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Elvis Presley and Eminem— two of the biggest names in music from the past half century and the best selling artists of their respective decades. Separated by more than 40 years, one is the “King” of rock and roll, the other belongs to the hip-hop generation. At first, it might seem odd to say that the two have much in common, but upon closer examination, they are remarkably similar in certain regards. Both grew up poor, both starred in movies, and both experienced major drug problems. Most notably, Elvis and Eminem were greatly inspired by black musicians and were extremely successful within music genres (rock and roll and then hip-hop/ rap, respectively) that arose originally from black culture. Rock and roll primarily grew out of the blues and R&B musical styles of African Americans. Black artists like Fats Domino, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, and Chuck Barry were the pioneers of rock and roll. Yet, due to the racial climate of the times, their race prevented them (and their music) from becoming as widely recognized as they should have been. As a white man, Elvis was able to capitalize where they
“No I’m not the first king of controversy, I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley.” — Eminem, “Without Me.” could not. Not to imply that Elvis was guilty of “stealing” black music or that he was not a talented entertainer. Rather, his natural talent as an entertainer combined with the color of his skin allowed him to bring rock and roll, a predominantly black genre of music, to new (white) audiences and be very successful in doing so. As a child, Elvis was inspired and influenced by white musicians, such as the country music singer Hank Snow, as well as black musicians, like blues artists Rufus Thomas and Arthur Crudup. He made his first recordings in Memphis Tennessee at Sun Records, a small record label focused on recording the music of local black artists from the Mississippi Delta region. Sam Phillips, the owner of and producer at Sun Records, famously said, “If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars.” Elvis was that white man, and although Phillips did not make a billion dollars off of Elvis, he had the right idea. “That’s All Right,” Elvis’ first commercially-released single, written by the aforementioned Arthur Crudup, sold 20,000 copies. His next single, “Good
Sources: Guralnick, Peter. Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley. Little Brown & Company: United States, 1994. Worth, Fred. Elvis: His Life from A to Z. Outlet. Random House Value Publishing: United States, 1992. “Rap/Hip-Hop Timeline 1970-1989. http://www. digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_rap-timeline1.html “Eminem’s major musical influences.” http://www. theeminemblog.com/2004/05/02/eminems-majormusical-influences/
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Rockin’ Tonight,” was written by Roy Brown, also a black songwriter. In fact, many of Elvis’s early recordings at Sun Records, which first brought him into the public eye, were rock and roll-style covers of songs written by African American blues songwriters. Even after being signed to RCA Records, Elvis continued to record songs written by African Americans. For instance, black songwriter Otis Blackwell composed Elvis’ hit songs “Don’t Be Cruel” and “All Shook Up.” Of course, Elvis was not the only white “rock and roller” of his time. Carl Perkins, Bill Haley, and Buddy Holly were among the many others. However, Elvis was by far the most successful, as exemplified by his dominance of Billboard’s charts, his claim to being the best selling solo artist of all
time, and his iconic status. Despite the controversy that surrounded him and his “devil’s” music, Elvis transcended previous racial barriers, making rock and roll marketable to white, mainstream audiences in a way that no black artist could, given the time period. Now fast-forward a few decades. Hip-hop/rap music is rising from black culture much the same way that rock and roll did. It is impossible to pinpoint a particular origin of hip-hop/rap music. James Brown, the creator of funk music, certainly influenced hip-hop music. During, the 1970’s, DJs in the Bronx began isolating and emphasizing the instrumentals and percussion in songs. The roots of rapping include, but are not limited to, rhythmic labor songs, blues, and jazz poetry. Whatever its origins, hip-
hop and rap music were entirely black styles of music, at least initially. The earliest rap groups and rappers like The Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five, and LL Cool J were all African American. Arriving on the scene a little later, The Beastie Boys were a white exception. Eminem grew up listening to many different rappers, most notably, LL Cool J, The Beastie Boys, and Ice T. Initially, Eminem struggled to gain acceptance and recognition in the black Detroit rap scene (in this instance being white was an obstacle). His underground album Infinite, released locally in 1996, sold few copies. But everything changed when Eminem began working with rapper and producer Dr. Dre, founder of Aftermath Entertainment, a subsidiary of Interscope Records. Dr. Dre is a comparable figure to Sam Phillips (aside from their race). Just as Phillips realized Elvis’ potential, Dre realized Eminem’s and seized the opportunity. The first album he made with Eminem, The Slim Shady LP, was released in 1999, at the end of a decade that had been dominated by black gangster rappers like Dr. Dre, Tupac, and the Notorious B.I.G. Despite that, the album was immediately successful, selling millions of copies. It was followed by the Marshall Mather’s LP (2000), The Eminem Show (2002), Encore (2004), Relapse (2009), and Recovery (2010), all of which sold millions, if not ten million copies, and made him the best selling artist of the 2000’s. He easily outsold all other (black) rappers. To what can such major success be attributed? Certainly Eminem is talented and his content and style are
unique, but undoubtedly the color of his skin played a part. Just like Elvis with rock and roll, being white allowed Eminem to connect with a white portion of the population that had previously been unable to relate to hip-hop/rap music. He made hip-hop/rap more mainstream, as proven by that fact that his album, The Marshall Mathers LP, was nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys, which was previously unheard of for a rap album. Being white also allowed Eminem to receive playtime on radio stations (mostly rock stations) that would not play black hip-hop/ rap music. In his songs, Eminem openly admits to and discusses the role being white played in his career. The following excerpts are from his song “White America” from The Eminem Show: Look at my sales, let’s do the math, if I was black, I would’ve sold half, I ain’t have to graduate from Lincoln High School to know that. Every fan black that I got, was probably his [Dr. Dre], in exchange for every white fan that he’s got, like damn, We just swapped, sittin’ back lookin’ at, shit, wow, I’m like my skin is it starting to work to my benefit now.
This next excerpt is from the song “Without Me” from the same album, and in it Eminem also compares himself to Elvis: No I’m not the first king of controversy, I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley, To do black music so selfishly, And use it to get myself wealthy.
However, Eminem goes on to say,
soon
Twenty million other white rappers emerge, but no matter how many fish in the sea It’ll be so empty without me.
Here, he is hitting on the ideas that, yes, he is white and yes, he is successful, but were he not also talented, he would just be another “white nobody.” Similarly, it is important to recognize and remember that the music of Elvis and Eminem is authentic and that they did not adopt black genres of music for exploitative purposes. They were both genuinely passionate about their music. Elvis grew up hearing the blues and it inspired him, and there is nothing wrong with that. The hardships that Eminem raps about are drawn (directly or indirectly) from his life experience and are not just for the sake of
appearances. Still, being white aided Elvis and Eminem, and it may continue to prove helpful to new white artists. Clearly, race has always played a role in the music industry, from the time of Elvis and before, to the modern day. Generally speaking, white artists have had access to great resources and different and larger audiences than their black counterparts. As time has passed, black musicians have gained increasing recognition— black rappers had much greater commercial success than the black pioneers of rock and roll—but the system is still not perfect. Hopefully, some day, musicians of all races will be treated and viewed equally.
Elvis photos c/o NBC News and eftekasat.net Eminem photo c/o PC-Wallpapers