Rapper Eminem is currently under fire for what some are calling homophobic content in his latest single. Before you check to see if you somehow walked into a time machine, you should rest assured that this is still the year 2013 and not 1999.
Eminem’s new single called “Rap God” from his forthcoming album The Marshall Mathers LP2 . From the looks of it Eminem’s upcoming album is a tribute to his first album The Slim Shady LP . The two albums share similar cover art and now it appears as though Marshall Mathers is still rapping about the same things that contextually got him in hot water earlier in his career.
The lyrics in “Rap God” that have the LGBT community up in arms are as follows:
“While I’m practicing/ And now I should be able to break a motherf—in’ table/ Over the back of a couple of f—ots and crack it in half/ Only realized it was ironic.”
And again:
“You f–s think it’s all a game/’Til I walk a flock of flames/ Off of planking/ Tell me what in the f–k are you thinking?/ Little gay looking boy/ So gay I can barely say it with a straight face looking boy/ You witnessing a massacre like you watching a church gathering/ And take place looking boy/ Oy vey, that boy’s gay/ That’s all they say looking boy/ You get a thumbs up, pat on the back/ And a way to go from your label everyday looking boy/”
Eminem has addressed the angry response over the content in his new song “Rap God” in an interview with Rolling Stone . When he was questioned why he chose to use a derogatory word in the year 2013, Em said:
“It was more like calling someone a bitch or a punk or asshole. So that word was just thrown around so freely back then. I say so much shit that’s tongue-in-cheek. I poke fun at other people, myself. But the real me sitting here right now talking to you has no issues with gay, straight, transgender, at all. I’m glad we live in a time where it’s really starting to feel like people can live their lives and express themselves.”
One person that’s certainly not happy with the way Eminem has targeted the LGBT community is Boy George. The musician took to Twitter to express his dismay over Eminem’s use of the word f-g.
“F-g? Is this really recovery talk or are you running your own program these days? Really unhelpful.”
As most of you know Eminem has consistently angered the LGBT community for his use of homophobic terms in his lyrical content. In 2001, Eminem answered his critics by performing with openly gay singer Elton John at the Grammy Awards. After the performance of “Stan” was finished, Elton and Eminem embraced. It had seemed to be a unifying moment between an otherwise very contentious relationship between Eminem and the LGBT community.
Do you think Eminem is in the wrong for using homophobic slang in his lyrics?