For Years Eminem has shown he has no respect for the foundations of hip hop.
By - Ubong Ekpo
Marshall Bruce Mathers, best known by his stage name, Eminem has long walked the line of controversy with regards to his perplexing rap career.
Just the very aesthetic of his career trajectory, a skinny Caucasian man rising the ranks to be one of the most recognizable and celebrated hip hop artist, within a genre dominated by those of African American and Hispanic descent is quite the “feat” if one is to give credit.
Yet with all the success Mr. Mathers has acquired, it should be noted whom we are talking about.
The uncomfortable truth for many of those who claim to be hip hop fans, is that the entire culture derived from a certain spirit.
That spirit being that of from a marginalized group of individuals. In particular, “black” if one is to use that label, and hispanic youth, who used the confines of hip hop to express their feelings of entrapment.
Now it is understood Eminem did not grow up with the proverbial “spoon in his mouth”
For all intents and purposes, the core appeal of Eminem is that “he is like us”, even though his skin is that of the majority that has inflicted the horrors of White Supremacy, his upbringing will attempt to tell you he understands the struggle of living in the ghetto.
While yes, you can be a so called “white” or non black, living among the oppressed and even harboring some of the same experiences and treament once both groups leave the oppressed environments, the true reality sinks in.
If it was at all ever realistic considering, the history of the United States, that Eminem truly believed and felt he could relate to the “black” struggle, I’m afraid those sentiments did not last very long.
You see, in 1988, a sixteen year old Eminem records a scathing diss track towards all African American women, entitled ‘Foolish Pride’
In what is to be considered one of the earliest recordings of the man now often referred to as a “rap god”, Mathers goes into a repulsive tirade,
Apparently he had an African American girlfriend who left him for a black man, which causes the inherit insecurities of those of Eminem’s type to surface.
The song is laden with the age old stereotypes of black women being gold diggers, sluts, unintelligent with lines such as “ Never date a black girl because black’s only want your money”,
Even full on saying at one point “black girls are bitches”
The song did not come to light until Eminem’s beef with then Source magazine owner Benzino in 2003,in which he then gave a public apology.
For someone who came into a black art form, uses the image of a black man to capitalize, yet at his core, hates black women? And this is accepted?
In 2019, we seem to see the same behavior that Eminem displayed in his foolish pride song, with his constant unethical attacks towards another black woman, Mariah Carey.
We’ve seen Eminem attack the likes of Christina Augilera, Elton John and his biggest offense, the “Just Lose It’ video where he mocks Michael Jackson, a legend in the black community.
For a battle rapper, who grew up in the “slums” of Detroit, his public battles seem to be very consistent with non rappers and easy targets, especially considering the privilege he has to be a Caucasian in hip hop.
For now, I want to leave readers, especially hip hop enthusiast with this question, how many more prominent black figures must Eminem disrespect before he is finally shown he is a guest in the house of hip hop?
No lies were detected
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