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Final Paper
Introduction
Music, a medium of expression, an influential instrument combined with the words and symphonies, resonated by the voice of the artist, in its essence, is actually a complete school of Arts. Music has evolved over times, experimented with number of techniques, introduced to number of cultures and has taken uncountable forms. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"RO6ba35o","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Armstrong)","plainCitation":"(Armstrong)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":8,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/AWYGXR4F"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/AWYGXR4F"],"itemData":{"id":8,"type":"article-journal","title":"Eminem's construction of authenticity","container-title":"Popular Music and Society","page":"335-355","volume":"27","issue":"3","author":[{"family":"Armstrong","given":"Edward G."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2004"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Armstrong 355) Music is the voice of the soul, which hits the soul of a listener. Had it not been the voice of the ambiance, it wouldn’t so much influential as it is. So far as the genres are concerned, music is rich in that. One of the genres it deals with is, Rap and Hip-Hop. Rap and Hip-Hop are tantamount to each other, precisely speaking Rap falls in the domain of multidimensional Hip-Hop culture. Over times, the Hip-Hop cultures has evolved and produced number of great artists. Some of them has even has legacy which might not be changed or tempered. Their legacy continues even till today. They probably have been died but their legacy lives in hundreds of thousands of hearts and souls. Their legacy is palatable and does not need reckoning. We, in the contemporary paper, will shed some light on the legacy of a living legend, a legend who has given so much to this culture, who has painted the scars on this culture with adorable aesthetics. The legend is “Marshall Bruce Mathers III” commonly known as “Eminem” and labeled as the “King of the Hip-Hop”. The life of Eminem is actually reflected in his music.
Early Life and Background
Eminem was born in October 17, 1972 in Detroit, Michigan. He never knew his father, because he abandoned the family when Eminem was still an infant. He, as a rapper and disposition, has been dissected. He was raised by his mother and his family frequently moved between Missouri and Detroit because his mother could never manage to hold down a job for more than several months. The roughest part of his early days is that he used to switch schools 3, 4 times a year because of his mother’s. His life’s bumpy ride doesn’t end with the fame, and the legacy he inherited from his father lingers on him. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"vOV07agC","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Katz)","plainCitation":"(Katz)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":9,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/KRBQ476Z"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/KRBQ476Z"],"itemData":{"id":9,"type":"article-journal","title":"reasons Eminem’s popularity is a disaster for women","container-title":"Retrieved December","page":"2006","volume":"7","author":[{"family":"Katz","given":"Jackson"}],"issued":{"literal":"8"}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Katz 7) He, during his career, was served with number of legal notices. His addiction to prescription drugs is also the part of his legacy. The only thing he had consistency in, is his music and fame in music. So far as life is concerned, it has always been turbulent. So turbulent, that even if Bernoulli were alive he would name his equation for turbulent flow after Eminem’s life. His music’s lyrics have always been branded as homophobic and an Australian politician has also attempted to ban him from performing in his country.
His music has so much been influenced by his birthplace, as it is quite obvious from one of his song “Welcome to the Detroit”. The song portrays the gangster life of Detroit, which is reflected in the song’s lyrics. The song’s lyrics are so candid and reflect the environment Eminem was brought up in. The environment and life style which has influenced Eminem’s music so much and all the holes he has hit there. That life left some serious scars on Eminem’s life and the fringes of that life on his music are clear and loud. His music and specifically the song aforementioned depicts the picture of violence at the place he was brought up at. The most interesting thing one can find about his music is that he doesn’t represent the lunacy people covet, but the real life, and the problems attached to it. The life he has experienced and went through. The life which has made turned Marshall Bruce Mather to Eminem.
Hip-Hop Genre
So far Eminem’s hip-hop genre is concerned; his music is contaminant with horror-core hip-hop, hardcore hip-hop and comedy hip-hop. Horror-core hip-hop, which has laid its foundations on the horror based themes and more often than not darkly horror inspired content and metaphors. This hip-hop style predominantly emphases on the ferocious and gothic leitmotifs. Eminem derived this origin into his music from the life he experienced in Detroit. From the life he lived with his fellows there, from the life which chiefly designed him in a rapper. Parallel to horror-core he follows hardcore hip-hop. This genre is more or less synonymous to the horror-core hip-hop style which is associated with Gangsta Rap but not all the shardcore hip-hop spins around Gangsta Rap.
Parallel to these two, Eminem also follows the comedy hip-hop. The laughable lyrics by Eminem have actually helped him to earn love from thousands of people. Eminem’s music and lifestyle both go hand in hand with each other. His music reflects not only him but hundreds of thousands of other who have been torn asunder by the despondent lives. They love him because Eminem’s rap is actually what they think is the best caricature of their lives. They live their lives in his music and lyrics; they see themselves into the lyrics, as if someone is narrating their story. The scars they have get an aesthetic treatment by Eminem’s music. More often than not they get healed; they invite their pain and agony into their bosoms. Their agony turns into something they had long been longing. Out of music they find a new life, a new vision, a new dimension, a new color to their life. Eminem is Rap artist who is being envied and idealized by so many others.
Music Themes
Eminem’s music reflect a consist theme. It’s his music theme that earned him an army of fans called ‘Stans’. If we carry out an in depth analysis of Eminem’s music then its anatomy reveals that most of Eminem’s song reflect his own life and the problem he has faced during his life. Some of the songs which became a trademark imitate how he, in due course, overcomes the problems. How does he cross the obstacles in pursuit of respect. His music imitates that he was constantly held back by his own personal problems.
It wouldn’t be a hyperbolic statement that his music theme also represents his family life and his strained relationship with his family. His early life revealed that he could not have an ideal childhood, but despite all the dependencies and strained relationships he wants to give his daughter a healthy and ideal childhood. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"yNwfMRAz","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Lakoff)","plainCitation":"(Lakoff)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":12,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/4NHBUYXQ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/4NHBUYXQ"],"itemData":{"id":12,"type":"article-journal","title":"Sorry, I’m not myself today: The metaphor system for conceptualizing the self","container-title":"Spaces, worlds, and grammar","page":"91-123","author":[{"family":"Lakoff","given":"George"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1996"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Lakoff 103) A childhood her father could never have had. He, not only represents strained relationship with his wife in his songs but his mother as well. In one of his song he apologized to his mother for all he said about her or sang about her.
Eminem has built a career in highly capricious world filled with drugs, violence and crime and all breeds of enticements. Most of his songs tell the story of his infancy and the tiers buried in it. His songs reveals that how had been discriminated and hated. How he has been pushed to the wall and how he struggle to gain the respect and fame. His themes, along with Stans- the army of fans- earned him a lot of criticism as well. He, for his lyrics, has made the front page story. He, for his theme, has also been lacerated. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"STSVN72Y","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Katz)","plainCitation":"(Katz)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":9,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/KRBQ476Z"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/KRBQ476Z"],"itemData":{"id":9,"type":"article-journal","title":"reasons Eminem’s popularity is a disaster for women","container-title":"Retrieved December","page":"2006","volume":"7","author":[{"family":"Katz","given":"Jackson"}],"issued":{"literal":"8"}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Katz 5) He, for his music, has been castigated and abhorred. He has had criticism from political circles and has face banning in most of the countries.
The theme is constant, from his first solo album ‘Infinite’ to his last solo album ‘kamikaze’. The story line is consistent, the lyrics, if not same, reflects the same dilemmas.
His music theme has mixed influences and feedback. Some of his songs are so good and so influential that it influenced kids for good. Some of his songs did not have any good, as they promoted violence and some of his songs fall in the category of comedy hip-hop genre. Some of his songs also echo his personality in a certain way that he is not bound to act in a certain way, he is not bound to appease anybody. He is not compelled to act in certain way neither anyone can compel him or direct him.
If analyzed critically, the anatomy of the songs and his music theme, all goes in the same direction, if not in the same direction but towards the same destination. The destination which can be spelled as Detroit, the place he lived most of his childhood at. The place which has a clear reflection in his songs, the life which anyone can look at. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"732Gs0o2","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Weitzer and Kubrin)","plainCitation":"(Weitzer and Kubrin)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":10,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/X4AWAWGY"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/X4AWAWGY"],"itemData":{"id":10,"type":"article-journal","title":"Misogyny in rap music: A content analysis of prevalence and meanings","container-title":"Men and Masculinities","page":"3-29","volume":"12","issue":"1","author":[{"family":"Weitzer","given":"Ronald"},{"family":"Kubrin","given":"Charis E."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Weitzer and Kubrin 19) The persona he has is the persona he opted for, consciously or subconsciously, during his early days. He could not evade that life, nor could he outlive and downplay that life.
More often than not we think that our life gets stable, our problem catch elucidation the moment we get famous. But, it does not seem coping with Eminem’s life. His life remains affected even after all the fame and success. ‘Stans’ could only earn him fame, but the peace is something he is in pursuit of, a constant pursuit of his life, a never ending journey which started from Detroit. He, along with his family has been mentally split, affected not only him but people around him. Recognition and eminence, meddling his family and personal life is what more often than not he has talked about in his songs. All these things when combined together reflect the same theme. The wound he had in his childhood, and the scars he tried to paint with his music and Rap are still there. A consistent problem is there, the problem he has been trying so hard to cope with. The problem, he, desperately, wants to get solved ever since his childhood.
Songs’ Analysis
If we pick few of his songs and analyze them, aforementioned analysis of Eminem’s music would reflect these songs. The first song which had been so much influential is ‘Lose yourself’ from the movie ‘8 Mile’, which depicts his life in a best possible manner.
He calls himself nervous as he steps into the industry and starts his Rapping and career. In the same song he talks about how his family life got disturbed after he got fame and caught the entire spotlight. One of the lines from his song which had so much influence on the audience is;
He's grown farther from home, he's no father
He goes home and barely knows his own daughter
Above two lines clearly narrates how his personal life has been affected after fame and catching the all-inclusive limelight. He could not cope with his family life and family problem while stealing the spotlight and making the army of fans-Stans-. His married life had also been strangled, not once but twice. He, not only, had issues with his spouse, but also with his mother. He, in the same song, advises not to miss any opportunity or lose composure. The song inspires people and especially adults to chase after their dreams, pushes them further, irrespective of the circumstances they are in, and their destitution, no matter how much disguised they are, no matter how much pain they have endured or still enduring, no matter if they are living in agony. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"paIGNbuJ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Lakoff)","plainCitation":"(Lakoff)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":12,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/4NHBUYXQ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/4NHBUYXQ"],"itemData":{"id":12,"type":"article-journal","title":"Sorry, I’m not myself today: The metaphor system for conceptualizing the self","container-title":"Spaces, worlds, and grammar","page":"91-123","author":[{"family":"Lakoff","given":"George"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1996"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Lakoff) The only thing that matters is that how they create opportunity and maintain their composure and how they make their sufferings an asset for their success. The song transmits the theme of “Rags to Riches” and an epitome of Eminem’s struggle to move gain respect and success and in the industry.
Another song which depicts the picture of his strained family life and especially the life and the problems her daughter experienced because of his fame. Mockingbird, the song he wrote for his daughter. He, in this song, regrets for not being with his daughter when se rued her loss, the loss every kid experiences when the parents split up. The best line from this song is;
Hailie, I know you miss your mom and I know you miss your dad
Well I'm gone but I'm trying to give you the life that I never had
The very important thing he draws the attention of the listener towards is that no kid can survive easily the broken family. Both, mother and father are equally important to her. He, in the song, lamented that if he is not giving her much time then he is trying to give her a life he had craved for in his childhood, which is just an excuse. Kids need attention, love, and harmony between the parents. Toys cannot give them happiness which they find when they see their parents in love and living together in harmony and peace. He reiterated that her parents were not destined to live together. This song is influential for in its letter and spirit, not for kids and adults, but for people who plan to start a family, who have started a family, who have become parents. Who have had despondencies in their lives. Who had been broke and suffered. The song is an advice for all those not to mess around and chase the success so desperately that their families suffer because of their success. It’s not the success which is more important but the family and home, which adorn your life with happiness.
Conclusion
Every wants spotlight and fame, money and luxury, everyone chases his dreams, every runs after what he really wants, but sometimes, people forget the most important thing, most valued things to take care of. Money is important, luxury is as necessary, but, having a family is inevitable. Eminem, “The king of Hip-Hop” has everything, but not family. He had a despondent past, ha wear the scars of past but that seem alright to him. What do not seem alright to him are the sufferings his daughter has experienced. His subconscious is preoccupied with the agony he has had in his past. His school and childhood experiences and the life he lived in Detroit are what clearly enunciated in his music. His experiences and all the sufferings he has had are what make the content of his music and especially the lyrical content.
Works Cited
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Armstrong, Edward G. “Eminem’s Construction of Authenticity.” Popular Music and Society, vol. 27, no. 3, 2004, pp. 335–55.
Katz, Jackson. “Reasons Eminem’s Popularity Is a Disaster for Women.” Retrieved December, vol. 7, 8, p. 2006.
Lakoff, George. “Sorry, I’m Not Myself Today: The Metaphor System for Conceptualizing the Self.” Spaces, Worlds, and Grammar, 1996, pp. 91–123.
Weitzer, Ronald, and Charis E. Kubrin. “Misogyny in Rap Music: A Content Analysis of Prevalence and Meanings.” Men and Masculinities, vol. 12, no. 1, 2009, pp. 3–29.
