Should ‘Slim Shady’ be cancelled? Rap star Eminem’s young fans say no

NEW YORK – Twenty-two years separated Without Me, Eminem’s cocky, impish and defiantly tasteless 2002 smash, from Houdini, the lead single from the American rapper’s latest studio album, The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace).

But the new track, with its sneering tone and catalogue of quips that make punchlines out of both American rapper Megan Thee Stallion’s 2020 shooting and contemporary identity politics, transmits a resounding message: In the world of Eminem, nothing much has changed.

Since the #MeToo movement exploded in 2017, reckonings around sexual harassment, toxic workplaces, body positivity and gender identity have changed cultural expectations for language and behaviour.

Young people, surprised at what the generations that preceded them endured and accepted, have largely led the charge, helping “cancel” offending figures in campaigns that ignite on social media.

Yet Eminem – an artiste who has made a career of thumbing his nose at social mores, rapping lyrics that can be seen as glorifying violence against women, mocking the infirm and normalising homophobic slurs – has persisted.

Nine of his last albums have debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Houdini, which came out in June, opened at No. 2 on the Hot 100 singles chart, his best solo showing since 2010.

The Death Of Slim Shady, Eminem’s 12th album, dropped on July 12, and what is striking is how wide his support base remains – and specifically how much loyalty he has engendered among younger listeners who might be expected to find his wordplay offensive, if not abhorrent.

For several years, a handful of online voices, amplified by the media, have helped stoke the notion that members of Gen Z would like to see Eminem retroactively cancelled.

Upon the release of Houdini, one TikTok user called out a lyric about a Siamese “transgender cat” that “identifies as black” that seemed designed for maximum antagonism. In a widely viewed video, the poster scoffed at listeners who still engage with Eminem, 51, a figure he referred to as a “grandpa”.

But sincere posts like that were rare, and dozens more pushed back in the comments. “He’s supposed to be controversial, it’s his whole marketing gig,” one commenter wrote.

The same story is playing out across Reddit, where younger listeners consistently defend Eminem. One laid out a road map of sorts for younger fans of the rapper: “acting like Gen Z can’t be progressive and enjoy Em’s antics at the same time, they can do both, I’m doing both rn (right now).”

Instead, the idea of an intergenerational battle over whether Eminem ought to be cancelled has gained traction on TikTok – as a source of satirical videos.

In June, a user known as Lucas portrayed figures from various generations – Gen X, millennial, Gen Z and Gen Alpha – in a clever rapid-fire comedy short that has racked up more than five million views, in which the Gen X and millennial characters insist repeatedly that their Gen Z counterpart is “triggered” by the new single.

“There is no one out there who is seriously trying to cancel Eminem,” the Gen Z representative retorts. “I have no idea why both of you do this every couple of years.”

Eminem himself does seem to have generations – and his legacy – on his mind.

The Death Of Slim Shady has been marketed as a farewell to the smirking persona he introduced in the late 1990s.

Guilty Conscience 2 is a showdown between Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers (his given name) that ends with a gunshot – and the possibility the battle was just a dream. Its second single, Tobey, features lyrics boasting of his place in the rap pantheon and a feature from BabyTron, a 25-year-old rapper from Detroit – where Eminem is also from – representing his home town’s future.

Some TikTok users have chronicled how Eminem has actually strengthened their bond with their children. Upon the release of Houdini, Ms Chrissy Allen, who specialises in light-hearted skits and shorts, posted a video captioned: “My 8-year-old son is obsessed with Eminem and I couldn’t be prouder.”

“We were playing Eminem’s (2004 song) Mockingbird one day, and he knew all the words to it,” Ms Allen said in a joint video interview with her son, Brady, from her home in San Diego. “And I was like, ‘Man, how do you kids know this?’ Even though he hates all the other music I listen to. But for some reason, Eminem is just one of those cool 1990s artistes that’s cool to listen to for kids.”

In June, Mr Justin Charity, a staff writer for sports and pop culture website and podcast network The Ringer, reflected on both how little Eminem has evolved over more than 20 years, and how little that fact seems to matter in terms of his sustained impact and success. For more than a decade, Mr Charity writes, Eminem has “successfully defied every ageing critic and each disillusioned fan imploring him to grow up”.

For some younger fans, Eminem is not a cultural lightning rod so much as an inspiring artiste who speaks to them on a visceral level.

Emma Filipovic, a 16-year-old vocalist from Austria whose renditions of Eminem songs including Mockingbird and Lose Yourself (2002) from reality singing show The Voice Kids have tens of millions of views online, said that when she first heard the rapper about five years ago through her older brother, she was drawn to his work despite the language barrier.

“Back then, even though I didn’t really understand the lyrics, I still felt the emotion he transported. But now that I understand it more deeply, I feel like he always talks about his life struggles, pain, family issues he went through,” she said in a video interview. “So it really means a lot.” NYTIMES