Whatever You Say I Am_ The Life and Times of Eminem - Anthony Bozza [126]
Eminem’s creative output, at least in its most recent incarnations, is appreciated for its sophistication and technique, even by those who don’t enjoy it. That is the greatest testament to Eminem’s gifts. But the reaction to Eminem’s evolution was truly amazing. It was an astonishing, unprecedented redefinition of an artist’s public perception. There really isn’t an appropriate vanguard to judge him by, no comparable context, no similar instance that is quite the same. No one can deny Eminem’s talent, but his ascension in American culture in 2003 is only partly about that. The truth of it lies more in how and why the American people and the American media machine sought him out, an artist who hasn’t done much to court anyone other than the hip-hop nation, and why they did so now. I’d like to think that mainstream media and mainstream America, through Eminem, is trying to understand, reach out, and learn about the predominant cultural force and minority voice that, for all its influence, is still marginalized. Time will tell if the embrace of Eminem is an awkward first step by the middle of the road to delve deeper, perhaps even understand the roots, the ills, and the conditions reflected in hip-hop, circumstances that are very real. If such is the case, I wonder, would a more thorough mainstream, white comprehension of hip-hop culture do more harm than good? Would it change anything in our society? Would mass awareness be limited only to entertainment, an industry controlled and regulated by far-reaching corporate conglomerates? It is a tricky road, but the most prominent signpost, a starting point perhaps, is one seen clearly by all: He’s blond, blue-eyed, and planted at the cross-roads. Phenomena are like hurricanes, confluences of atmospheric conditions, and so, too, is Eminem, as a person and a persona, a gathering of the forces at play in American society. Eminem emerged at exactly the right moment in exactly the right way. And he delivered. Using the expansive, universal language of hip-hop, inadvertently or not, Eminem has expressed something beyond his music, maybe just by being the most true, complete example we have in the public eye of what American society is and what it is becoming. By defining himself on his own terms and following his own lead, even when the world around him doubted, Eminem achieved the goal he set for himself: a career in rap lucrative enough to support himself and his daughter. He achieved it and then some.
When I first spoke to Dr. Dre about Eminem, just as The Slim Shady LP was topping the charts in 1999 and Eminem was flying to Mexico for MTV’s Spring Break, I asked him what he saw in Eminem’s future.
“It’s happening so fast that some people are saying he’s going to be a fad like so many other white rappers,” I said. “Do you think he is going to get the credit he deserves?”
“Yeah,” Dre answered slowly in his rich baritone. “If he remains that same person he was the first day we went in the studio, in five years, he’ll be as big as Michael Jackson. I’m almost positive he will, but there are those ‘buts,’ and those ‘ifs.’ But my man, he’s dope and he’s very humble. If that’s the man he remains, he’ll be fucking bigger than Michael Jackson.”
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