Recognizing many years of hard work and dedication to his work, as of 2021, Eminem has been rightfully nominated for a whopping 44 Grammy’s and has won 15 in total. However, not everyone is a fan but even those who never paid particular interest to him previously, have now decided to jump on the “Cancel Eminem 2021” bandwagon.
As I usually do for my second posts on the same artist, I could go on and on about all of Em’s discography and lyrical accomplishments, although right now, I am most interested in discussing the backfire he has been witnessing in his late-career years. In February 2021, a TikTok user (who has since been removed) uploaded a short clip from the 2010 Eminem and Rihanna song, “Love the Way You Lie.” The user called out the line, “If she ever tries to f***ing leave again, Imma tie her to the bed and set this house on fire.” In the text written over the uploaded video, the user wrote, “Yesssss lets cancel him”, suggesting that Eminem was a supporter of domestic violence.
Ironically, the other main character in the song, Rihanna herself has defended the song’s message in the past. “It just was authentic. It was real,” Rihanna said of the song in 2010. This is a huge turning point for this “Cancel Eminem” culture because just a year before “Love The Way You Lie” came out, Rihanna was hospitalized due to domestic violence and assault between her and her significant other at the time, Chris Brown. Therefore, having Eminem collab with her on this track was only meant to promote the awareness of battering and domestic abuse that Rihanna felt necessary to be discussed.
Overall, Eminem raps about the real-life struggles he experienced such as his dad leaving six months after he was born, his mother struggling with addiction and lack of parenting, living in poverty, dropping out of high school, and witnessing friends be murdered at such a young age. With that being said, Eminem didn’t grow up in this much less-than “Brady Bunch” lifestyle to rap about sunshine and rainbows. His lyrics are a representation of who he is as a person and as an influencer to those who struggle with the same hardships.
I think the people who want to cancel his struggle, cancel the negative association that they hear. But what they don’t hear is the gratefulness of those that Eminem has helped throughout the years by giving a voice to their struggles. Just because it doesn’t fit someone else’s lifestyle doesn’t mean it hasn’t helped those who are have felt like an outsider. In all, it seems that Eminem isn’t really going anywhere anytime soon.