Rationale:
This written task has addressed the language option of language and mass communication. I have written my opinion column on one of the few things I truly loathe in one of my favorite artists of all time’s music. I decided to write this text on Eminem’s songs, as he is a personality I am extremely familiar with and he is referred to by many as “the face of misogyny in Hip-hop.” I have focused on attracting a young audience, young being around my age, more specifically teenagers, because it is at this age that it is common for us teenagers to follow our idols mindlessly. I found this as an opportunity to finally express how I feel about his obscene lyrics that are directed at women.
I started my opinion column with an interesting story of how I was introduced to Eminem, and when studying his music deeper I was hit with a huge storm of misogyny and sexism, I thought this would attract the readers’ attention. I have also displayed some of the timeline of sexism expressed in Eminem’s music to familiarize the reader with the facts. I thought that nothing can explain how absurd his lyrics are better than quoting them. I alternated between an angry and a serious one, and a sarcastic tone to not lose the reader’s focus. I think I was able to communicate how I feel about these lyrics with the help of critical sarcasm, such as calling his fictional songs about killing females “pathetic and disturbing” I have tried to make my writing as interesting as I can by using an engaging and conversational style.
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I am confident about achieving my goal, which was mainly to show teenagers like me that our idols are not always qualified to be role models.
Opinion Column:
Sexism is not hip. Misogyny does not hop
I remember when my friend played me a song by the rapper Eminem on our way home, up until that point, I used to despise rap music without ever listening to it just because of the stereotypes circulating around it. The song my friend played for me has taken me by surprise because of how powerful, raw and poetic it was. That same day I made it my mission to discover this musical genre and I began with Eminem’s most acclaimed album, his sophomore album “The Marshall Mathers LP” released in 2000. The album started with a “Public Service Announcement” where an announcer warned listeners of the storm that is about to hit their ears and he did not lie; the opening lyrics of the very next track, “Kill You,” were “S**t, you think I won’t choke no w***e till the vocal cords don’t work in her throat no more?”1 In that same verse, Eminem threatens to rape his own mother and raps “You ain’t nothing but a s**t to me, b***h I’ma kill you.”2 This was just the tip of the iceberg of the misogyny and sexism I was about to witness.
In the middle of all the poetry, emotions, impressive rhyme schemes, distinct and entertaining storytelling, motivational songs, and sonically pleasing music, there are some downsides, that are hard to neglect in Eminem’s music, like sexism, homophobia, explicit lyrics, glorification of drug use and more. However, I will only focus on sexism and misogyny in my opinion column. There are many different levels of sexism portrayed in his music that are more hard-hitting than referring to women by offensive slurs. The reason I chose Eminem’s lyrics as the subject of my opinion column out of all rappers with misogynistic lyrics is that he is factually the rapper with the biggest fan base that his words of hate can influence.
Throughout his career, Eminem has attacked many women including other celebrities including but not limited to; Lana Del Rey, Iggy Azalea, and Britney Spears, but most notably his Mother and his ex-wife Kim Mathers. The song “Kim” details how he would take revenge on his ex-wife for cheating on him. It was the same way he advised someone else to do it on an earlier song “You just caught this b***c cheating… *forget* slitting her throat, cut this b***c’s head off… still wanna stab her? Grab her by the throat? ... That’s what I did be smart don’t be a great**.”3 In another song, Eminem expresses these thoughts in an even more direct way 'support domestic violence, beat your b***c’s a** while your kids stare in silence.”4 His album “Relapse” contains multiple songs where he tells a story where he either rapes or kills a female character. Eminem has made his view on gender roles very clear, in a 1999 song he rapped “**** b***hes, give me a fat s**t that cooks and does dishes.”5 Eminem has an even longer timeline of misogyny and sexism in his lyrics. What would be the reaction of a young teen when he hears lyrics like that coming from one of his idols? These ideas Eminem is conveying, whether he means them literally or they’re just for the shock value, are planted into young listeners’ brains and are expressed at a later age.
Bringing up shock value, I think that is Eminem’s main influence in writing lyrics that are exceptionally offensive to women. It is noteworthy that “The Marshall Mathers LP,” which might have as well been named “The ‘I say offensive stuff about women’ LP” is one of the best-selling albums of all time worldwide. A major reason Eminem was as big as he was when the record was released in all the controversy circulating around him because of his sexist lyrics.
Degrading women, referring to them with offensive slurs, bashing them, making rape comments, calling for domestic abuse, making fictional songs about murdering women, and giving them stereotypical roles like cooking and cleaning, is that what an extremely huge platform like Eminem’s should be used for? I get that Eminem came from a poor family, living in trailer parks, and has had many complications with women, but being open and so disgustingly sexist is not a way to wealth, nor is it a solution to problems. I am a fan of Eminem, but I am not a fan of everything he is. Going out of your own way to make songs about killing females at the age of 45 because it has previously gained your attention might be one of the most pathetic and disturbing things done in history. Does he not realize how big of an influence he has on young fans? Before we know it we are going to have a generation of sexists and misogynists raised by Eminem’s lyrics.
The person Marshall Mathers has proven countless times that he is not a misogynist or a sexist person and his real-life actions go on to prove that. However, that does not lessen how absurd his lyrics are and how big of a negative impact it leaves on young listeners at. Some say that his music served as a vehicle for him to deal with the problems ignited between himself and his mother and his wife respectively, whom he never hurt except through his music. I personally understand that and do believe that Eminem is not a sexist person, but using a huge platform to degrade women for the whole world to listen to it is tremendously uncalled for on any occasion.
To conclude, I think that perhaps the saddest part is that Eminem climbed up to his highly successful career by stepping on women’s pride. There is no denying that Eminem is one of the greatest musical artists of all time, but his music could do without all the negative aspects. I think the sooner Eminem realizes how many people are influenced by his lyrics, whether he lives by them or not, the better.
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