How does he belong to black culture? Indebted to black culture, grew up in black culture, but "belong" is a weird word to use
Are you trying to start something out of nothing? Belong would be a weird word to use if I put it in a different place in the sentence than I actually did.
I'm just confused as to your point. He's white, he has a position of power different than that of other artists of color. As much as he has embraced and promoted black culture, he doesn't face the same risks that black artists face.
I was talking more about how white people like to take credit for Eminem even though he uses hip hop, which is a part of black culture, as a means of artistic expression.
I still don't see your point. He used a black artform to gain power and success from a white audience. As I said previously, he does not seem to be a culture vulture and has often times promoted a ton of artists of color. With that being said, he does not "belong" to the black community. His speaking out against Trump and the "power" that comes with it is not something to praise him for, it's something to be critical of in regards to his fanbase. Like I said before, and what I've seen both online and through personal interactions, Trump supporters/people on the fence about Trump will not be woken up by this freestyle. They will write it off as Eminem being old or rich or simply being an asshole. The mental gymnastics used to defend Trump in the first place will be easy enough to use again for this. Good on him for speaking out. I'm still hesitant to ascribe power or brilliance to it, though.
Yes, his freestyle was a little more complex than that. I was making a joke. Still maintain that for someone who went as violently and harshly and terrifyingly on others as Em has done before, this is relatively tame. There's anger and passion in his delivery. His lyrics are pretty safe and wack.
This is obviously not something you'd bump in your car or listen to on repeat all day. It was a relatively sloppy freestyle (by Eminem standards) on a hip hop station in outright defiance of the US president. In this case I'm not looking for a sick beat or some obscurely clever lyrics that take 10 listens to digest. It's Eminem. He's blunt and cynical, but he's one of the greatest lyricists in hip hop and he's using his platform to speak out against Donald Trump. That's something I can get behind, even if it doesn't sway one Trump supporter's opinion. Props to him, that's the bottom line for me. As far as I'm concerned arguing about anything else is semantic and unnecessary in this discussion.
Oh it is, can't deny that, but it seems he only goes after high profile white males, like Eminem, whereas others it's any and all. And especially ones connected to entertalent or media
Nah all good, I am a white liberal haha. I was saying though that I won't praise Eminem as a person just because I respect his views on Trump. I actually do respect a lot of his music - because as awful a person and for how shitty his words can be, the impact his music had on me at a very young age can't be undone - I just won't praise or acclaim him as a person just because he's on my side in the Age of The Donald.
Trump cares about Hollywood and sports. Hip hop is not on his radar. This isn't like NFL players who work for owners he's friendly with or journalists he can call fake news and try to shut out, or when SNL makes fun of him and he cares because he actually wants to be a part of that world (and sports). He has nowhere to aim but Em and he doesn't have anything to gain from it. I acknowledge he's vain and emotional enough to be set off by anything but I just doubt this is making much of a blip in his sphere. Where this freestyle matters is in its address to em's Trump supporting fans, and like has been said, they're already Trump supporters so they're already in a warped, backwards world where they'll defend or excuse anything he does or refute any attacks against him, for the most part.
Eminem is a complicated subject for many people. My sister is a lesbian but she loves his music. Others don't, for understandable reasons. I think when it comes to people's opinions about where on the spectrum of morality Em falls on, all of them are pretty valid. May seem like a cop out, but considering he's one of the most polarizing artists of all time, I think it's pretty apt. You do you bruh. Don't gotta defend yourself to anyone.