer to — maybe it’s something about me? And to truly pin this self-reflective metaphor on the nose, Marshall also threw in a mirror reference for good measure.
With that weak attempt at accountability put aside, Em then launched into bars that give new meaning to misogyny and #WhiteMaleAnger. Throughout the track, Em paints vivid images of a cheating ex-lover he is stuck in an abusive…
