by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
The Globe and Mail, May 1999
Republished with permission

Let's state the obvious first, only because it's so obvious I'm amazed no one has noticed it. When the Columbia Journalism Review recently wrote an excellent piece criticizing the way print media have bungled the very real threat of Eminem to women and gays (because the aging boomer critics are afraid to look old), the writer nonetheless referred to Eminem as a "crossover" artist. Crossover. Huh.

It's funny. Article after article about this most vilified and most lauded pasty-faced pimply "rapper of the year" have made the same error, referring to Eminem as a "white rapper" too many times to list here. A crossover artist. Crossing over from what?

While we should all pay attention to the vile lyrics of Eminem's work, we should also pay close attention to the equally vile way the media have focused so much on this one offensive rapper out of hundreds, constantly reminding the public of his whiteness. See, in the modern press, which ostensibly seeks to be diverse and multicultural in its coverage of people and society, the only time people are ever described as "white" is when they have committed a hate crime.

Eminem is no exception. The rest of the time, it is only the rest of the population, all of those deemed to be "others" -- which is to say, outsiders -- who are described by skin colour. Don't believe me? Examine your newspapers.

In the case of Eminem, I would argue he has been noticed and crucified in the press only because he is white, and, according to the prejudices of the dominant class, is perceived by writers and editors to be acting outside of the range of acceptability for his type. When darker-skinned men rap endlessly of raping women, killing gays and shooting each other, no one in our commercial media seems to be bothered. After all, the media seem to say through their silence, we all know darkies are savages.

Tell this to the men (and they are almost always men) who produce the pieces crucifying Eminem, and they will look tremendously uncomfortable. I know. Until recently, I worked for such people, and I have been interviewed by them on MTV and NBC. More than once, I have been told that Eminem is worse than his black and brown counterparts because he is more violent and more dangerous than other rappers. I have also been told Eminem is more dangerous because he is more popular. None of this is true.

What is true is that a frightening double standard is applied by our media to rappers of varying skin tones. The lighter your skin, the more shocking your lyrics are seen to be. The darker your skin, the more "expected" your bad behaviour.

This, my friends, is called racism and stereotyping, and it, too, is a form of violence -- as objectionable as Eminem's lyrics. But who is going to criticize the critics?

Who is going to stand up and say the media are just as hideous as Eminem? I am. My question to my peers in the media is this: Why aren't you protesting violent, woman-hating, gay-bashing lyrics of darker-skinned men? Answer honestly, then tell me you're better than Eminem.

Nelly is a dark-skinned rapper from St. Louis who has sold more than four million copies of his debut album, Country Grammar, in the United States. The album held the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 for eight consecutive weeks, making it one of the top-selling albums of the year. His catchy, bluesy sing-song rap songs blast from SUVs in every suburb in the land. But the major networks and newspapers are not concerned that he makes disparaging reference to "dykes," talks about forcing himself on women, and says things like, "Pull this trigger shit off the window/thru the head of your son."

And imagine if a white rapper such as Eminem were to chant the words spewed out by popular black rapper Jay-Z, whose songs regularly grace pop radio and MTV: "All Black in the club/the outcome ain't good/them niggaz act like wolves, how come?" Jay-Z also talks of roughing up priests and nuns, dealing drugs and murdering people. Similarly, black rapper Ja Rule says, "Guns will pop, niggaz will drop." What if Eminem said that? Popular rapper DMX speaks of having to murder his best friend after the friend betrays him. Shyne raps of violent rape and murder.

I repeat my question: Why aren't the media noticing? These are not obscure artists, with minor hits. These are multi-platinum pop stars who happen to have dark skin. This is mainstream. The reason the media ignores their sickening lyrics is simple. White reporters are often afraid to seem racist by criticizing what they ignorantly think is a foreign culture. Dark-skinned reporters, such as Frank Williams, the editor of the hip-hop publication Source, too often make themselves over in the stereotypes the dominant class has of them. They embrace offensive material as "keeping it real," without ever realizing it's musical blackface. Too few women are critics at all, and the few women "of colour" in our news organizations know all too well they have long had to choose between their concerns as women and their "loyalty" to "men of colour."

The saddest part of all of this, of course, is that a look at the history of the Americas will show that the very men who are assumed by the dominant class to be more violent by nature are, in fact, the ones who have suffered the most violence. And the men who are supposedly more civilized are the very ones who throughout history have committed genocide against indigenous Americans and enslaved Africans. When will the media acknowledge this history and rid itself of narrow and senseless stereotypes?

So here's a message to Canada: Go ahead and protest Eminem. I do. But don't do so hypocritically. If you truly believe all people are equal, and I do, and if you truly object to dehumanizing lyrics, then you will not accept the violent lyrics of one shade of people and object to the violent lyrics of another. Until the media give equal scrutiny to the hateful works of dark-skinned rappers, all their bellowing about Eminem will be nothing but hypocritical hot air.

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez is an award-winning journalist, essayist and musician based in Los Angeles.