Eminem's Effect on the Rap Genre - Essay Example

Eminem’s Effect on the Rap Genre Background of Eminem’s life Eminem’s full is Marshall Bruce Mathers III and he was born in 1972 in St. Joseph, Missouri. He has experienced a troubled childhood with only his mother Deborah Mathers. His father abandoned him when he was just a young boy and has never established contact with him ever since. Marshall Bruce Mathers III had no stable residence or schooling and had to relocate severally as her mother moved several places in search for employment. His mother had a problem maintaining job and this means that Eminem would keep changing job very frequently. In his biography and in one of his songs, Eminem holds that her mother was faulty in taking prescriptions which made her addicted to them that she could not secure a job. Eminem accessed her of psychical and emotional abuse while he was young. Her mother, however, denied those claims and filed a charge against her son for defamation. She demanded 10 million dollars as compensation from her son but the case was settled with $25,000. Eminem views her childhood as the roughest time he had to endure so many huddles in life. The traveling nature of his life and Changing of school would later affect his life and his character. Lack of stable environment means that he would not establish any friendship in his neighborhood as they would move before that could happen. He had no friends and was always alone in home and in school. Coming from a broken family, he had low self-esteem and would get beaten in school by the other kids. His performance in school was very poor and he always failed his exams. While in Lincoln High School in Warren, Michigan, he attempted to sit for the ninth grade exam where he failed three times until he gave up. As only a teenager, Eminem had developed a liking for the language ad even if he was not good at school work, he was good at English and he had a large stock of words in his vocabulary. His career Eminem was full of anger at the time he dropped school at 17 years of age only and would take to the streets where boys would compete to insult each other through hip hop rap. He viewed hip-hop as a very aggressive genre and it helped hi purge the anger he had because of his father’s abandonment and his mother’s mistreatment and also because of the maltreatment he had received from his peers in school. The English language proficiency he had mastered came in very handy as it enabled him to write good lyrics which helped him win the street competition. He was highly associated with the N.W.A. which was a crew of gangster rappers and they were very controversial in the rap industry. Eminem ventured into which was predominantly black people. Although he was white, he identified himself with this genre of music probably because of the life he had gone through which made him rough and aggressive like the hip hop and the African Americans. He was able to release his first rap album in 1996 which did not attract a very positive reception in the market due to low quality of the video. In 1997, he released The Slim Shady LP demo, which exposed his to the legendary rapper, Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre would then market the turning point of Eminem’s career as he became his producer ad helped him showcase his talent in the national and international markets. Under Dr. Dre, Eminem was able to release The Slim Shady LP in 1999 which was highly hyped and was very successful since that moment. In 2000, he released his second album which was equally successful but very controversial due to his aggressiveness and attack on the gay and the lesbian communities. Battling with his divorce and the custody battles of his daughter, Eminem would then fall into drugs addiction while still releasing new albums, go to rehab, relapse and then, he recovered later to record in eight album The Marshall Mathers LP 2, in 2013. This album was released during the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards (Sheffield, 2002). Effects of Eminem on the rap genre Despite his unending controversies in the hip hop industry, it is very evident that Eminem has been very influential in the rap genre. He is the first white rapper who has made it this big in the industry. Prior to Eminem’s entry into the hip hop industry, the rap genre was heavily occupied by the black pope while the whites specialized in other genres such as rock and others. Eminem was able to access entry into an industry where he was the only white rapper. He attracted a lot of attention in the market and his first album to be directed by Mr. Dre was very successful and he became the best-selling rapper in the industry. The attention given to Eminem in the market was largely influenced by his colour and also by his talent which was characterized by huge innovation and creativity. This made him to spark many changes in the rap music. The change that is seen as the revolution in the hip hop industry. For instance, he changed the perception that every rapper has to rap without a lot of big chains and a lot of show offs in gold and other accessories. His rap was plainly done is causal looks which made him appear simple while in the hip hop industry where complexity was very fashionable (Schiffman, and Teitelman, 2001). Eminem also changed the main themes which were popularized by the rap artists in the black community. They would rap alongside themes which touched on money, girls and cars. He has specialized in rapping about things which touch on lives of the common people and especially those in the low-income estates. His lack of many accessories, diamonds, chains and the plainness of his performing outfits makes him very close to the people he is performing to. furthermore, many people are able to identify themselves with the message he is sending across. Despite the controversies he has sparked with some of his raps, it is evident that the themes of his songs and based on the trending contemporary issues as opposed to bragging about cars, money and women while wearing excessive jewelry. His songs are able to express the deep true feeling due to his personality. His messages settle in the minds of many people as inspirations as some are very deep in meaning. The influence of Eminem on the rap music can also be associated with his colour of skin. Although the rap industry is popularized by the African Americans, Eminem has made diverse accomplishments in this genre and has continued to influence the nature of hip hop. His colour has served as an advantage in the industry especially considering that the whites are the biggest fans of rap music. The black Americans have specialized in producing rap music but there has not been a remarkable production of sales in the industry which have been supported by the black people. The black people rarely buy the rap music. That was an advantage for Eminem since he was going into a new genre which is culturally out of his pace yet he was confident and luckily, he got immense support from the white community making his album to perform very well in the market to become the best-selling rap artiste (Schiffman, and Teitelman, 2001). Eminem was influential in breaking racism and intolerance in the music industry by promoting working together of blacks and whites together. His contribution to the development of the rap genre has been great especially in his collaboration with the black people which has led to diversification of talents ion the industry. Mostly, the industry has been much enriched with his sophisticated rhyming style which adds taste and to the nature and from of art presented in his music. The richness of his rap can be associated with his upbringing. Although most of the people think that being white, he just rose into stardom with ease, Eminem has gone through the worst situation which are responsible for the type of lyrics he makes. His was poor upbringing from a broken family which led to his closeness with the African-Americans since he was young. Together with his love for the English language, Eminem has been able to compose the best rap songs with the greatest lyrical prowess which has earned him both industry respect and street credibility (Sheffield, 2002). Eminem gives confidence to the rap industry by standing alone in a rap song up to the end while rapping a foreign genre. Most people had called him a ’culture-thief’ though he could stand on his own feet and compose a song in the hip hop industry and hit the market. This was not the practice of many white people who wanted to work with the rap artistes but could not do it alone unless they collaborate. Eminem set the pace for other white rappers by growing his own roots in the industry. He does not need the credibility advanced by other established artistes in the industry. Eminem’s rap messages have been able to expose the situation of the white people who live in the ghettos, the situation which is highly associated with the black people. Throughout his music, Eminem talks about his family and about his mother and his neighborhood. Having come from a poor background, Eminem exposes the poor situation of other whites which are facing the same problems are the blacks are facing but the broader community does not expose this side of things. This has been very effective in bridging he gap between the blacks and the white since Eminem sings about the things they can identify which and also the poor white people who are not able to secure good jobs. This exposure was effectively taken as gospel and thus it changed many Americans perception about the myth of the American dream which is meant to protect the equality of all people in the country regardless of colour of rave. Eminem opened another perspective through which people could see issue from the main hosts rather than from political and propaganda mediums of politics. Eminem was able to expose the history of the black people, to the white people. With many people viewing Eminem as a person who has moved to another culture, most people’s curiosity grew as they wanted to know the history of the rap genre. The true rap loves continued to support Eminem as in the mainstream of the black culture as opposed to supporting him as white (McCrillis, 2003). The participation of Eminem in the rap industry has opened up the inquiries into the genre. This is because, before that, the whites were comfortable listening to rap from the black people but not a significant amount of people were interested in the genre with regards to exploration and research of the culture. Although the black had not done the research to improve the rap genre, they had a lot of experience in the industry since most of them had already specialized in rap. On the other hand, Eminem sparked new energy in the white community and aroused the interest of many young people to participate in the hip hop industry. This exposed the appreciation of the rap genre more by the white community although most of them were fun of black hip hop. Most of the fans conducted explorative appreciation which explored the genre in its artistic form which is very significant in this industry. This allows the connection of the white with the rap industry while viewing it as a domestic form of art which is very nearest to them instead of viewing it as a novelty form of entertainment which is only for the blacks’ this perception change by the white people has improved the enhancement of the rap genre in many parts of the white population (McCrillis, 2003). His rap provides a cultural bridge which builds a positive relationship of equality to both the whites and the blacks. Considering that Eminem has risen from the ground with his talent and career to achieve the status he has acquired in the industry, promotes coexistence between the culture of the blacks and the white and helps then realize that no culture is superior since even the whites live in the poor suburbs and experience the things the blacks experience although such issues many bot be very overt in the other media. This has helped the rap industry greatly since more whites are now are being involved in the industry. The marketability of the rap songs and their concerts has been improved thus improving the economic importance of the rap genre. This has been promoted by a larger white audience than before since the exposure of the genre had led to more white fans. The whites no longer see themselves as casual observers of the shows and songs of the rappers, but as belonging to the same culture and understanding as the culture of the rap itself. this shows that Eminem has been very effective as a toll to bridge the gap between the blacks and the white in this industry which has led to improved performance and profitability of the industry as a whole (Sheffield, 2002). Eminem has been criticized for changing the music preferences especially for the young teenage youths who are interested in listening to his music because of the aggression he portrays in his rap. These types of behaviors have been associated with the violence which is very common in most of Eminem’s songs. Adolescents who are loyal to his songs are prone to high rates of suicidality. According to Villeneuve, (2001), there is a very direct relationship between the listening trends of aggressive rap by Eminem and the rate of irresponsible and high-risk behavior in adolescents. Antisocial behavior and tendency towards attraction ton heavy mental for those adolescents who are listen to punk music like that of Eminem (Wann, and Wilson, 1996). Eminem has also been criticized for introduction criticism and attacks on the gay and the lesbian communities in his rap songs. This has sparked a lot of controversies especially in the Grammys where the gay and lesbian society protested against Eminem’s attacks on them. While he held that he had no problem with gays and the lesbians, Eminem has evidently introduced these concepts which have not been taken very well by the targeted groups. Furthermore, he performed on the same stage with Elliot John just to show people that he had no problem with the gays and the lesbians despite his lyrics. Works Cited "Marshall Bruce Mathers III." 2014. The Biography.com website. May 05 2014 http://www.biography.com/people/eminem-9542093. McCrillis, M. P. Why Eminem is important. The World & 1, 18(3),275-287. Retrieved April 28, 2003, from the ProQuest database.2003. Print. Schiffman, M., and Teitelman, B. Rock radio reacts to Eminem fine. Billboard The International Newsweekly of Music, Video and Home Entertainment, 113(28), 90- 91.2001. Print. Sheffield, R. People of the year: Eminem. Rolling Stone, 911, 61-63. 2002. Print. Wann, D. L., and Wilson, A M. Associations among rock music videos, locus of control, and aggression. Psychological Reports, 79, 642. 1996. Print. Read More