Eminem's Message About the World in Which We Live
by Irene Monroe

During the Annual Grammy Award in February, I, like millions of television viewers, anxiously awaited witnessing the most controversial performance of the evening -- the duet between the "bete blanche" of rap, Eminem, and the openly gay megastar Sir Elton John.

Ten minutes before the eleventh hour, the duo performed one of Eminem's tamer songs from "The Marshall Mathers LP," "Stan," a song that clearly showcases Eminem's attempting to exorcise both his own homosexual and homophobic feelings.

While their performance proved to be anticlimactic compared to the month-long hype which led up to it, the odd couple left its audience no doubt entertained, but somewhat mystified as to their motives.

Sir Elton says he is a big fan of Eminem's. His acceptance to perform with Eminem might have genuinely been an act of offering an olive branch to Eminem, rather than a crass attempt to expand and crossover to a younger fan base. As Sir Elton told the Associated Press, "If I thought for one minute that he was...hateful... I wouldn't do it...I'd rather tear down walls between people rather than build them up." However, the olive branch offering broke into two after the Grammys when Eminem told MTV News he did not even know that Elton is gay when he extended the invitation.

That is unfortunate, but tangential to the real issues of censorship, artistic freedom and hate speech.

Lyrics from Eminem's song "Criminal," for example, where he sings, "My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge/ That'll stab you in the head whether you're a fag or lez/ Or the homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-vest/ Pants or dress -- hate fags? The answer's 'yes'" should not be censored. But we must all realize, however, that there is a causal relationship between hate speech and hate crimes. Moreover, with three Grammys on Eminem's shelf, misogynistic and homophobic lyrics are not only ignored but also fiercely defended under the bigger umbrella of freedom of speech and artistic expression.

Michael Greene, president and CEO of the Recording Academy, in introducing the long-awaited performance of Eminem and Sir Elton reminded the audience of a performer's artistic freedom. "Music has always been the voice or rebellion...It's a mirror of our culture, sometimes reflecting a dark and disturbing underbelly obscured from the view of most people of privilege, a militarized zone which is chronicled by CNN of the inner city -- rap and hip-hop music. We can't edit out the art that makes us uncomfortable. That's what our parents tried to do to Elvis, the Stones and the Beatles...Let's not forget that sometimes it takes tolerance to teach tolerance."

"Tolerance" is the operative word in Greene's speech. As much as the act of tolerance aims to be fair, inclusive and objective, the act of tolerance is also an internal cultural censor, a social indicator of the times in which we live. Case in point: when the movie moguls at Warner Brothers in 1927 released "The Jazz Singer," with the legendary white actor Al Jolson performing in black-face and belting out a passionate rendition of "Mammy," this art form revolutionized the motion picture industry for that era.

Where clearly the American public once tolerated and applauded the then-perceived artistic genius of white actors performing in black-face (the stereotypic images of the African American minstrel tradition), people today, both black and white, would be outraged because there is no cultural tolerance for it.

In commenting on that era, African American movie historian Donald Bogle wrote in "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks," "Jolson's ever-crooning-swooning darky jester was a classic example of the minstrel tradition at is sentimentalized, corrupt best. But it was a great movement for the movies."

Eminem apologists -- both heterosexuals and queers -- give cultural qualifiers and spurious explanations for his epithets. They say that Eminem's form of rapping is an innovative social commentary on the attitudes and reality of the streets that he uniquely depicts via characters in his lyrics. Many of his supporters have compared his style to that of movie directors who depict the often brutal and hash reality of life via films.

And with Dr. Dre -- the African American rap music mogul who discovered Eminem -- picking up a Grammy for Producer of the Year, this is indeed a great moment for rap music.

But let us not forget that Eminem is a disturbing mirror of where we are as a nation.

To censor his work by editing out his homophobic and misogynistic lyrics would only give us the momentary illusion that Eminem is no longer a clear and eminent danger to the public good. It would not give us, however, any protection from the culture that packaged, praised and produced him.

For affiliated content about positive ways that rap music is being used to address social issues, check out Johnny Temple's "Hip-hop Campus Activism" article from the September 2000 issue of "The Witness."

To learn more about the history of black-face minstrelsy, visit the following website created by the producers of Spike Lee's controversial recent movie, "Bamboozled":

http://www.bamboozledmovie.com/minstrelshow/index.html

About Irene Monroe and More Queer Take Columns