With a new album, the hip-hop star is delving into debates about awakening and identity politics. Gen Z is doing badly.
The blonde rapper freak has become a mature Eminem who also questions himself.
Children, be careful! Eminem’s got something for you: mockery, hate, mockery and his contempt for Gen Z’s “Girl Scouts.” The Girl Scout Censorship Office is targeting him, the 51-year-old rapper has already claimed in “Houdini” – a track from the new album announced in May.
Eminem promises to still openly say what he thinks: “If I think that shit, I say that shit.” And yet you have to ask yourself if he himself expects the threat of censorship. On the one hand, in “Houdini” he talks about trying to use one last magic trick to take away his own figure and career. On the other hand, the title of the new album also hints at the end of his career: “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)”.
Eminem distinguishes himself again as a rap virtuoso, accompanied by dry drum samples, scratches as well as hints of funk and soul. The sonic mixes from Eminem’s producer Dr. Dre is a bit old-fashioned overall, given the synth beats and auto-tune melancholy of current hip-hop. And so one wonders if Slim’s weakness is already expressed in the sound.
The wonderful little devil
But who is this Slim Shady who is now supposed to die? The question is not easy to answer. And whoever joins Eminem will have the wrong guy. But that’s just part of the American rapper’s game of hide and seek. Marshall Bruce Mathers was born in St. Joseph Missouri in 1972; He later combined the two “Daughters” into the stage name Eminem. But Slim Shady is his alter ego, a web of horror like comedy, a brilliant little devil who jumped out of his brain to one day cause a hip-hop sensation.
In 1999, Slim Shady inserted himself into “My Name Is,” one of Eminem’s most famous titles, in a wordplay quartet. Every line a provocation, every verse a scandal. “Hello, children, do you like violence,” he asks, before expressing his brutal and rapacious fantasies in a confused stream. In later verses, however, Slim Shady also addresses the realities of being a marginalized person: problems at school, fights, a mother who takes drugs. And a father who left the family.
Slim Shady dreams that he rips out his father’s stomach. Shady slim? Or Eminem? The more specific the personnel in “My Name,” the better it matches Eminem’s private environment in Detroit. In fact, he was born in the precarious environment of the so-called White Trash, where there was not only poverty, but also chaos and misery. Two uncles suffering from depression took their own lives. To this day, Eminem has never forgiven his single mother for her drug use or promiscuity.
Eminem has found a medium for all the misery as well as growing frustration and growing anger: hip-hop. And despite all the rhythmic bravura and linguistic brilliance he was obviously born with, Eminem’s anger and coldness always seemed to hold him back from authentic experiences. Throughout his career he repeatedly hinted that he could be a criminal, a gunman without a musical outlet for his frustrations.
As a rapper, the educationally resistant school failure, at first, showed Eminem his linguistic originality and his brilliant repartee in local battles. As the style-defining hip-hop producer Dr. When Dre became aware of Eminem in the mid-1990s, he only recognized the amazing talent.
Eminem was in good hands with his African-American peers; the shared experiences of poverty were more important than skin colour; like Eminem, many black men grew up in fatherless families. Dr. But Dre hoped for the same effect from a white-skinned rapper that Elvis Presley’s appropriation of black rhythm’n’blues once had: Eminem was supposed to open the door for hip-hop into the white mainstream.
Dre’s calculation worked out. Eminem’s success was extraordinary, famous for his talent and famous for his scandals, he became a cult figure. The media and MTV were very generous in letting the blonde rap genius do his thing. Then his violent and sexual fantasies were discussed publicly and controversially. As Slim Shady was repeatedly accused of being anti-gay and misogynistic, Eminem was also accused of homophobia and misogyny. Church societies as well as women’s and homosexual organizations have criticized the evil rapper. Lynne Cheney, the wife of Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, also called for the controversial artist to be silenced.
Last but not least, pop stars like Madonna and gay singer-songwriter Elton John took Eminem’s side. They pointed out that Slim Shady was a fictional character and claimed artistic freedom for Eminem’s ambiguous verses and ironic provocations.
An army of the guilty
The conflict with his family shaped Eminem’s repertoire; His mother’s hatred is shown again on the new album. This time Eminem also apologizes to his three daughters (in “Somebody Save Me”). He pleads guilty to not taking enough care of her.
The triumphant path from white trash to the Olympus of American music has made Eminem a symbolic figure and an idol for all those who see themselves as losers and victims of class struggles and globalization. Some of the audience might be very surprised by Eminem’s stories from laughter; But someone else recognized his angry tirades and desire for revenge.
However, the white man with peroxide blonde hair and a red headdress, who seemed to mock women and gays and the disabled, was not really expected to play the role of political idol. Instead, another man with a blonde mane, red cap and provocative gestures later took the reins to attract frustrated people with jokes about women or disabilities. Donald Trump certainly keeps in mind the artistic methods and maneuvers of pompous rappers. And it also seems that megalomania, violent fantasies and post-pubescent indecency are proving their worth in politics.
However, Eminem himself cursed Donald Trump several times in his tracks. Does he see it as a competitor Did the political star get in his parade? In fact, one can ask yourself what effect Eminem and his fictional character Slim Shady can still have today in the face of an ideological disposition determined on the one hand by fake news and the incitement of the Trump faction, but on the other hand. with a rigid head, identity politics hampered by rules and terminology.
Fear of the computer police
The “Rap God” is probably not wrong in fear of being overruled by the awakened public. The theme runs through almost all of the 19 tracks on the new album. “With every line I recite, the PC police try to throw me in jail with no bail” – the political correctness police want to throw him in jail, he raps in “Lucifer”. But sometimes Eminem is self-critical. In “Guilty Conscious 2,” the hilarious climax of “The Death of Slim Shady,” there’s a dialogue between Eminem and Slim: “Hi, you’re kidding about paraplegics, seriously?” someone asks. “Oh shit, it’s just a joke.”
Eminem deals hard with Gen Z and political correctness in “Habits”. He mocks the proliferation of pronouns in correct gender language: “They or them, their? (Who?) his or his, his?”. Then he throws feminism and against the “pussy” men who discriminate against him – “mommy shaming, dad shaming, fat shaming, murder”. He defends himself against the charge of cowardice by pointing to his own daughters, who will hear, hear! – they completed their studies with summa cum laude.
But between the lines it also shows conciliatory intentions. This is how he explains the role of Slim Shady: “He’s just a lyricist here to express his truth, his feelings” – lyrical folklore of his own feelings and truths, which is not in line with Eminem’s own attitude. However, the rapper insists on his right to say what he thinks. Everyone should have the right to choose their gender and be free to express their opinions.
Eminem? Is this suddenly the voice of reason? You might almost think so. One more reason to hope that the rapper is not completely serious about the end of his stories, with the death of Slim Shady. His hip-hop may not be “top class” anymore. But his skills prove to be timeless.