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Blog #7 – Eminem’s ‘Rock Bottom’ Response


As in a lot of songs in the genre of Hip Hop and Rap, the major themes that repeat themselves in every text are the aspects of hardship and rebellion. These themes are true advocates of a song.  For this we need an understanding of why we create, we create these texts to share a perspective or idea, the people who create these songs are hip hop just commonly have the themes of hardship and need of rebellion, often to lack of education, therefore, the Hip-hop and rap genres is implied to have its own accent.

Eminem’s use of language complements his identity, the artist I knew to come from struggles, in his hometown as well as a problem with family. His lack of education does a great job of stereotyping him and a man for a so-called ghetto. He uses some advanced vocabulary with a mix of half slang words. He knows what he is talking about, while still appealing to the audiences who will like the ghetto words better.  

Language plays a role in the context of the rap. He says, “rock bottom”, a term that means the lowest of the low. As the means to say that he is in a position so bad that it could not possibly get any worse. “My life is full of empty promises and broken dreams” is a quote with deep imagery, that sets the perspective of the artist's emotions. These comments on the context in which he raps improve the meaning and value of the song. It is clear that Eminem speaks from his heart, he focuses and makes comments based on his own experiences. It is easy to generalize, but when Eminem goes into detail with a range of situations it shows he is passionate about what he is communicating. Thus a much more powerful delivery. Similarly to Beyoncé’s song ‘Formation’, where she speaks generally but also she is campaigning the movement, the role of the artist becomes less about money but more about change.

In response to whether or not Eminem is authentic in creating the genre of hip-hop or just appropriating on it, I believe that with my knowledge of his background, he is truly appropriation on the platform that already existed, while I do think he brought it into the 21st century over the past 17 years, really I think he is pioneering the modern hip-hop on top of what had previously existed in the era of names like Tupac Shakur.

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