Eminem made an appearance at the BET Hip-Hop Awards and rapped about Trump on Tuesday, Oct 10 in a video titled “The Storm.” The statement he made was far from civil — his words offered full defamation of the president, in addition to disowning any of his Trump-supporting fans.
Vogue made a valid point in their article “Eminem’s Trump Takedown Proves That It Takes a White Rapper for the World to Pay Attention”: people watched and listened to Eminem bash the POTUS, and they seemingly approved.
The overtly crude statement concerning Trump has seen no backlash whatsoever. Here is the video:
The video offers an entire rap made up of lines mocking the POTUS: “Cause he cannot withstand the fact we’re not afraid of Trump,” and “he says he wants to lower our taxes, then who’s going to pay for his extravagant trips back and forth with his fam to his golf resorts and his mansions?” Eminem even refers to Trump as a “racist 94-year-old grandpa.”
As mentioned before, Eminem dedicates a few lines to his fans: “And any fan of mine / who’s a supporter of his / I’m drawing in the sand a line / you’re either for or against,” adding, “And if you can’t decide / who you like more and you’re split / on who you should stand beside / I’ll do it for you with this” as he throws up his middle finger. Talk about bold and controversial.
The president is notorious for attacking people who even hint at disagreeing with his views. It was recently seen with ESPN personality Jemele Hill, who has been suspended for two weeks for, heaven forbid, sharing personal opinion and beliefs via her personal Twitter account.
In addition to this, there was the incident involving Snoop Dogg’s music video for “Lavender” in which a Trump-like character is portrayed and is shot at by Snoop’s pistol. Trump responded harshly to the video and the rapper, calling for Snoop to be given jail time.
Unlike Hill and Snoop (who are both black), Eminem has been fully supported and praised for his stance against the POTUS. Trump has even remained silent on Twitter thus far concerning Eminem’s video and statement. In fact, he has tweeted at least five times about “fake news” over the last 24 hours — but no comment or response to Eminem is in sight.
As suggested by Vogue, Eminem’s whiteness stands out in comparison to the black artists and activists who have taken numerous stances against the President’s racism and oppression. Historically, hip-hop has been used by black artists as a way to be socially active, so it is no surprise to see Snoop point a finger at injustice. But when Eminem does it, it is something new — it is exciting to see a white rapper go face-to-face with the President of whiteness himself.
Eminem is using his platform and privilege for justice which is highly commendable. His fans (a large portion of them also being white) really support his freestyle, and it is refreshing to see such denouncement of Trump from the often silent majority.
But in the same breath, the rapper’s F*ck Trump Anthem will see no suspension, will cause no jail time and will continue to be uplifted and encouraged as monumental all due to the fact that he is white. And while it is great to see Eminem is using his voice unapologetically, it is important to keep in mind that black artists do not have that same opportunity and privilege.
(You can find the full rap transcribed here.)
