Just a few years ago, the world was introduced to the music sensation that was Eminem. Not only were people shocked to see a white man attempting to succeed in a genre of music that was generally reserved as a place for African-American success, but people were also appalled by the violent, anti-female content of many of his songs. However, as Gilbert Rodman outlines in his article “Race…and Other Four Letter Words: Eminem and the Cultural Politics of Authenticity,” the outrage that was directed specifically at Eminem was particularly contentious because what the rapper was seeking to do was essentially blurring the racial lines that exist within popular music.
As Rodman points out, we typically like to think of types and genres of music along strict racial lines. Certain types of music are classified as “black” types of music and other types of music are thought to be “white” types of music. For example, country music is thought to be the domain of white artists, while rap and hip hop is typically believed to be dominated by black music artists. However, this approach to music neglects to take into account music’s diverse history. As Rodman states, “[j]azz, for instance, commonly gets pegged as ‘Black music’ despite the fact that early jazz drew heavily on the instrumental structures of European military marching bands. Similarly, rock has come to be widely understood as ‘White music’ despite the central roles that the blues, R&B, and Black gospel all played in its birth” (Rodman, 2006).
What got people so up in arms about Eminem was the fact that he was a white man who was actually achieving success in a traditionally black field and challenging our long held beliefs about race. Eminem was attempting (and somewhat succeeding at) to break down the hegemonic structure of racial politics currently at play, and that made us rather uncomfortable.
Performing in a musical genre whose racial identity did not match his own also placed Eminem at another decided disadvantage. It seems as though the general public is much quicker to get upset at offensive lyrics if they come from a rap (and typically black) artist. For instance, people have no qualms with a song by Eric Clapton that proclaims how “I Shot the Sheriff,” but Ice-T rapping about being a “Cop Killer” is all of a sudden attacked as being a signifier of the downfall of American society as we know it. For this very reason, many of Eminem’s songs have been critically derided for the messages that they contain. Not only is Eminem burdened by the fact that his musical performance already causes discomfort on the basis of his breaking free of hegemony, but he is also performing in a music genre that is routinely bombarded by critics, more so than any other. Despite all of these disadvantages though, Eminem has been able to achieve a good deal of success with his music, but his career is still a prime example of critical race theory at work in today’s culture.
Although the height of Eminem’s popularity could probably be pinpointed to a few years ago, these racial politics are still very much present in the year 2009. Granted, the music world is occasionally witness to genre (and consequently, racial) crossovers, such as the recent success of the single “Whatcha Say” by Jason Derulo and Imogen Heap or the highly anticipated single featuring Beyonce and Lady Gaga, but this is still far from the norm. We are still apt to view musical acts to only be eligible to perform within certain genres depending on the color of their skin. Perhaps in the future, race will play as big of a role in the music industry, but for now, who would be able to imagine Kanye West singing country music?
Listen here to Jason Derulo’s song with Imogen Heap
Tags: 'White' rap, critical race theory, Eminem