I am not the type who listens to music which MTV plays, more and more rap. Most of the rap lyrics and videos (at least the commercial ones) are about women portrayed as sex objects, money, gold, gangs, and guns. At the end of the day these guys are not to blame, especially when considering that most of them hail from a country that eats war for breakfast and excrements criminals in the evening.
But Eminem was and is different. From the beginning of his successful career, he captured my attention. I don’t specifically like his music genre, but I like some of his singles. It is quite impressive how he stormed to success, and I must admit that his lyrics are great. Initially my thought was “ah, it’s another angry rapper!”, but I was wrong, really wrong! Most of his lyrics speak about the sad reality that he and the world is facing, and to be more precise, the reality which hurts. Sometimes I thought he is exaggerating, but lately I decided to sit down and watch his biography, and now I can understand and see why he writes like that. P.S. It is worth watching till the last second.
Just for what he has been through in his life, even before being well known all around the world, was enough to gain my respect. Being raised in a difficult, poor and broken down family, it is amazing how he managed to get through all that. But if you think that is all he’s been through, then you haven’t heard it all. He started competing in freestyle rap battles, while in Detroit. Keep in mind that both the hip hop / rap industry and Detroit are all dominated by African Americans, and Eminem is white. This is not a racist comment, and as a matter of fact this could have been vice versa, though it is normal, that it is very difficult for a person, irrelevant of colour and race to succeed in an industry which is dominated by another race. But even though this looked like an impossible task, his determination and talent allowed him to win the hearts and gain approval of the underground, African American hip hop audience.
Article comments
1 - a surprised reader
So let me get this straight...
Based in your closing statement, you don't know or care about hip hop - but you're damn proud that a white dude beat blacks at their own game.
There I said it, indeed.
2 - ur an idiot
@a surprised reader... more amazed and captivated than proud
3 - Octave Shaper
@a surprised reader; I am not proud that a white guy beat blacks. I just admire him for what he achieved thanks to his determination in an industry that does not belong to him. It could have been a black guy in a white industry, I would still admire him.
4 - a surprised reader
Many of the black hip hop artists who dominate the industry came from equally hard (or worse) backgrounds. Eminem, talented as he truly is, had a lot of help in the recording industry simply because he happens to he white (the obvious historical touchstone being Elvis Presley). I think eminem deserves mad props too. But folks like the Wu-Tang Clan didn't have the benefit of being white. Remember - ultimately the recording industry in general is white dominated. hell, even Dre knew Em would he a goldmine due to his skin tone. I know you say you don't care for the genre of hip hop. But if you appreciate Eminem for more than being white, you are sure to like some black artists too.
5 - Jordan Richardson
Going to have to agree with surprised here. I came into this article thinking the author would be "taking his hat off" for Eminem based on skill or cadence or rhyming talents or lyrical bravery or something actually related to the art, but this is basically an article on an outdated race issue that MAY have been relevant had it been written ten years ago.
6 - Richard
thats exact the same way i see eminem. im not really into hiphop but eminem's kinda different