By Jamil Weeks

Eminem has a complicated history with hip hop culture. The complex dynamic between Marshall Mathers and hip hop centers around two things; the color of his skin and his dominance in rap music. Outside of the Beastie Boys, white people struggled to be taken serious as rap artists, due in large part to the rapid rise and fall of Vanilla Ice. White rappers were panned and written off for the the most part in the 80s and 90s. During Eminem’s humble beginnings in the underground Detroit rap circuit, Marshall grappled with the stigma attached to white rappers, forcing him to work twice as hard at his craft. From winning rap battle competitions to joining forces with New Jersey’s underground rap group, The Outsidaz, Eminem gradually started to chip away at that negative perception and gain respect. Once he got on the radar of Dr. Dre, who initially was shocked to discover Eminem was a white rapper, an alliance was formed that would shake up the hip hop industry. With Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine behind him, Eminem would go on to have one of the most successful careers in hip hop history. With that success came the scrutiny as the social construct of race that previously worked against him ironically became a driving force in his career. Comparisons to Elvis started to permeate internet forums and social media sites as many felt Eminem was undeserving of that success. Likening Eminem’s career to Elvis’s career, rather right or wrong, was a perception that overshadowed the success Eminem enjoyed. The decades long feud between Eminem and Benzino was rekindled once Eminem dissed him on “Doomsday Pt. 2” off the Lyrical Lemonade album. Benzino quickly returned fire with a freestyle and official diss record that has since set social media sites on fire. The name of that diss record? You guessed it, “Rap Elvis”. However, is this label fair to Eminem? Yes and no.

The comparison to Elvis does make sense in a couple of ways. Like Elvis, Eminem grew up poor and gravitated to black music. The music that these artists created was ultimately inspired by black music artists. Both Elvis and Eminem would become dominating forces in music during their time. While Elvis was designated as The King of Rock and Roll, Eminem would be crowned as The Rap God. Both also had racist accusations hurled against them. With Elvis, it was rumored that Elvis told a reporter that the only thing black people could do for him was shine his shoes and buy his records. During the first round of the ongoing Eminem/Benzino saga, Benzino uncovered old Eminem songs from 1988 and 1993 where the rapper is heard dissing black women and referring to black people as “moon crickets”. While the validity of at least one of those records is in question of rather it was actually Eminem on the song, Eminem did acknowledge that he made the record dissing black women out of anger over a breakup as a foolish teenager. Both Elvis and Eminem have the perception of being culture vultures who took their style from black music and were able to reach heights their black peers could not because they were white artists.

What is undeniably true about Eminem’s career is that being white has benefited his career. Like Tiger Woods attracted the attention of black people who normally would not tune in to watch PGA competitions on Sunday afternoons, Eminem attracted an audience of white fans who normally would not listen to hip hop. White audiences can relate to Eminem more than they can Biggie, Jay, Nas, or 2pac, who are artists that made music that reflected growing up in the inner cities. Factoring his relatability to this audience, the Elvis comparisons do have some merit. To Eminem’s credit, he did not take the Vanilla Ice route of fabricating his life to be more “street” or cosplaying blackness. Eminem’s music has drifted more towards a pop sound as he has evolved as an artist, which has also helped him maintain this mainstream audience. Elvis and Eminem were both artists who made music with black roots but commercially surpassed their influences. Eminem even compared himself to Elvis on a song “The King and I”, which was for the Elvis biopic movie soundtrack. The song serves as an anti-hater anthem where he defiantly shuns the vitriol from his critics. Acknowledging the privilege that Eminem has enjoyed in his success does not take away from his talent. Eminem played the hand he was dealt in life. His whiteness served as a hindrance to his career earlier on in his career. Eminem was able to flip that in his favor and gain a sizeable fan base that has kept him blazing the charts for decades.

However, there are also reasons why the Elvis comparison fails the smell test. Elvis was seen as a music artist who stole music and dance moves from black music artists of his day without giving those black artists their proper credit. Eminem has always given respect to those music artists that inspired his music. Eminem’s Grammys award winning speech is possibly the best acceptance speech ever given by a rapper. Marshall credited his influences by name, such as 2pac, Jay-Z, and Nas; but also mentioned heavily slept on rappers like Kurupt and Treach from Naughty By Nature. On “Til I Collapse” off The Eminem Show, he famously lists some of these same artists again. You can make the argument that Andre 3000 being regarded as a top five emcee started from Eminem name-dropping him on this song. Rather Eminem is acknowledging his influences in his music, in award winning speeches, or doing something as simple as wearing Public Enemy t-shirts during his concert performances, he seems to be very conscious of the Elvis analogies. Eminem has consistently exhibited a genuine respect and appreciation for hip hop as a culture. The influences of rappers like AZ or Masta Ace are just that. You can never accuse Eminem of stealing another rapper’s style. Eminem has developed his own unique style of rapping, experimenting with different flows and cadences that seem to mimic the rhythm of the beat he is rhyming over. Eminem’s style is distinct and the product of dedicated hard work.

I confess, I am not a huge fan of Eminem’s work. In fact, I did not even want to give him a chance when I first heard “My Name Is” back in 1999 because he was white. People who know me know that I am a big fan of lyricism. One of my college friends urged me to give The Slim Shady LP a chance. When I first heard that album, I was absolutely blown away by the bar work. Eminem was part of that late 90’s class of rappers that represented an evolution in rhyming, which also included Big Pun and Canibus. Off the strength of that album, I went back and listened to The Infinite EP. The Marshall Mathers LP solidified my fandom. Amid the deaths of Biggie and 2Pac, Jay-Z becoming more mainstream by the day, and Nas losing his way creatively, Eminem became my favorite rapper of that time. I was all aboard the Eminem bandwagon in the early 2000s. Where I feel Eminem lost me as a fan was around the time the underwhelming Encore came out. Since that time, Eminem has not put out an album I personally liked. Gone are the days when Dr. Dre and company, along with the Bass Brothers, were handling the production. Eminem’s music devolved into more of a generic, watered down pop sound for my taste. I would have a running joke for years about automatically checking out of hearing an Eminem song featuring Skylar Grey and being produced by Alex Da Kid. Fast forward to today, and it seems like Eminem seems more concerned with his rhyming technique than making a good song. For me it is disheartening hearing a rapper with his capabilities rhyming like a robot over down south trap beats. Even the albums I used to love in the late 90’s to early 2000s have not aged as well as other classics like Paid In Full, Death Certificate, or The Infamous. I feel funny as a forties plus year old driving down the street listening to a rapper with subject matter that involves decapitating nuns’ heads or killing his girlfriend and stuffing her body in the trunk. I still think Eminem is a highly talented rapper and I respect his lyrical skill set. Secretly, I am hoping he will drop an album without the gimmicks that I can gravitate towards again.

While Eminem is not in my personal top 10, I cannot argue with anyone who places Eminem as one of the greats in the genre given his accomplishments. There is a respect I have for Eminem’s craft because of how gifted he is as a lyricist. Is Benzino correct in referring to Eminem as rap’s modern-day Elvis? The parallels between Eminem and Elvis are visible and cannot be denied. However, Eminem is his own man. Love his music or not, you cannot accuse Eminem of biting other rappers’ styles or not respecting the culture. Rather or not you are a fan of Eminem, you cannot deny Eminem puts a lot of work into the technical aspects of rapping. You can make the argument Eminem has played it safe by not battling some of the greatest emcees, but you also do not hear many of these greats call out Eminem either. The most respected lyricists in the game, from Rakim to J. Cole have all acknowledged Eminem’s greatness. While his catalog may be questionable to hardcore hip hop fans in comparison to his peers, Eminem has excelled in a genre through hard work and determination, with an assist from mainstream white America. In the end, the similarities between Eminem and Elvis are there but ultimately do not diminish his contributions to the genre. Eminem will be able to silence a lot of critics with an official rebuttal to Benzino’s “Rap Elvis”.