Getting a Bad Rap? - offensive lyrics in rap music - Brief Article

Current Events, Feb 2, 2001

"MY MOTHER DID DRUGS --tar, liquor, cigarettes, and speed/The baby came out--disfigured .../It was a seed who would grow up just as crazy as she/Don't dare make fun of that baby cause that baby was me." Those lyrics come from the latest album of Marshall Bruce Mathers III, better known as the rapper Eminem.

Although Mathers was often teased by other kids while growing up in a working-class Detroit (Mich.) neighborhood, the popular rapper is now having the last laugh. The Marshall Mathers LP has sold more than 7.9 million copies worldwide and was nominated for four Grammy awards, the music industry's highest honors.

Not everyone is amused. After the Grammy nominations were announced, officials from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), the organization in charge of the Grammys, said they received thousands of complaints about the rapper's nominations.

Many people who complained said that Eminem should not be considered for such honors because his music is filled with violent and hateful lyrics (most of which can't be printed in CE).

Eminem fans, however, say that pop musicians traditionally test the limit of what's acceptable in society. They say Eminem is no more shocking today than Elvis Presley was in the 1950s.

Verbal Wizard ?

In defending the decision to nominate Eminem, NARAS president Michael Greene said, "We're viewing this recording as something that's important but something that we certainly don't condone."

Brian Doherty, music critic for Reason Online, praises Eminem. "He's an unparalleled verbal wizard and a master of his chosen art form: the provocation," Doherty writes.

An anonymous teenager agrees: "[Eminem] tries to speak out about what he feels and thinks. And that's a really great thing in a musician."

A Bad Seed?

Others, however, say that Eminem's music should not be given prestigious awards. In his music, Eminem creates an alter ego, known as "Slim Shady," an "obscenity-spouting, knife-happy rapper" who particularly lashes out against gays and women.

Cathy Renna, spokeswoman for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), said, "The Grammys really represent the best of music, so it's disturbing to see them recognize someone who they themselves have called `repugnant.'"

Lizz Mendez Berry, hip-hop critic for Amazon.com, agrees with Simon. Berry wrote, "The hatred in Eminem's rhymes makes the album [The Marshall Mathers LP] rotten at its core."

Should Eminem receive prestigious honors for his music despite its violent and hateful content?

Background

Rap Music combines rhythmic instrumental tracks with spoken, rhyming words instead of a traditional melodic song. Rap musicians often rap about politics, the conditions of daily life, personal troubles, and sometimes-exaggerated virtues. Eminem was not the first rapper to infuse his music with violence and anger, however he is the first rapper to be considered for Grammy's highest honor--album of the year. Previous rap artists have simply been nominated in niche categories such as "best rap album."

History

The history of rap music can be traced to many sources. Pop culture historians say that rap draws on the tradition of urban street jive, a form of speech that developed in Chicago, Ill., in the 1920s.

More directly, critics say that rap music first appeared in New York City in the mid-1970s. Jamaican immigrant Clive Campbell, also known as DJ Kool Herc, mixed up music by using records playing on two turntables, switching rapidly from one to the other to mix and match beats between songs. In addition, Campbell introduced the art of Jamaican "toasting," in which the DJ speaks with humor and syncopation over the rhythm of instrumental versions of music.

The first rap hit was "Rappers Delight,"(1979) released by a group of rappers from Brooklyn, N.Y. called the Sugarhill Gang. "Rappers Delight" reached number 36 on Billboard's Top 40-music chart. In the early 1980s, DJ Afrika Bambaataa popularized the use of drum machines and synthesizers to produce a new, "techno sound."

As rappers attracted more listeners in the 1980s, they also began to address economic inequalities in the U.S. In the late 1980s, a brutal brand of rap developed known as "gansta rap." Gansta rap often glorified misogyny and violence and elicited an outcry from critics.

What's Next?

The popularity of rap music continues to grow, and the controversy surrounding some of the more explicit artists (such as Eminem), grows too. Rapper-producer Dr. Dre, who worked on The Marshall Mathers LP, is thriving on the recent controversy about Eminem. "I love all the controversy," Dr. Dre said, "What we're doing is working. We're pushing buttons. Wait `til the next record."