When music inspires racism, homophobia and hatred

Is Eminem’s music simply a form of self-expression, or something far more sinister?

By SHAFeeN MUSTAQ

on the train home the other day I sat two seats away from a man blaring Eminem on his headphones. He wore a torn singlet, was covered in tatts and had a ‘piss off look’. One might assume (if one was prone to judging a book by its cover) that listening to such music makes the man. He got a phone call and suddenly his features broke into a huge smile and his face softened as he cooed into the phone with (presumably) someone he fancied on the other end of the line. Now, if you judged him before aren’t you feeling a little bit ashamed now? Switch to another day, another train and a bored looking suited young man who was sitting across from me. Looking every bit the prim and proper corporate gentleman, he flicked his phone cover open to revel that he was listening to Eminem. He then took a phone call in which his placid features contorted into that of disgust, as he cussed down the line in a verbal barrage that would have left the mafia trembling.

Judging a book by its cover then is obviously not a good idea. But can this be extended to judging the music of Eminem?

So who or what is Eminem?

For those of you who like me, do not listen to hip hop and rap, and prefer other music, here is a quick summary I collated. Eminem is one of the best-selling artists in the world, the best-selling artist of the 2000s, and has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

Now that’s a lot of accolades even in an industry where a teen in a car singing about Friday can go viral. I listened to some of his songs and all I heard was a lot of swearing, a lot of aggressiveness and a lot of violence against women and blacks and... and general insanity.

I then did a google search on here and advocate violence against women,” he said. Flaherty cited a transcription of Eminem’s song Kill You, which includes lines like “Slut, you think I won’t choke no whore/till the vocal cords don’t work in her throat no more?” Liberal parlimentarian Michael Bryant suggested that the government should even lay hate crime charges against Eminem. Some people however, said the issue was one of free speech. Eminem’s Toronto concert went on as planned that night.

So on the whole Eminem and his music is sexist, vulgar, racist, profane and downright insane. I am not alone in being disgusted by his lyrics and his colourful life, which he proudly sings about.

‘Why is Eminem so popular’ and guess what? Most of the results talked about why he SHOULDN’T be popular. And yet… he is one of the world’s bestselling artists.

On October 26, 2000, Eminem was meant to perform at a concert in Toronto’s Skydome. However, Ontario Attorney General Jim Flaherty argued that Canada should stop Eminem at the border. “I personally don’t want anyone coming to Canada who will come

What is most worrying however is that young kids, particularly young men, like this music. They see nothing wrong with the profanity, the violence, the negativity and the racism. What they listen to is the rhythm, and the selfawareness. I asked a young male friend of mine and he said, “I think the way you think and speak has more to do with the people around you... Art and entertainment have a fairly minimal impact on people. It’s often used as a scapegoat and an excuse”. While I disagree with this and think that art and popular culture have an extraordinarily significant impact on people, it is interesting to note just how confident he was with this statement.

Is it true then, that this music is just another form of selfexpression? I like to think that freedom of speech stops where the rights of others begin. If music is going to impede the fight for equality between genders, between races and between religions, then we need to rethink the place of such music in our society. If music is making young men more violent and careless, and if music is contributing to a misguided sense of the acceptability of rape, racism, homophobia or misogyny, then we need to rethink the dissemination of this type of music to our youth.

If one person’s self-expression and right to practice his art is influencing a myriad of others into emulating his violent, colourful and drug addled life, then we need to rethink the freedom we give to such people to be ‘role models’ for society. If music is the food of love, play on. But if music is the antagonist of social discontent then: Stop. Rewind. Rethink.