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Abstract: The aim of my paper is to analyze the way in which women are

portrayed in the current American hip-hop music. For this purpose I have used
theoretical concepts such as hip-hop, rap, feminism, hip-hop feminists
due to scholars Richard Carlin, Whitney Peoples and Dennis Abrams and I will
focus on one successful American rapper, Eminem. I explained how people
confuse the two terms, rap and hip-hop, and how from the new subculture
that appeared in the 80s there has been a new class of feminists, the hip-hop
feminists. He is famous worldwide, which I believe is just one more reason for
which to analyze his work and see how he approaches the topic of femininity
and what his attitude towards women is, given his influence on teenagers and
not only. Looking at his life and the way in which he achieved success, I think
he represents a modern example of the typical "rags to riches" American dream,
which makes it even more interesting to see if women are included in this frame
or not, and in what way. I will be analyzing the lyrics and instances from his
videos, reason for which I chose three songs which best illustrate his vision:
Maxine, Kim and Love the Way You Lie, the latter being a featuring with
Rihanna, a female singer. I think it is important to see how the dynamics
between men and women changes throughout his career for a better
understanding of todays society.

Womens Image in American Rap Music. Case Study: Eminem

In the process of critically analyzing contemporary media products, one can notice that
there is a general confusion in what concerns the terms "rap" and "hip-hop" in American popular
culture. Though they are largely interrelated, hip-hop refers to a broader term, while rap
designates only the music and the singers, as Richard Carlin puts it in the encyclopedia
American Popular Culture when defining the two terms. In order to define "rap," he says:
Although the term is frequently used to encompass the entire HIP-HOP culture, rap is
used by many experts to refer specifically to the improvised lyrics and mode of delivery
employed by MCs on top of the beats, samples, and other elements comprising song
arrangements. The genre had many stylistic antecedents, including talking blues, spoken
interludes in gospel, and repeated refrains in countless pop novelties. (Carlin 217)

Meanwhile, we find out about "hip-hop" that:


hip-hop RAPand its cut-and-paste backing music and attendant subculture, hip-hop
might well be viewed as a form of musical piracy. The genres live and recorded output
are both built upon the sampling of existing source material with the record player and
recording studio functioning as primary instruments. On the other hand, its emergence
represents perhaps the most important cultural development within the rock scene over
the past twenty years. Based largely on the urban black experience, it is a form of
populist poetry drawn from the street vernacular and set to funky rhythms suited to dance
venues. (Carlin 121)
As a general definition and a starting point in defining the key-terms, I quote from Peoples, who
notes that "Broadly defined, feminism is the political movement and the mode of analysis aimed
at addressing the social, political, and economic inequities that plague the lives of women and
girls worldwide" (Peoples 33). Given that, in general, rap music has viewed (black) women as
inferior and its relationship to women has been a pretty tense one. This tension has led to the
emergence of a new class of feminists, the hip-hop feminists, who are aware of the position of
women in this kind of music, but who also find it liberating and empowering, as Peoples
explains:
As a result of hip-hop cultures relevant depiction of black life in America, Joan Morgan
and others argue that hip-hop culture and rap music hold radical and liberating potential.
This potential, they argue (Davis 1995; Morgan 1999; Pough 2004b) should be tapped by
the contemporary feminist movement to speak to younger feminists, particularly those of
color. To this end, writers such as Joan Morgan (1999), shanamila (2002), and
Gwendolyn Pough (2003) have coined and begun to circulate the term hip-hop
feminist. In response to what they perceive as an out-of-touch feminism, hip-hop
feminists seek to pick up where they believe second wave black feminists left off. They
offer that beyond the problematic of demeaning women via its incontestable misogyny,
hip-hop provides a space for young black women to express their race and ethnic
identities and to critique racism. Moreover, hip-hop feminists contend that hip-hop is also
a site where young black women begin to build or further develop their own gender

critique and feminist identity, which they can then turn toward the misogyny of rap music
(Keyes 2000; Pough 2002; Byrd 2004). (Peoples 20-21)
Put differently, the feminists start from the negative image women have and accept parts of it,
making the use of rap music thus empowering and even liberating. By accepting the rules of the
game, hip-hop feminists have gained their own place within this culture and now we even have
women rappers who maintain the same superior attitude to the rest of the women.
Referring to Eminems personal background, one significant thing for his development is
the fact that the relationship with his mother can hardly be described as normal. What made
living with her so hard was the fact that she had mental issues and kept taking pills all the time.
Mood swings and instability added up to a difficult childhood for Eminem (or Marshall Bruce
Mathers III, his real name), as Abrams explains that the conditions in which he grew up were
very hard. The financial situation was difficult, a reason for which Debbie Mathers (Eminem's
mother) had to move a lot throughout the years, forcing Marshall to change schools and try to
adapt to different environments very often. She even suffered from severe mood swings, ranging
from a loving and affectionate mother to a quiet or angry person (Abrams 21). This helps a lot in
explaining and justifying Eminem's attitude towards women in many of his songs, a thing that
has brought him lots of criticism and triggered numerous scandals in mass-media. The chaotic
personality of his mother was transferred in a way to him too, making him eventually quit school
and find his escape in hip hop. Even after he grew up, his mother did not cease to have a negative
influence on him. Some of the songs Eminem uses to express his negative feelings towards her
are "Cleanin' Out My Closet" (one of the most famous songs in his discography), "My Name Is"
and "My Mom".
Having such a rough start in life, Eminem encountered more and more issues in his
relationship with women by meeting and marrying Kim Mathers. Kimberly Scott, later known as
Kim Mathers, first met Eminem in 1987. When she was only 15, she moved together with her
sister, Dawn, at Eminem's place after running away from home. Not long after, the two started
dating. In 1995 Kim gave birth to Hailie Jade Mathers, their only daughter. Shortly after that, the
two had a fight and broke up in 1996, and went on to live separately. Eminem was even arrested
because he assaulted a bouncer whom he had seen kissing Kim, which shows the level of
emotional involvement he had for her. After the arrest, he wrote the song "Kim", which expresses

all the negative feelings he had gathered for her. Both Kim and Eminem tried at different points
to commit suicide, and both survived. Their first divorce took place in 2011 and they did not get
back together until 2004, after Kim got out of rehab. They got married again on January 14, 2006
and divorced only a few months later, in December.
As such, having this background in mind when considering his music, his message and
the attitude he expresses regarding women, I will proceed in analyzing three songs from different
periods in his life that I believe define his work.
On the album released in 1996, called Infinite, we find a song called "Maxine". The song
portrays what presumably seems to be a prostitute which has AIDS and engages in relationships
with various men. The story is told consecutively by Eminem and the others with which he
collaborates for the song, and also through dialogues between them and Maxine. They talk about
her and use expressions such as "I know this crack fiend Maxine who needs a vaccine/ She tests
positive but tells you that her act's clean/ Plus she got a sugar daddy". Right from the beginning
of the song we learn that she is a drug addict that got AIDS, and that she cannot support herself,
reason for which she has a "sugar daddy". She is further portrayed as a dirty woman, both
morally and physically, and she can "contaminate" other people too:
Looking provocative, she'll let you knock it if
You press the issue and get undressed to kiss you
If you match the price, otherwise she won't look at you twice
But when you catch the lice, or get the urgency
To go to the emergency cause it burns to pee
Don't bring your germs to me, cause I ain't trying to hear it
While you're fighting you fucking disease trying to clear it.
I believe we can certainly talk about this song as one that triggered many criticisms
regarding the sexist part of Eminem's work. Although the text does not mention it directly, it is
assumed that Maxine is a black woman, since the language used is specific to the AfricanAmerican vernacular: "Who dis?", "What is it, another nigga?" and other such examples.
Therefore, we can assume the issue with the song is not only sexist, but also racist. However, the
main focus of the song is the promiscuous character of Maxine, and not her race, although it is
possible to make a connection between the stereotype of the hypersexual black woman and this

song. If we think about the fact that the entire hip-hop movement began in the African-American
community, we can see that it is not such a shocking thing that a black woman is used as a
subject for a rap song. There is a strong probability that Eminem might have taken the motif of a
black woman from other black rappers who have inspired it, even though he is white, just to be
accepted into the rap community and to meet some requirements.
Even so, the very nature of music as art serves as a good justification for the eventual
racist slang used in his work. More than that, I believe that the sexist view on women Eminem
has can be really empowering for women, as I discussed previously. As such, a demeaning
attitude towards women can give them the liberty of creating their own feminine identity and
embracing a critique to their own address, be it from a racial or sexual point of view (Peoples 2021). In this particular case, by depicting Maxine as an overly sexual being, the song creates the
place for other women to find, express and accept their sexuality regardless of what others
(especially men) think. The sexual references in the song ("When you step away son, she got her
face done/ Looking provocative, she'll let you knock it") place in an unexpected way the woman
above the man through his desire for her. By wanting and chasing her, the woman takes the upper
hand and can fulfill men's desires or not, thus being somewhat in control.
I believe another relevant example for my purpose is "Kim" (2000). Named after his
wife, the song is a reflection in music of the agitated period through which their relationship was
going. The song is a very violent one and one that brought about many criticisms. It describes an
argument between the two of them, while baby Hailie was near them. Things go really far,
Eminem saying that he wants to kill Kim and using verbal and physical abuse on her:
Don't make me wake this, baby
She don't need to see what I'm about to do
Quit crying, bitch, why do you always make me shout at you?
How could you?
Just leave me and love him out the blue
Oh, what's the matter Kim?
Am I too loud for you?
Too bad, bitch, you're gonna finally hear me out this time.

The violence in these lyrics is obvious, plus the attack directed at his wife (or ex-wife) made it
one of the most controversial songs in his entire career. What makes it even more shocking is
that he contrasts the extremely violent attitude towards Kim with a loving and fatherly attitude
towards baby Hailie:
Aww look at daddy's baby girl
That's daddy's baby
Little sleepy head
Yesterday I changed your diaper
Wiped you and powdered you.
How did you get so big?
Can't believe it now you're two
Baby, you're so precious
Daddy's so proud of you.
So even when making an aggressive song, Eminem manages to include his love for Hailie in the
lyrics. There is a possibility that this paradigm might reflect a bipolar or mentally unstable
character, which might be responsible for the extremes he reaches in his songs.
However, the entire key to understanding this song has deeper resorts and subtleties. As
an artist, Eminem is able to manifest his feelings and channel his anger through art, instead of
acting violently in the real world. By sharing his feelings and thoughts with the entire world, he
finds the power to overcome all the anger and negative emotions he has towards Kim.
Actually, the one who is threatening and swearing at Kim is not Eminem, but Slim Shady,
his alter ego. Once again we see that no matter how many criticisms he would receive, Eminem
finds his refuge in music, unloading his negative side through art. We can even say that it is a
beneficial thing that he chose to do it this way, because the alternative could be quite dangerous.
Paraphrasing Abrams, I dare to say that Eminem expressed his anger through music, instead of
(or precisely so as not to) express it in the real world (Abrams 48).
The third song I chose, "Love the Way You Lie, released in 2010, has been an
international hit and a great success due to its commercial style. Given that it has been made
together with a woman singer (Rihanna), one might think that the message and the frustrations of

Eminem have changed. However, the song still talks about the intense emotions Eminem
expresses, which also depict an on-and-off relationship, similar to the one he and Kim have had.
He describes the alternation between various emotions he feels while arguing with her and
getting back together:
She fucking hates me and I love it.
"Wait! Where you going?"
"I'm leaving you!"
"No you ain't. Come back."
We're running right back.
Here we go again
It's so insane cause when it's going good, it's going great
I'm Superman with the wind at his back, she's Lois Lane
But when it's bad it's awful, I feel so ashamed I snapped
Who's that dude?
"I don't even know his name."
I laid hands on her, I'll never stoop so low again
I guess I don't know my own strength.
We can see that the violence that accompanied the references to Kim in the other songs is still
present even in the more recent songs, which shows that the interior issues he has are not over
yet. The violence is translated into a tense atmosphere in the video also, the storyline showing a
couple arguing all the time and even physically abusing each other. But at the same time, the
duality of the relationship appears once again to prove the opposite feelings Eminem has:
You ever love somebody so much you can barely breathe when you're with 'em
You meet and neither one of you even know what hit 'em
Got that warm fuzzy feeling
Yeah, them chills you used to get 'em.
Towards the end of the song, we can guess that Slim Shady appears again, since the "lyrical I"
appears once again, showing the obsession he has for Kim and the extremely violent tendencies:

I'm tired of the games I just want her back


I know I'm a liar
If she ever tries to fucking leave again
Ima tie her to the bed and set this house on fire.
Here he is being very violent, using a rough language ("fucking leave again") and
threatening her to "set this house on fire", thing also illustrated through the visual image of this
in the clip for the song. Therefore, we can see that his feelings for Kim or his opinions towards
women haven't actually changed, they have remained the same even after his style became more
commercial.
Finally, I believe that after analyzing all the songs from these different periods of his
career, we can say that Eminem represents women in his work in a negative way. Although most
of his anger and frustration is directed towards his wife and his mother, we can draw the
conclusion that his songs show a not so favorable image of women, portraying them as cheaters,
promiscuous and irresponsible. Simultaneously, despite this drastic conclusion, we cannot ignore
the fact that at all times he proves his love for his daughter, in almost all the songs. Moreover, I
believe we can draw some significant and relevant conclusions that can further help in
understanding some current realities in the American society. As such, statistically speaking, it is
obvious that the hip-hop music genre generally places women in a negative light and the main
tool for this is objectification. As it was proven by the analysis of lyrics and videos, women are
shown mostly as sexual objects and described as such, sometimes in very demeaning and wrong
ways. However, there are instances where rappers choose to write true love songs dedicated to
women, whether based on their own personal experience or not, which I believe balances things
to a certain degree.

Works Cited

Abrams, Dennis. Hip Hop Stars: Eminem. New York: Chelsea House, 2007. Print.

Carlin, Richard. "Rhythm and Blues, Rap, & Hip-Hop." American Popular Music. Ed. Frank
Hoffmann. New York: Facts On File, 2006. 121-122. Print.
"Eminem - Love The Way You Lie Ft. Rihanna." YouTube.YouTube, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uelHwf8o7_U>.
""Kim" Lyrics." EMINEM LYRICS.N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/eminem/kim.html>.
"Kim Mathers." Wiki.N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
<http://eminem.wikia.com/wiki/Kim_Mathers>.
""Love The Way You Lie" Lyrics." EMINEM LYRICS.N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/eminem/lovethewayyoulie.html>.
""Maxine" Lyrics." EMINEM LYRICS.N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/eminem/maxine.html>.
Peoples, Whitney A. "Under Construction.Identifying Foundations of Hip-Hop Feminism and
Exploring Bridges between Black Second-Wave and Hip-Hop Feminisms." Meridians:
Feminism, Race, Transnationalism. Vol. 8. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University
Press,n.d. 19-52. Print.

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