9. © Eminem, 2002

© Gseman - Fotolia.com

The first lines you have just read are from “White America” (2002), an autobiographical song by Eminem.                   

Read the info text before you go to step 2.

When Eminem released his first album in 1996, no one would have expected that he would become such a successful and influential artist. By now, he has won 15 Grammy Awards, 8 American Music Awards, 17 Billboard Music Awards, an Oscar Award and a lot more. [1]

He is said to have “conquered Black music” and “broken racial barriers”. In the 1990s, rap / hip hop was still dominated by Afro-Americans,  who often expressed their "underprivilegedness" with this kind of music. It had been unthinkable before that a white artist would use “their” style and become successful. But coming from an “underprivileged” family himself, Eminem became the first  (white) rapper who gave “a voice and lyrics to the disaffected and disadvantaged white families” (condescendingly referred to as “white trash”).

Despite all this, his reputation is quite controversial: while his rap music is mainstream now, he rather confirmed the general stereotype of the criminal gangster rapper genre by using offensive language at the beginning of his career.

[1] www.eminem.com & https://www.levelman.com/how-eminem-conquered-black-music-and-white-privilege-with-the-marshall-mathers-lp-6b450f54920c/ & https://english.elpais.com/culture/2022-10-18/50-years-of-eminem-the-rapper-who-survived-addiction-and-controversy-capable-of-ending-any-career.html & https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/panorama/eminem-50-geburtstag-100.html

[2] dichotomy = a division or contrast between two groups or things that are completely opposite to and different from each other (OLD) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZIzD0ZfTFg

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