william smith
Sep 7, 2018 · 2 min read

This article is such a reach. Eminem grew up in an impoverished African-American community in Detroit. He went to school with black children. His best friend was black. This is a community he’s essentially grown up in and has shown tremendous respect towards. He’s done a lot of charitable work in the Detroit area and has given back to the same communities he grew up in. Music is no different than other forms of entertainment such as movies and books. Artists are able to create narratives, stories and characters. The Slim Shady character embodied shock rap and said some of the most outlandish things ever said on wax. Does that mean Eminem lives by those ideals in his everyday life? If a film director makes a movie and includes scenes that depict sexual violence or rape, do we hold that against him? For you to draw parallels between Trump’s sexual assault/misconduct allegations and Eminem’s depiction of women on songs is hugely irresponsible. Misogyny, gang violence and drug use are reoccurring themes in a majority of rappers’ music today. With the logic you use in this article, we should be holding every rapper accountable for this type of content since so much of it reflects what takes place in our society. Chicago has some of the worst gang violence in the country. Yet, there are a multitude of artists such as Chief Keef and Durk that glorify this in, an almost, braggadocios type of way. I don’t see any outrage over that. Eminem is probably one of the most gifted MCs rap music has ever seen, regardless of his color. If you know anything about his struggles to get heard and his life before getting signed to Dr Dre you’d understand that this isn’t an issue of whether or not he has white privilege. Does he get more attention from white consumers? Sure. But artists can’t control who listen to them. To speculate that perhaps the Charlottesville protestors may fit the profile of people who consume Eminem’s music is ridiculous. Nothing in that statement is rooted in fact and is an utterly, shameful reach.