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Revolutionizing Rap Culture

Marshall Bruce Mathers III, who is more commonly known by his stage name Eminem,
is regarded as one of the best rappers in the 21st century and well respected throughout the rap
community. He acts black to fit in with the rest of the crowd regardless of the fact that he is a
white man. Compiling evidence from interviews, YouTube music videos, and articles regarding
race and rap, this paper discusses the similarities and differences between a popular white rapper,
Eminem, and other black rappers. The appropriation of black culture by white communities has
been a common subject of interest in history; this paper will instead, examine the acceptance of a
white artist like Eminem into the black dominated rap culture.
During Eminems early career, there have been many moments in which he was deemed
as a racist. There are many writers out there for music magazines and other sources that
continued to pick at Eminems writings and call him out as a racist. Eminem grew up in Detroit,
Michigan, where he was surrounded with African Americans. Some of his best friends were
black including Chaos Kid who defended him when articles were published stating that Eminem
was racist. Chaos Kid defended one article written by The Source that was making accusations
that Eminems choice of lyrics was racist. Chaos Kid stated that his [Eminems] words were
manipulated and facts contorted to fit The Sources motives and that the lyrics were
intentionally misguided. He says their purpose was to be as goofy/stupid/ignorant/wack as
possible (Patel). Growing up in a black community did not make Eminem ignorant as he, along
with Chaos Kid, Proof , Champtown, Manix and DJ Buttafingaz, formed a group known as Soul
Intent, which consisted of Eminem, the only white kid, and the rest, all black. At the onset of his
career, Eminem was abused by the media, which made him look bad in his own community.
However, Eminem did come out publicly to apologize for his remarks towards black women.
There was a lot of complaint towards Eminem that his lyrics in a specific unpublished song were

slander towards black women in particular as seen on a YouTube video (Young Eminem Racist
Lost Tapes). Eminem states that the lyrics in no way represents who I was then or who I am
today. In becoming an adult, Ive seen what hip-hop and rap music can do to touch millions of
people. The music can be truly powerful, and it has helped improve race relations in a very real
way. I want to use this negative attack on me as a positive opportunity to show that (Patel).
This was in 2003 when Eminem was still young and an early time in his career. However young,
he realized what he represented in this media world: a white man who is trying to be accepted
into a rap culture dominated by blacks. His lyrics towards black women are racist if listened to,
but his intentions were satirical, as he had hoped to shine light on the racist remarks that other
black rappers make constantly towards women. Also, he had hoped to move the public to
understand that he is just as good as other black rappers who degrade women constantly in their
songs.
Moving forward to the era of more music videos, Eminems music videos share many
aspects that are similar to music videos made by other black rappers as well as differences. For
example, take Eminems personal music video for his song, Not Afraid, which has over 600
million views (Not Afraid). In this music video, he represents strength and rising up. He is
standing on top of a skyscraper and is rapping about being whom he wants to be and to take a
stand up against all who appose. He also asks for others to take his hand and take the same stand
that he taking. This music video, along with many of his other videos, represents growth and
maturity. However, this music video was made in 2010 when he had much more maturity in his
career. Other famous black hip hop and rap musicians like Kanye West at the time also showed
very sophisticated and mature music videos. In his song, Runaway, the music video shows ballet
dancers and talks about identifying self-flaws (Runaway). Moreover, this shows that rappers are
all following the trend of motivating and clean music videos. In the past, as seen in the

beginning of Dr. Dres I Need A Doctor music video, which shows many stereotypical black acts,
black rappers showed explicit images of guns, violence and women (I Need A Doctor).
However, Eminems early music videos like, The Real Slim Shady, did not fashion such images
(The Real Slim Shady). Much less refined and more course than his later on music videos like
Not Afraid, Eminem still never showed such images but instead rapped about standing up for
himself and self-praise and showed images of himself rapping with very subtle backgrounds.
Other rappers of his time like 50 Cent and his music video for his song, In Da Club, shows
multiple images of black women in scandalous clothing (In Da Club). His music video shows
women in a very sexualized notion whereas Eminem does no such thing. Fast forwarding to the
later 2000s, many black rappers such as Kanye adopted Eminems fashion of music videos and
cleaned them up dramatically with only a few music videos still being explicit. Slowly, it seems
as though Eminem has impacted the rap culture and in a sense cleaned it up.
Lastly, articles that examine roles of women fans show another difference between
Eminem and other black rappers in general. Guillermo examines the misogyny, violence, and
negotiation of white-owned space in his article. Guillermo points out what many people
constantly see in these hip hop and rap scenes/ music videos: misogyny. Reflecting back to
Eminems early days, when he was deemed as a racist, he was actually being satirical as stated
earlier in this paper and attempted to reform the misogyny associated with the scene. He
attempted to change the scene right from the get-go. Also, reflecting back on his statement in
which he states that he understands the impact of his music, Eminem obviously knew that he
would have the power to change the community. Through his lyrics and his ability, he gained the
respect of other rappers around him and soon, the violence and the mistreatment of women
slowly started dissipating from the scene. Although Guillermo does not appoint Eminem as part
of the change of the scene, Eminem showed great maturity and was a great role model to aspiring

rappers; he changed the industry to what Guillermo was talking about to a much cleaner
community (Rebollo-Gil). Weekes also investigated the roles of women in this industry by
probing at why Black women negotiate the spaces created for them within [hip hop] and
question why they continue to listen to, enjoy, and actively promote songs which portray them
ambiguously (Weekes). By question such things, it brings up the fact that women, no matter
how subjected by men in this industry, they still enjoy the music; however, Eminem shows
respect for women as he is married and has a child, which he dedicates his tattoos towards.
Eminem in this sense is also changing the industry to having more respect for women. Lastly,
Cecelia wrote an article on a show called Ego Trips (White) Rapper Show which was a show
dedicated to finding the next big white rap artist. She questioned the authenticity of the rappers
and the show as it did not have authentic feel of the genre. By stating so, she indirectly states
that rap must have a specific feeling only a black artist can procure (Cutler). However, Eminem
grew up with guys of color all around him and so, is not necessarily regarded as a white rapper.
There is no notion to point out that he is any different than other rappers due to color while this
show specifically is using color as a defining point for being a good rapper. In the reading by
Wang, he points out that before YouTube, many Asians were perceived as quiet and shy in a
sense. However, after YouTube became more and more popular, Asian artists like David Choi
and Jennifer Chung became discovered and Asians became seen in more of a creative and
outgoing light than just being overall timid (Wang). Although Eminems breakthrough did not
come through YouTube, their stories are very similar. David Choi, Jennifer Chung, and other
Asians on YouTube showed the world that there should not be any predisposition on Asians
either. Eminem changed the way critics and regular every day fans will view new upcoming

white rap artists. There will no longer be any predestined judgments towards the fact that this
new rapper is white
Overall, through Eminems career, he has been accepted into the community of black
rappers and is regarded as one of the best rappers of this generation. From being regarded as a
racist in his early career and coming out of that as a satirical genius who changes the way we see
other rappers and their treatment towards women, to unintentionally changing the way fans feel
about a rapper being white, Eminem has revolutionized the world of rap culture. Eminem has
been the face of white rappers and with his successful career, has grown acceptance and respect
from rappers white and black, changing the way the worldviews the rap community. And finally,
in another top hit called Stan, Eminem portrays a fan, named Stan that idealizes Eminem.
Eminem shows that belief in oneself brings one a long way; he proves self-love and motivation
bring great outcomes (Sandvoss).

Works Cited
50 Cent. "In Da Club." YouTube. YouTube, 16 June 2009. Web. 12 Sept. 2015
Cutler, Cecelia. "'She's so Hood' Ghetto Authenticity on the White Rapper Show." Web.
Dr. Dre. "I Need A Doctor." YouTube. YouTube, 24 February 2011. Web. 12 Sept. 2015
Eminem. "Not Afraid." YouTube. YouTube, 4 June 2010. Web. 12 Sept. 2015
Eminem. "The Real Slim Shady." YouTube. YouTube, 15 Sept. 2010. Web. 12 Sept. 2015
Patel, Joseph. "Eminem Apologizes For Old Track That Dissed Black Women." Music
TeleVision., 4 Dec. 2003. Web.
Rebollo-Gil, G. and Moras, A. (2012), Black Women and Black Men in Hip Hop Music:
Misogyny, Violence and the Negotiation of (White-Owned) Space. The Journal of Popular
Culture, 45: 118132. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5931.2011.00898.x
Sandvoss, Cornel. "Fans: The Mirror of Consumption." Google Books. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.

Wang, Grace. 2015. A Love Song to YouTube: Celebrity and Fandom Online. In Soundtracks
of Asia America. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. Pp 101-142
Weekes, Debbie. "Where My Girls At? Black Girls and the Construction of the Sexual." Web.
West, Kanye. "Runaway." YouTube. YouTube, 21 October 2010. Web. 12 Sept. 2015
"Young Eminem Racist Lost Tapes." YouTube. YouTube, 1 July 2012. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.

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