WORKING CLASS STRIFE: A reader writes, in response to the post below, to say that I deal little with the kids who actually do grow up in circumstances like those Eminem raps about. First let me say this: Eberstadt is so selective in her use of quotes from artists like Snopp Dogg and Blink 182 that it might be said that she is suggesting the
main project of rap and postpunk music has been to lambaste our broken home society. If any theme is to be culled from rap it's how great it is to be a rapper so one can enjoy illegal drugs and promiscuous sex, while postpunk's emphasis tends to lie on screwing authority and making fun of boring teenage existence. I say this first because I think the sampling of lyrics Eberstadt is pulling from is not the dominant theme of either of these musical styles and thus has even less credibility in trying to be offered out as evidence of a widespread cultural phenomenon.
I think the rise of victimhood as a catchall for any struggle one faces in life has more to do with why this music is popular among working class youth. To do this I must minimize a bit the problems faced, as a rule it would seem, by those people growing up in broken homes. Alcoholism, domestic violence, unhappy marriages, selfish parental escapism, these are all real problems that plague not just working class America, but certainly plague it more heavily than other sectors of society. However, they do not afflict all homes with equal vengeance. For every case of physical domestic abuse, there are probably ten cases in decreasing orders of magnitude of verbal abuse. Out of those ten, three might be manifestations of a deep dysfunction in the family, while the other seven might be what was called in earlier generations "just life." Please don't email to say I am excusing verbal abuse (though the question of whether words can be illegal is an interesting one for another interesting time). What I am saying is that nothing short of the complete sanitization of the household of all familial maladies is enough to declare that household functional (which, if you happen to achieve such familial cleanliness is yet another form of the dysfunctional family found mainly in the suburbs!). Divorced, dysfunctional, mom drinks, dysfunctional, father yells, dysfunctional. Find just one trait and you too can be part of the aggrieved. The ascendancy of the victim mentality coupled with the desire for people to "analogize up" from their own circumstances make people latch on to Eminem as a "speaker of truth." Yes, I'm saying that many working class people like Eminem because it makes their lives take on the glory of melodrama. Their struggle in life is no longer unsung. Indeed, it's the struggle of the moment. Anger, in this sense, gives them an elevated way to look at their own lives, as a monumental battle against the damaging effects of poor parenting. This mythology, no doubt more viscerally true for some people in the audience than others, is a potent drug to take in the face of dim prospects in life. It may not solve their problems at home, but at least it assures them their struggle is tough and it isn't their fault.
P.S. I think it is seriously embarrassing when academics proclaim some moron like Eminem "right" about something 1) in the effort to seem hip, current, and observant and 2) because they take seriously what should not be taken seriously, i.e. that people like Eminem and Snopp Dogg are anything less than people cashing in street poses.
THE RAGE OF YOUTH: Mary Eberstadt argues in a new
essay that the rage displayed by today's rap and postpunk artists appeals to teenagers and young adults for reasons that are the precise carbon copy of those of the rock 'n roll era; early rockers rebelled against their parents for being too parental, while today's teens rebel against the fact that parents aren't parental enough. In making her case she cites Kurt Cobain as the progenitor of a movement which has blossomed in its own vulgar way into Eminem. It's a very interesting argument, and worth reading not only for its content but also as a great example of how the distance academics keep from the culture at large is often the wrong focal length at which to analyze that culture. I'd like to say, for no other reason than hearing it said in public, that I regard Nirvana as one of the best bands of the 90s and Eminem as a bunch of tripe. I think Eberstadt makes a radical misdiagnosis of why today's hateful lyrics appeal to the youth and with what, in fact, this music actually provides them. It may be that I am so decidedly unhip by mainstream standards, but the entire rap industry with few exceptions (Jeru da damaja, perhaps) appears to me just as perfectly executed a ruse as that of Britney Spears or the Backstreet Boys. Since the author focuses on the appeal of this music to white suburban youth, I'd like to begin there as well.
Eminem hates parents because they got divorced. Everclear yearns for the innocent trappings of their childhood toys. Snoop Dogg blames dad for all his vice. These artists were probably not studio concepts at the beginning of their careers, though they certainly are at this point. Do the massive sales of their records to white kids in the suburbs alert us to the growing anger and sadness in this population towards broken homes? I tend to think not. The people who pushing these records into gold and platinum status are middle and upper-middle class kids who enjoy pretending they are more 'real world' and grownup than they are. Their parents may be no model for 50s style nuclear parenting, but take out from Whole Foods, DSL in every room, and $20,000 first car as a birthright aren't exactly war on poverty issues either. What I describe may be the upper end of the Eminem fan base, but move a few notches down and you're still not really in doublewide territory yet. Can anyone seriously believe that the people sustaining the careers of Eminem and Snoop Dogg are trailer trash and criminals, or even more modestly the children of broken homes or alcohol saddled parents?
So why are they buying this stuff in the suburbs? It would be wrong to suggest that Eberstadt is completely off the trail. Many are attracted to these albums because of the anger and the violence. Yet, the anger these kids feel is not one so much born of strife but born out of lack of strife. They may be alienated from their parents, but not because these parents are addicted to drugs or sleeping around. Take a drive through the suburbs if you lack the good fortune of living in one and witness the anonymity. While the external uniformity might strike you at first, what goes on inside these homes turns on the same principle. With refrigerators stocked with self-service snacks, cell phones in every pocket, parental shuttle service offered between extracurricular events, the emphasis of the suburbs is clearly on safe and efficient living. Even in the poorer neighborhoods, where the particulars may not be as high end, the suburbs represent a retreat from the mishegoss and danger of urban life. In other words, these kids are too protected, perhaps not in a personal way like the 50s father who stares down each teenage boy who comes to date his daughter, but in a procedural way. Yes, there is certainly real resentment imbued by parents who buy their kids products as stand-ins for love, or parents who treat their children as products themselves to be developed and marketed and properly accessorized. But those are certainly not the concerns which dominate the world of rap. They are, however, factors that lead us toward a child who has little in his life that is his own, that he has struggled for and achieved. He is violent and angry because his life is so impersonal and inauthentic. Shams from the rap world who seem to lead lives of risk and reward appeal because not only are they angry at society, but because society seems to feel their anger. When they are angry they kill someone, or rape someone, or belittle their parents on the public record. The world feels their effects, but for the suburban youth attended to by family cell phone plans and weekly visits to the psychologist, there is no one to feel their rebellion. Eminem's trailer park life is perversely a fantasy because he both faces and annihilates obstacles in life, much like one would in a first person shooter video game. His anger is vindicated. For the suburban youth, material concerns are typically minimal, yet for the anger and alienation they feel towards their parents there is no receptacle.
I don't doubt that there are many out there who relate to the experiences of Eminem, many kids of working class parents who suffer as satellites of unhappy marriages. I simply doubt that white suburban youth and working class children of any race can be so easily joined with Eberstadt's broken home theory. These groups represent two different cultures, one who relates to these vulgar exploits, and one who watches and wishes it had something to relate to.