I saw Eminem’s latest stuntqueening a few days ago and rolled my eyes. Em’s promoting Shady XV, a compliation album that comes out on Black Friday. This is not a full-on Eminem album. Shady XV highlights other artists on his label; Em strategically drops in to claim his “Rap God” status. From the title of the album, we can assume the Slim Shady persona has taken over Em’s rhymes. Big time. Em released a cypher last week where Shady rapped about punching Lana Del Rey “like Ray Rice.” This wasn’t Eminem simply being controversial. This was him grabbing the lowest-hanging fruit in a vain attempt to stay relevant, which is sad. He went platinum on Marshall Mathers LP 2 and scored #2 album of the year in 2013. Shady is not necessary for sales.
Eminem is becoming that guy he used to rap about. You know, the guy he accused Moby of being: “You’re too old, let go, nobody listens to techno.” His latest stunt is as disgusting as the Ray Rice lyrics. Eminem threatens Iggy Azalea in a song called “Vegas.” The lyrics are very NSFW and gross. You can hear the song here. I can’t quote everything from the relevant passage, but Em talks about wanting Iggy to “service” him while he’s on the toilet. Then he references the Nicki feud and warns Iggy that he wants to rape her:
“You’re lucky just to follow my ride / If I let you run alongside the Humvee, unless you’re Nicki / Grab you by the wrist, let’s ski/ So, what’s it gon’ be?/ Put that sh*t away, Iggy/ You gon’ blow that rape whistle on me.”
[From Shady XV on Vevo]
Why. is. he. doing. this? He’s 42 for god’s sake. Grow up.
Iggy handled the situation well. She responded on Twitter:
(1) im bored of the old men threatening young women as entertainment trend and much more interested in the young women getting $ trend. zzzz
(2) its especially akward because my 14 year old brother is the biggest eminem fan and now the artist he admired says he wants to rape me. nice!
(3) women in music have the bigger balls anyhow we endure much more harassment and critic. good morninnggggg!!!!!! off to camera block for AMAs!
[From Iggy Azalea on Twitter]
She’s had some recent PR training. Iggy used to pop off and say terrible things on Twitter, but she put Eminem in his place. He looks like a disgusting, washed-up, rapey fool. I guess he’s always been that way. Sometimes he just hides it really well. Pick up your ball and go home, Eminem!
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN
No way can ANYONE on this planet convince me there’s a deeper meaning to these rubbish lyrics. And I used to be a fan. Bye, Slim/Eminem/Marshall/Deranged Lunatic.
I really don’t understand why he EVER became as big as he did. Honestly. No black rapper would EVER say the things he did and not have their album pulled and picketed and sent to the Supreme Court. His misogyny is clear on all of his albums. He always does this exact same thing: call the most poplar white girl out her name (Christina, Britney, Mariah and now Iggy); fantasy rape, murder, beating scenes with all those women, plus his mom and ex wife; IF he does pick on a man (which is never a black man), it’s Moby. He’s a simp, a phony, a fraud and a woman hater. It’s not his “other persona”, it’s HIM. Enough with the excuses for the vile man. I don’t even like Iggy and what she stands for, but Eminem/Slim Shady/MM whatever he wants to be called today doesn’t deserve the excuses afforded to him for years simply because he’s white. /rant
Disagree.
Eminem’s mentor Dre is a MILLION times worse than Em and has gone largely uncriticized and forged an incredibly successful career, including being an Apple executive. He’s been praised countless times and has amassed a net worth of $780M despite his disgustingly misogynistic behavior, including assault of a female. BTW, after the assault of Dee Barnes, N.W.A.’s MC Ren later said “bitch deserved it”, and Eazy-E said “yeah, bitch had it coming.”
Ever heard the lyrics to B*tches Ain’t Sh*t or my personal favorite One Less B*tch where Dre brags about raping and murdering a hooker?
Please allow me to remind you:
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/05/29/apple-executive-dr-dre-talks-time-gang-raped-prostitute-killed
Remember when Snoop MURDERED someone? He’s still doing pretty well. Same with Gucci Mane.
I agree that there’s a glaring disparity between how violent black men and violent white men are treated in our society. You will get no arguments from me about that. But when it comes to a certain type of rap, men are the rulers of that world and women are looked at as either sexual conquests, objects, or simply trash to be used and disposed of.
^^ I had NO idea. Why do people like this exist and how have so many succeeded beyond most people’s wildest dreams?
Kitten, NWA was sent to the Supreme Court ans harassed by the FBI for speaking truthfully about police brutality and gang violence. I’m not talking about off-record antics. I’m talking about on-record offenses *and* how the law and public react. Not the same.
@McRaw-They were harassed for talking about police brutality but not for rapping about murdering and raping women. That’s exactly my point.
Anyway, we can agree to disagree. I think we see eye-to-eye on a lot of things and I do agree with you about how black men are so often treated as criminals. I just don’t think it applies as much in the rap industry, a world where violent behavior is seen as a badge of honor, regardless of race.
I just came to say two things. First I agree with Kitten. Black rappers have rapped about assaulting women. It wasn’t long ago that Rick Ross rapped about slipping a woman the date rape drug so he could sexually assault her. Rappers like Bobby Digital (The RZA) has a song called Domestic Violence. Slick Rick had one called Treat her like a Prostitute. So yeah popular artist in the hip hop community gets away with it as well.
The other thing is, I agree with MCraw that Em does have a knack for picking on popular White girls. Well Mariah doesn’t consider herself White. But people are right in saying that he doesn’t go after Black rappers so he’s not as hard as he would like folks to believe.
Kitten, yknow what? I do agree with that, misogyny is accepted across the board in rap music. I guess I should’ve clarified by saying calling out specific famous white women is what would be career suicide for any black rapper. So yes, we do agree 🙂
@Kitten LOL you can’t be serious. Black rappers (and artists for that matter) are criticized to such a higher degree than white artists are. Anything black related in general is criticized to a higher degree than things related to white people..
Anyway, I can’t stand Iggy Azalea but I’m so glad that she called him out for being a creepy disgusting old man.
This 1000%
I was in the gym earlier & they had the rnb charts on. I’m not into rnb, especially hip hop, so i haven’t seen anything of the sort in years. I was completely shocked & appalled by the unbelievable level of misogeny & objectification of women in each & every single video clip in the program. Almost every single woman in every single clip was just there as a practically naked, jiggling bimbo. How on earth do American women put up & accept such dreadful treatment, especially given the high levels of political correctness that seem to be pervasive online. As a European gay man I cant stand what Eminem & his ilk represent, but it seems to me that there is an awful lot complicity from American women if they continue to put up with this sort of depiction. You couldn’t pay me enough money to appear in a video clip where I demean myself that way, let alone accept such negative stereotyping. No wonder Eminem thinks he can get away with such horrible comments as those directed at Lana del Rey (a Goddess) & Iggy Azalea.
Speaking as an American woman, to a certain extent we are trained to accept this kind of treatment. What you see in entertainment is a bloated and exaggerated version, hence the depiction of women as nothing more than a nice juicy ham.
But women are taught that being beautiful and desirable to men is intrinsic to our worth. Look at the criticism of female politicians vs. male politicians, or any kind of public figure. Women are first and foremost supposed to be decorative, and if a woman fails to be so all of her other attributes and accomplishments are diminished.
It sucks big time and we’re working on it, but there’s still plenty of people of both genders who buy into the stupid “women exist to please men” idea and spend their money accordingly.
I also find it interesting how the same genre can be so different from country to country. Of course, here, rap and hip hop are fairly new, but the majority of rappers rap about political and social topics, bur the ones who don’t, who rap about clubbing etc. usually write humorous songs and make themselves the butt of the joke ( in one of the more popular songs of that type a guy raps how he’s too lame to get laid). Of course, gangsta rap isn’t possible here because we don’t have ghettos or anything like that.
I’m not sure about British rappers, but from the ones I know they also don’t seem as “gangsta” as the majority of the mainstream American ones.
Misogyny is pretty rampant across the board, to be honest. Rap probably takes it the farthest extreme, but you’ll find plenty of objectification of women in pop or country music. They just couch it in more mainstream friendly terms.
I don’t think you can even compare the misogyny in country music to that in rap music. I think there’s a world of difference between “dancing on my tailgate in your painted on jeans” and “treat her like a prostitute.” I remember listening to Eminem’s track “Kim” (the one where he raps about murdering his ex-wife IN VIVID DETAIL) and it’s just appalling. I can’t believe people have given him the pass that they have! AND EMINEM HAS A DAUGHTER–that’s the truly scary thing.
I don’t understand why Elton John is championing this guy, like he has healed Eminem’s homophobia. Anyway, he’s a stunt queen. It’s his schtick to diss current pop culture figures to stay relevant. If Gaga was still in the game, she would be the target not Iggy.
I’m not defending eminem generally, or really even in this specific instance. Still think these lyrics suck. But he doesn’t actually say he is going to rape her. Basically he is saying she puts out so much flesh but she’s a tease, and if he were to try and sleep with her she’d call it harassment. It’s not okay, and in some ways I actually think those connotations are just as bad.
He has daughters. Family dinners in Mathers household has got to be weird. So disgusting and while Eminem has killer flow, i like Kanye West’s beats better. So he is not my favourite rapper or anything but he is an idol to so many boy teenagers. So sad.
Oh he’s always been great at compartmentalizing. He’s often said that he won’t allow swearing in his house etc. and that it’s not his responsibility to raise anyone else’s kids so he cannot be held responsible for what his lyrics might teach kids. HE raises his kids right after all (I have my doubts after his daughter called Taylor Swift a wh*re on social media for dating the Direction child) . Same thing with the f*g-bombs and homophobic language in general. He refuses to budge on that.
I used to be a huge fan but while at 25 you’re possibly a rebel, at 40 that’s just not cute anymore. Artists need to grow up like the rest of us, otherwise it becomes stale and yes, offensive. He needs to STFU but who tells these people? Nobody. No, wait, the haters do. Because we’re all jealous and/or too dumb to understand art.
That wasn’t his daughters twitter; this girl pretends to be her
I don’t know if I’m allowed to link anything but there was this very interesting article on Em we had to read in a college masculinities class I took and even though I am ( maybe more was ) a fan it made me look at him and his music differently. Interesting read or sure. http://www.jacksonkatz.com/eminem2.html
@littlemiss , your comment is spot on. I understand how he says he separates the two but that is really impossible not to mention his daughters and fans are going to just see him for him and the lyrics he raps. I’m glad Iggy called him out.
Oh that is an interesting article, will finish it after work (I should so be working right now). This one is especially interesting to me because I did just call him that:
“8. Eminem’s rebel image obscures the fact that sexism and men’s violence against women perpetuates established male power – it is not rebellious.
Eminem has been skillfully marketed as a “rebel” to whom many young people – especially white boys — can relate. But what exactly is he rebelling against? Powerful women who oppress weak and vulnerable men? Omnipotent gays and lesbians who make life a living hell for straight people?”
Well, he always sold himself as the improbable success who came from the trailer park, had a horrible mother, and still made it. That’s what I always thought at least. And of course, the white guy in a predominantly black rap culture. No, he’s not a rebel but that’s how he saw himself and that’s what we were sold.
I was 18 when that article and The Eminem Show came out. And frankly, his most misogynist and violent lyrics always made me cringe but somehow, I was able to overlook them. These days I can’t listen to this drivel anymore. I remember him saying things like “This is not ACTUALLY what I mean, women aren’t bitches and a faggot is not a homosexual, this is just how we talked growing up.” Uh, dude. That makes no sense, you don’t get to re-define it for all of us. I always expected him to grow up but I guess that’s not happening.
I got chills reading this.
Go home, Em. He has genuine talent but the whole “I want to rape and murder women, JUST KIDDING LOL GUYS ITS JUST A RAP PERSONA I LOVE WOMEN (but really I’m not kidding hahahaha jokes on you suckers, I’m mad at my mom and therefore I hate women)” thing is really getting old. It is effing 2014 and men with huge fan bases and the power to influence thousands are still tweeting things like this:
https://twitter.com/wizkhalifa/status/53554592726491545
(If the link doesn’t work the gem of a tweet says : “Counting up the money. Kicking out the b–ches.”)
Makes me so, so sad. And barfy.
Smart reply by Iggy with a simple thoughtful response to a disgusting song.
Yup this. She shows some class.
Just NO. Nonononono.
I’m no fan of Iggy but I’m glad she said something. Eminem is f*cking disgusting and I feel sorry for his daughter.
Disgusting. Iggy handled it well.
I ask this every time it comes up, but no one ever answers me. Why do we, as women, tolerate this kind of bullshit? Why do we listen to this kind of music or pay to download or for concert tickets for any man who so obviously demeans and hates women? If we all stopped, it would cut their profits in half. If we pressured men to stop, it would be even more. I have talked to my nieces and nephews about it. Please take a few minutes and convince someone you love that this should not be tolerated.
Patriarchy, internalized misogyny, social conditioning…
Rape culture has NEVER been as prominent in our media as it is now (which is a good thing) .
Yes, it would be great if women as a whole didn’t support idiots like this, but we need unity in our own gender.
It’s a very good question, I’m not sure my answer will make sense to you but I’ll try.
I don’t think it’s a matter of internalized misogyny, that would be too simple. I’m a feminist, was raised by a feminist, have a father who thinks women are the best thing ever and should run the world. I still listened to Eminem for years. At first I didn’t really understand what it was I was listening to (at 15) but those “slapping bitches” lyrics always grated. I ignored them. I continued to try and ignore all those lyrics for a few years until I grew up and my ideas about gender equality, patriarchy, respect towards yourself and others, and feminism evolved and at some point a few years ago, there was nothing I could do to ignore that crap anymore. Seeing him talk about and defend those lyrics for years also contributed because as I said further up in a post, if he had just grown up and evolved, I might have been able to “forgive” him. But why would I want to these lyrics in the first place?
Okay, here’s the thing. The man is really good. He’s talented, his raps are a phonetic dream for a language nerd like me, and his songs just stick. I LOVE some of his songs still. Musically speaking, it’s gold (most of it, not all). It’s rather simple and I understand if – for some people – that’s not a good enough reason but what can I say, White America, Lose Yourself and Love the Way You Lie will always be among my favorite songs of all time.
Thank you both for answering. It helps me understand. I still think that if anyone had lyrics about raping or beating any other group of people besides women, there would be outrage. It’s easy for me to say, because I don’t like most rap music anyway, so it’s kind of like my boycott of Chick Filet when I never went there anyway. So I get that if you love most of his music you would want to excuse it. Maybe this will be the final straw for some people. I hope so.
Internalized misogyny. Bingo. For basically my entire life I have been a huge misogynist. I never recognized it until I had my daughter. Now I see. I avoided 95% of women, hated the fact that I was a woman, was embarrassed to be a woman, felt women “deserved” the violence and degradation they endure as punishment for being “weak”… Hell, when I was in kindergarten the boys had this “game” where they’d chase girls down and tackle them and lift up their dress. I realize now how disturbing that is, but at the time I enjoyed watching. I hated other little girls, I felt ashamed to be one. One day I asked a boy, Yorgo, why it never happened to me. He put his arm around my shoulder and said “because you wouldn’t run from us” and that solidified my opinion that girls get tormented because they are weak, asking for it. It never happens to me because I don’t “act” the way girls act, I told myself. I never liked Eminem, but his voice and gay bashing is what bothered me. Not his misogyny.
That all changed when I had my daughter. I got to see “evidence” of a purely innocent female, deserving of NONE of the bullsh-t she will one day endure just because she has two X chromosomes. She is not a “girl” first, human second. She is Lucienne, a human being, that’s all. I get it now, and am infuriated by what I see. Objectification and subjugation, everywhere. Eminem is a pig and an idiot and if one of these alleged male feminists in the media doesn’t call him out, well, I won’t be surprised. Sometimes it’s hard not to hate straight men now that I see all the ways this world is designed to please and cater to them.
But yes, internalized misogyny is a big part of why women support douchebags like Em. They believe he isn’t talking about them, and that the women he is talking about deserve it.
Vvvoid, what a powerful story. Thank you for sharing it. I’m glad your daughter taught you to love your womanhood and you helped me understand a lot.
@Vvvoid
“They believe he isn’t talking about them, and that the women he is talking about deserve it.” Pretty much nails it.
ETA: A lot of people are questioning how he can write such lyrics while having daughters, and I think he probably justifies it with a similar mentality, ie his daughters are different because he didn’t raise dumb b*tches.
Thanks for listening. It’s hard for me to talk about because, well, my daughter is only 10 months old so this is a very recent revelation. I have been reading CB for years and all the feminist stuff was similar to the Benedict Cumberbacht stuff to me in that I just scrolled passed it and was slightly irritated by it. I guess I felt like we were already post-gender as a society [LMFAO] or something. I also didn’t like the implication that I was somehow victimized or subjugated, because, well, ego.
Still I hesitate to bring this subject up anywhere where I might encounter a man’s really ignorant and tiresome dissent. Just last night I brought the subject up with my boyfriend, who was raised by an incredibly brilliant, strong single mother and at least fancies himself a non-sexist, and the discussion was really hurtful. He ended it with “well, talking to me about this isn’t going to change anything, and conversely, talking to douchebag sexists about this won’t change anything either because you will never change their minds and they will just call you a ‘stupid bitch'” and I basically didn’t speak to him for an hour. Even he was annoyed by the subject, as though the oppression of HALF THE WORLD’S POPULATION isn’t worth discussing, even in how it pertains to Lucienne’s future in the world. He said “it starts with children, if we raise our children to both respect themselves as women and to respect other women, that’s how we change things” as if in order to make a point to do that you don’t have to discuss it as a couple? And please, the truth is, just like when I talk to him about institutionalized racism, he isn’t interested because it doesn’t affect him. He would never admit that, but I doubt if we were discussing gun rights [we have like 20 firearms in this house] he would cut me off and say “talking about it to each other won’t change anything…” Also, I think, whether he would admit it or not, there is a sense that women deserve all this. I know because I have felt that way subconsciously my whole life. If women weren’t such “crazy bitches” they would be treated better, if women weren’t so “annoying” people might take them seriously. He’d never admit it but I swear I saw it in his eyes.
I’ve never felt any of this before, and I’m not sure how to deal with it. I am so close to just hating men and their entitlement, their ignorance, their selfishness. But the women who think nothing of it, the women of “Why We Don’t Need Feminism,” I hate just as much right now. I have always hated racial injustice, almost as though I was born that way [because I wasn’t raised that way], I remember crying at age 6 when I heard I Have A Dream for the first time. But I didn’t equate sexism with the same injustice, and now I get it, and now I realize…holy sh-t, I’m actually a minority, and it is a very emotional experience, with the main emotion being anger.
@Gretchen, yes, I believe he thinks his daughters are an “exception” to the rule of women being worthless whores, just like I used to think my best female friends [of whom there were only ever 3 or 4] were exceptions to the rule of women being annoying, boring, unintelligent, incapable of humor. Oddly, I didn’t think of myself as an exception, because I never thought of myself as a woman somehow.
@Vvvoid,
It’s very hard to make even an intelligent man who considers himself a feminist understand, and very tempting to just hate all men sometimes. After the Ray Rice thing, I ended up yelling at my husband because he was saying that what he did was wrong, and he should be punished, but he shouldn’t permanently lose his livelihood. I just lost it and starting asking why are you worried about HIM? Who cares if that F ever works another day in his life? I’m SICK of it! I’m sick of rape and beating and murder of women and children by men, and right then, I did hate men. He backed way off and said all the right things, and he’s a good, decent man who would never hurt a fly, but sometimes I think they just don’t get it. We have come so far, but I’m still afraid to take a walk in my (safe) neighborhood at night. So where are we?
Anyway, I don’t know the answer to how to fix it or what to say about your boyfriend, but I just wanted you to know I empathize with the frustration and anger and hurt, and appreciate all of your growth and love for your daughter. She’s lucky.
I think his female fans and supporters probably use the ‘it’s not real’ argument. They may feel that because it’s a talented person rapping out song lyrics as opposed to actually doing the things he raps about, it’s no big deal. Some of it might also have to do with which women he targets. Most of the women he has targeted are women who have a lot of people who actively dislike them either because of a diva reputation, because they aren’t ‘ladylike’, or something else. Those may not be Eminem’s reasons for choosing the women he goes after- I think he mostly chooses women who he’s had any type of conflict or criticism from in the past, or women who are very visible at the moment. But I think whether or not the listener dislikes the person he targets shapes the listener’s reactions to the lyrics. You’d be surprised what kind of vile and low behavior people will excuse or defend when it’s directed at a woman who’s image or career they disapprove of. But when it’s a woman or girl they adore, like, respect, love, care for, or feel protective of or feel sympathy for, they get defensive. I don’t know how to categorize Lana Del Ray though; I don’t know enough about her or her music, and there are women in the music industry more visible than her right now.
Charming. Rapping about wanting to rape a woman. I sincerely hope this album tanks.
Really Eminem? How would u like someone rapping about ur daughters that like? What happened to freakin respect? I’m not a fan of iggy (although i like her name) But damn enough!
Exactly, if it were his daughter being rapped about that way or any other woman or girl in his life who he may care about, he’d probably try to beat the sh*t out of that rapper himself. It’s confusing how misogynists can love and want to protect their daughters or mothers, (although in his case the mother example may not apply) but still be what they are and have their contempt and disdain for women so evident in other areas of their lives.
Yuck.
How is this even legal? She should get a restraining order against him or something, or at least go him for harassment.
that’ s what I was wondering as well. can’ t she sue him or something? i have no idea if he was serious or not (even though i think he does have a problem with women), but it is still a threat, he clearly said he wants to beat her and rape her.
This perfect response.
Pfft ” simply being controversial” yeah right……oh my..in my opinion, if you are able to say something like this you are not 100% against such things.
“…if you are able to say something like this you are not 100% against such things.”
Agreed. I think the things a person says about sexual violence can be revealing about them as a person. At best, it reveals their attitudes on gender roles, and at worst, it reveals what they may condone, accept, defend, or do themselves.
Desperate loser.
“He’s 42 for god’s sake.” This is unacceptable from any age.
Her response was handled well, but it disgusts me that she even has to respond to garbage like this.
She’s had practice recently dealing with the antics of Snoop. Both times, she looks good.
He had daughters, for fck’s sake. So deplorable. I wonder about their self-image.
Completely spot on Bedhead. WT F. Eminem’s blatantly trolling for controversy here, in the most offensive way possible. Is he that desperate for attention?
Eminem has built his career on stuff like this. There was a song Kim. In it he talked about killing his ex wife and stuffing her in a trunk. He’s said horrible things about his mother in some of his songs too. This is his shtick.
This is so gross, and wrong. I actually thought I was a fan. Not anymore.
I loathe Eminem. He has had the same lyrics for years, he just changed out the name of his target. He hasn’t grown as a person or as an artist. He needs to take his misogynist self and just go away forever.
Talent devoid of basic human decency = Eminem
Thanks for making me start to like Iggy, you effed up, emotionally stunted weirdo. I wasn’t planning to.
That Moby line made the best sample for a techno track remix, I can’t recall the title.
Mid life crisis of the worst kind?! Rape is not something to joke about.
Why, Eminem, why? In college, I did my senior thesis on Eminem. His music spoke to me as someone who was struggling to get by with a young child. He has daughters, wth?! Seriously, wth is wrong with him? This makes me wonder if he’s back on drugs.
The lyrics are gross. Eminem has never evolved as an artist. Unfortunately, he’s been able to get away with these types of lyrics all through his career, but he needs to realize this is 2014 not 1999. The world is a different place Eminem !
He’s 42. He’s not an “old man”. She’s doing a song with J.Lo at the AMA’s Sunday night, so is J.LO an “old lady” since she’s even older than Eminem?
I thought Jlo will be performing a booty song with Iggy?
Yeah that’s what I said. SHE (as in Iggy) is doing a song with J.Lo at the AMA’s on Sunday. J.lo is 45 I believe. If Eminem is an “old man” according to Iggy, then what is J.LO?
I dont think she means it as if she thinks he is an old man but pointing out that age difference between them and saying you should know better. I think its a clumsy way to prove a point.
Someone should tell Eminem that it isn’t 1999 anymore. Times have changed. People can now smell a stunt. Hey, Em, how about ripping a photo of Pope Francis on live tv to up your stunting game? Millenials know nothing about Sinead.
It was decades too late, but Sinead was finally proved correct, wasn’t she? Em doesn’t have the guts. Nor does he have the heart to give a shit about anyone but himself.
Eminem is a vile, repellent human being.
Nothing new here, then….
Ugh.
Eminem has always been a total misogynist. He’s a woman hater for sure. Wonder how his daughter will turn out in the end?
He is trying to get some attention because he is a HAS BEEN.
Because he is an uneducated, pathetic loser…this is how he’s doing it.
I *heart* Iggy!
And I feel sorry for his daughter.
At this point, it would be more subversive and shocking if he came out in support of women.
You made me defend and praise Iggy, dude. I hope your underwear crawls into your a$$ crack and never leaves.
Ah, you lot are overreacting as usual. You all do realize there are people in the music/movie/art/sports industry who have actually *done* things like what Eminem describes and are still venerated nonetheless? Until/unless he acts on these lyrics, the hyped reaction is nonsense, especially considering people have put forth content like this since music was first put on wax. He wanted attention; he got it. Moving on.
You clearly haven’t been here long enough to know that yes, we DO realize that and have talked about those people at great length. Your condescension is not necessary.
But how do we really know that a person who raps or sings about abusing people has never abused in real life, or that they never will? How do we know they wouldn’t defend or cover up for someone close to them if that person did something like that? How do we know that exposure to supportive or blase attitudes toward abuse don’t ever desensitize anyone to actual abuse? i think that as long as we can’t really answer those questions, negative reactions to lyrics like this aren’t nonsense, even though I do agree that actually doing those kinds of things is worse than glorifying them.
MRA fist pump Sam.
Get the f*ck off the stage, loser. The rest of the adult civilization has better things to do.
Iggy’s music is total shite but those tweets were ON POINT. As for Em, he needs to go back to 2004 and stay there. Like a few other posters, I wonder if he’s back on drugs. I’m sure he’d be furious if somebody took shots at his addiction issues.
I can’t stand her but kudos to her for being the adult in this situation and calling him out in an intelligent way.
Im really surprised at all the Eminem hate. Yes he said it. Yes hes been rapping about this sort of stuff since his first album came out. Why should he change now? I dont personally think he believes in any of the over the top things his lyrics say. MANY other rappers have lyrics just as offensive and no one is flipping out over that. Should someone who writes a graphic book or movie be treated this way? How about someone who is the creator of violent video game? No one thinks that these people take themselves seriously or wish harm on folks. I am still a fan of Eminem and I dont think he has crossed the line anymore than he ever has.
Glorification of abuse and violence are criticized in movies and video games too. (There’s also a difference between portraying violence as something that happened in the story vs. actually glorifying brutality and abuse- painting it as funny, cool, etc.) I’m not saying people should be banned from singing about, drawing, reading, watching, listening to, or writing anything violent. But I do think that when you put media like that out there, you open it up to being looked at critically. And when you consistently put out abusive messages, (as he has) it will make people question what’s going on inside your head. Plus, his threats are aimed at actual living people, not fictional characters, so that adds a disturbing element to it.
In another song called Stay Wide Awake Eminem talks about stalking & raping a little kid in Central Park.
Grandpa needs a time out from this Earth.
This man is such a fool. Ever since he came on the scene, he has been twisting and turning himself into knots to win approval from black people. He thinks coming after Iggy will win him street cred, as if he’s the only person allowed to MISappropriate black culture and make a fool of himself. Iggy isn’t allowed. Every white rapper besides Eminem is Vanilla Ice, in Em’s mind. I’m so over it. I don’t like Iggy and she’s a joke as an artist, but damn, he is so transparent.
+ 1 million.
How this kind of thing can be even remotely ok, when everything seems to cause controversy these days. Even Chris Pratt’s comments of home birth were criticized as judgy.
Iggy really handled this in such a mature and spot-on way. Imagine how creepy it must feel for some famous person to put out a song about raping you or doing you some other type of bodily harm?
I will proclaim myself as a die-hard Eminem fan, right off the bat. So excuse me if I am tainted. However…
This man is a poet. We may not all agree with the things he proclaims, but that is often the way art goes.
One minute, everybody loves him. The next? He’s not fulfilling our need for 100% political correctness, so we lynch him.
Iggy is already on the way out…I gauge this on my 11 year old and 16 year old kids’ interest….the interest that counts. She is a flash in the pan.
Eminem is reminding us that he is relevant…Iggy is trying to become relevant.
Her response is perfect and he’s an idiot…