In his song "As the World Turns," Eminem raps about how he once grabbed a

woman by the hair and "dragged her across the ground" only to throw her off a diving

board. Whether or not this is factually accurate does not particularly make a difference;

no one would argue that Eminem treats women well in his music. He treats homosexuals

similarly, and again, virtually no one would attempt to build a case that Eminem is fond

of the homosexual lifestyle. Vincent Stephen tackles these issues in his paper, "Pop Goes

the Rapper: A Close Reading of Eminiem's Genderphobia," making an argument that

neither of these specific positions (Eminem hates women and Eminem hates

homosexuals) is accurate enough to capture Eminem's true attitudes. He posits that while

Eminem is at times blatantly mysoginist or homophobic, the term that captures his

attitudes most accurately is "genderphobic." He further identifies virtually all hip-hop as

genderphobic, though focusses on Eminem. Looking at this genre's songs, he notes that

the lyrics may reflect homophobic concepts or employ homophobic language, but simply

pointing this out limits the discussion in a way that does not fully reflect the nature of the

genre's culture. Stephens describes one of the ideas central to hip-hop: the genre

glorifies masculine ideals while ridiculing feminine ones. The term genderphobia not

only encompasses this glorification but also the enforcement of strict gender roles.

Authenticity, Stephens continues, is a crucial ingredient to a rapper's success.

Within hip-hop, a rapper's ability to create and maintain this authentic persona is vital.

Breaking authenticity down into its components, it becomes clear that masculinity is a

key aspect in any rapper's bid for authenticity. This standard applies to Eminem

especially because he is one of the few white men to rap with any comercial success, and

is in fact one of the top-selling rappers. Stephens singles out Eminem, therefore, because
Eminem must be more concious of his persona than other rappers; he must work harder

to maintian cherished "authenticity," and so must employ a greater amount of

genderphobic language. Indeed, Eminem understands his precarious place in hip-hop and

raps in "Role Model" that "some people only see that I'm white, ignoring skill/ 'cause I

stand out like a green hat with an orange bill." Stephens does find that Eminem's lyrics

contain a signficiant amount of genderphobic language and sees Eminem's vitriollic

disparagement of femininity as a clue to the close connection between genderphobia and

authenticity in hip-hop.

After briefly touching on the necessity in music as a whole cultivate a persona

with the examples of Mariah Carey and the Pet Shop Boys, Stephens delves into these

respective artists "answer songs" to Eminem's derogatory lyrics. The Pet Shop Boys

critique hip-hop culture as a whole through a pointed mocking of Eminem; Mariah Carey

alludes to her personal experience with Eminem in an attempt to critique the rapper

himself. However, these examples detract from rather than bolster Stephens' argument.

Both songs feel like somewhat personal attacks on Eminem and reveal a significant

cultural divide more than they deconstruct Eminem as a rapper or hip-hop as a genre.

Stephens makes a valid point, arguing that Eminem's homophobia is only a facet

of his genderphobia. Even this argument leaves something to be desired. Discussing

Eminem's attempts to find authenticity, Stephens ignores the the obvious fact that

Eminem is only the rapper's stage name and how that pertains to his argument. Born

Marshall Mathers, Eminem is the name the rapper assumed as his on stage persona.

Further, the stage persona Eminem, or the real Marshall Mathers, has an yet another alter-

ego, Slim Shady. Any discussion of Eminem's authenticity must reconcile this before
moving forward, which Stephens' does not. Aside from this issue, however, the claim

that Eminem is genderphobic hinders discussion of the ultimate significance of his work;

one cannot approach the excessive violence in the lyrics on its own terms. The rapper is

not so much a genderphobe as a violenceophile, as Stephens might have said.

Additionally, Stephens fails to observe that Eminem's angry, overly aggressive tangents

are directly a result of Eminem's understanding of himself as unfairly victimized by

everyone from his mother to the media to life itself.

In fact, all of hip-hop fits this description; without oppression in sorm form, the

definition hip-hop has given itself would collapse by its very nature; the rapper is first

and foremost a victim of circumstance. Eminem's genderphobia, seen in this context,

loses much of its importance. His violent themes, however, retain their importance. His

immense popularity reveals a culture divided between two opposite and competing

ideologies, both existing on the same spectrum. Nearly all rappers see themselves as

rapping about the hard, unchangeable realities of life. Eminem is no different, his raps

always circle one particular theme: life is suffering. The only escape for Marshall

Mathers is rapping, violent fantasy, and drugs, and these three frequently converge. Most

pop is diametrically opposed to this view, and pop stars, including Mariah Carey and the

Pet Shop Boys, sing about ideals, ideals that can perhaps be reached one day. Eminem's

immense popularity reaveals that millions of Americans identify strongly with this

concept of a suffering existence. Stephens' article thus fails to ground Eminem solidly in

his understanding of hip-hop authenticity, overlooks the victimiziation inherent to that

authenticity, and in the end neglects to recognize the true implications of Eminem's work

and its illumination of our culture.

 In the paper, Stephens discusses six semantic dimensions of authentic rap.

However, these dimensions more accurately describe what traits hip-hop seeks from its

practitioneers, not the music itself. The rapper must be black, from the street, respect the

old school, rap to the underground, stay true to their own self, and be hard, all the while

rejecting the opposites, found in comercial, mainstream culture. The stereotypical rapper

meets all of these qualifications, though under scrutiny these qualities appear to be quite

similar. By condensing these six dimensions into their essence, one may see that a rapper

really must meet only one or two criteria. The authentic rapper asserts themself as a

highly individualistic person with their own particular style, free from the influence of the

existing power complex. Eminem fails to meet the strict defintion Stephens offers, but

does meet this more condensed version. A still more accurate version is available

though, one that exists beyond the terms Stephens provides.

Stephen's ties masculinity into authenticity, but being a true rapper and having a

masculine outlook exist together so strongly that arguing that one can cause the other or

that one requires the other is impossible; in effect, they are the same idea. What comes

before any discussion of hard or soft, underground or mainstream, street or comercial, is

victimhood. All rappers are victims, or at least portray themselves as such. They are

victims of life, of the ghetto, of whomever and whatever. Their circumstances are so bad,

life so painfually difficult, that only the most tough can prevail. Toughness is a

classically masculine trait. Hence, when Eminem reveals in "Rock Bottom" that "I feel

like I'm walking a tight rope, without a circus net/ I'm popping percocets, I'm a nervous

wreck" he does not diminish his masculinity. In order to be masculine, he needs to be a

nervous wreck. He needs hard times to be hard. Stephens came close in his revelation
that as Eminem is not the stereotypical rapper, he must emphasize certain characteristics

to overcome this stereotype. He was only wrong on the characteristic. The characteristic

Eminem emphasizes is his victimhood.

Eminem established himself as cultural icon, and icon of rap, in his first two

albums, the Slim Shady LP and the Marshall Mathers LP; not coincidentally these are the

albums where he is most victimized. The songs on Slim Shady LP identify his mother

and specific others from his childhood and work life as his main bullies. He makes his

feelings most clear in his song "Still Don't Give" where he laments "I don't know why I'm

here in the first place/ my worst day on this Earth was my first birthday." The

implication is that while his life has been awful and he has dealt with more than his fair

share of problems, he somehow has made it to adulthood. In "As the World Turns," he is

partly joking but partly serious when he blames his mother for his drug problems and

anger issues: "It all started when my mother took my bike away." The entirety of the

song "Brain Damage" is about how his time in school, where he was bullied daily, left

him scarred for life. He bears these scars proudly, as they have made him authentic in his

rap.

In "If I Had," Eminem laments again, "I'm tired of all this bullshit/ telling me to

be positive/ how'm I suppose to be positive when I don't see shit positive/ I rap about shit

around me, shit I see." This pessimistic outlook on life carries over into Marshall

Mathers LP, where his inner anger finds new targets, and while he is no longer a victim

of poverty, he continues to be a victim. "They say I can't rap about being broke no

more," he raps in "Kill You," and indeed, while his line in his first album "minimum

wage got my adrenaline caged" no longer applies, the same "venom and rage" fuelled by
this victimization persists. Often he raps about being a victim of the media, saying in

"The Way I Am" that "...all of this controversy circles me/ And it seems like the media

immediately/ Points a finger at me... when a dude's getting bullied and shoots up his

schoool." Though he retorts to the media as a whole in "Criminal" that he holds the

trump card, "you can't stop me from topping these charts." He is even a victim of his

own fans: "At least have the decency in you/ to leave me alone, when you freaks see me

out... I don't owe you a motherfucking thing/ I'm not Mr. N'Sync, I'm not what your

friends think." He is a victim of all these forces, and his only defense is anger, expressed

the best way he knows how, through his rap.

Eminem developed his rapping technique by battle rapping, where rappers trade

insults with each other in rap form. By the time he become a popular icon, Eminem was

extremely proficient in vicious lyrical attacks on anyone and anything. In his music,

Eminem goes about these "attacks" by elaborating violent fantasies of the pain he'll

enflict on his so called enemies, also engaging in direct attacks on his enemies' character.

These direct attacks use the structure of the classical conceptions of gender, and this is

where Stephens' genderphobia plays a role. Eminem portrays himself as dominant,

complex, in control, and masculine as opposed to his weak, simpleminded, passive, and

feminine opponents. In this context when he addresses these opponents in "Kill You"

and raps, "you faggots keep egging me on/ 'til I have you at knifepoint, then you beg me

to stop?" he does not mean to call them homosexual, only weaker than he is. This line

brings to the surface that other aspect of Eminem's rap, derived from his negative

opinions of life: the pathologically violent fantasy.

Eminem raps that his life is "full of empty promises/and broken dreams" and that
"life is like a big obstacle." Beset with his victimhood, his only resort as seen in his raps

became the violent fantasy, elaborate mental constructions that give the impression to the

beholder that they have the power they desire. The songs "97 Bonnie & Clyde" and

"Kim" describe in graphic detail how he might kill his wife. In "Kill You" he raps about

raping his mother. His obsession with violence appears pathological, or near

pathological. He has no problem with this either, confidently stating in lryics that "a

killer instinct runs in the blood/ emptying full clips and burying guns in the mud."

Apparently he's not above buying a ticket to a rival rappers show simply "to come whip

[his] ass... coming out swinging so fast it'll make [his] eyes spin." In one song he even

wrly states "I can't rap anymore - I just murdered the alphabet." The atrocities he says

he's ready to commit in his lyrics are staggering in number, but he's never gone so far as

to perpetrate these crimes in reality. What is utterly foolish, dangerous, and immoral in

practice finds a haven in music. In "Stan" he responds to a letter from a depressed fan,

"what's this shit you said about you like to cut your wrist too?/ I say that shit just clownin'

dawg." Eminem intends no violence; the violence in his lyrics are a means by which he

ends his feelings of victimization.

These lyrics have still caused all sorts of backlash from parents and social groups.

Yet, It is not even the violence itself that make the lyrics dangerous. Eminem is one of

the most skilled rappers ever to enter the genre. Even the most horrible lyrics can be so

catchy, witty, or well rapped they can leave one in a state between laughter and tears.

Many maintain the position that he should not be allowed to rap them at all on the

grounds that it could influence youth. He has sold millions of albums, however, and the

dollar in the end has dictated what he is allowed to say. The many who criticize, aghast,
question how he has sold so many albums at all, unwilling to acknowledge the darker

truth. Eminem fans relate to his lyrics, and most can relate to even the most dispicable.

This is not to say that Eminem fans want to act out in their lives what Eminem talks about

doing. Eminem himself does not actually want to commit the acts he describes, and

neither do his fans. Fans relate because they too experience life as suffering, and

experience themselves as victims. Members of ghetto communities and suburban ones,

anyone who feels oppressed and victimized by life, can potentially be drawn to Eminem's

music.

Suburban teens in particular, feeling empty and meaningless, relate to the feelings

of frustration and victimization that Eminem captures so well in his lyrics. They relate to

the aggression in the lyrics. They can even relate to Eminem's fantasies because they too,

out of boredom and tediousness, have felt the desire to do something, anything, to assert

some semblence of control in the prison they feel surrounding them. Eminem speaks the

truth when he acknowledges "there's a million of us just like me/ who cuss like me, who

just don't give a fuck like me." Overwhelming boredom creates an aggression that

desperately works its way towards expression. The popular video games of modern day,

with so much violence as, captures this same desperation and gives it safe expression.

Eminem gives voice to this aggression and desperation and his listeners connect. He

captures the sentiments so well that it scares those who experience life differently. The

opposite route can be taken from this path of oppression and victimization. One can

embrace these realities and fight back, or one can opt for the ideals and create those in

their own life; either move away from pain, focussing on the pain, or move towards

pleasure and happiness, focussing on these. Interestingly, the pop music that Eminem
constantly berates represents this opposing group.

Modern music finds itself squarely in the center of an ongoing culture battle.

Eminem and rap represent an extreme of society that finds life an ultimately frustrating

endeavor devoid of meaning and purpose, a prison with no escape. Pop music represents

the idealistic extreme of society that hopes for a better future. Rap tries to describe the

realities of experience, while pop tries to describe the realites that people hope to find.

Thus the Pet Shop Boys' song "The Night I Fell In Love" attacks hip-hop by introducing

love at first sight and romanticism. The song is a fantasy come true, not just a fantasy.

Mariah Carey's song "Clown" unintentionally plays into Eminem's hands when Mariah

sings of the sad stories that Eminem probably told to others many times before he even

met her. Yet, Eminem would agree to this claim. He has told sad stories to millions of

people. They are stories he rapped about and included on his albums, because it is the

sad stories that have made him as a rapper. Mariah Carey and Eminem's fued continues

after this song, with both releasing songs about the other more recently, though Mariah's

song "Obsessed" features Eminem much less directly. Eminem's return attack in his song

"The Warning" follows the lines of the clash between pop and rap cultural ideas,

emphasizing that Carey's perspective on their relationship is wishful thinking compared

to his realism.

Stephens missed the mark when he described Eminem's genderphobia as his

significant transgression. Eminem's lyrics, by so pathologically and artfully chronicalling

his anger, offers society a spotlight on aggression and violence generally. It is certainly

not beneficial to deny that millions identify with Eminem's portrayal of victimhood and

powerlessness in the face of greater forces, as these same fans find emotional comfort, or
at least an outlet for their angst, in the aggression and violence portrayed. For this who

worry about violence in society, noting Eminem's relationship with violence as dipicted

in his lyrics could only further their understanding of the issue. Whether or not the effect

of his lyrics is positive or negative, or whether or not he should be allowed to rap what he

raps, Eminem's lyrics provide a window into the feelings of the generation that American

society is producing and so should not simply be thrown away because of a seeming

genderphobic attitude. The rapper, Eminem or any other, deserves better.