Who is Eminem’s main demographic? Do black youth make up a significant chunk of Eminem’s sales?
My gut feeling would be no. Ever since Eminem debuted what, 10 years ago, I could reliably know that if I was driving somewhere, heard an Eminem song blaring from some clown’s car beside me that I would look over and see a white kid driving.
Do black youth take Eminem’s music seriously? Is he respected anywhere near the level of other black rap artists by black youth? Or is he barely a notch above Vanilla Ice in their opinion?
Is he strictly where he is today because of suburban white youth?
White guy here. Though I went to a mostly black high school, so I can answer this question.
I was in high school when the Slim Shady LP and the Marshall Mathers LP came out. Eminem was pretty well respected for those albums. He sounded different from everybody, had really creative lyrics, and had no shortage of venom.
Since the first two albums were pretty raw and graphic, he had the respect of every high school kid in America, both black and white.
He lost respect once nine-year-olds were singing along to his music. I think that probably happened after his third album. I don’t know who listens to him now, but I remember most of my classmates listening to his first two albums
No one thought he was the best rapper ever, but everyone agreed he was better than average. Way better than Vanilla Ice.
Yes, but so are all the top selling black artists. No music gets popular if only black people like it. Black people make up only 12% of America, and they don’t all listen to the same music. To become a top selling artist you need white people buying your records.
The Slim Shady LP came out the year I graduated high school. Everybody I knew thought he was lame and belonged in the same category as Britney Spears. I still pretty much feel that way. He does have a lot of lyrical talent but it’s probably no greater than Britney or Justin’s dance talent. There was one guy I worked with at the time who liked him and bought his CD, but he was in his late 20s and he got made fun of for it.
Most of the people I know who like him are soccer moms and kids who were in elementary/middle school when he debuted. The only black guy I ever knew who liked him was a late-30s nerdy type whose favorite musician was Stevie Nicks.
Your friends didn’t have typical taste, then- which is fine, but I think it’s a given that suburban teens were the bulk of his fanbase. And they probably still are.
Which is why angry teens like it. Although I’m no longer (very) angry, and am now 24, I still have all of his albums, and bought his most recent one. I’d say the first 3 albums he was well respected amongst most people my age that were interested in rap, and I’m sure his popularity has waned with his more recent albums.
He flows better than ever in the most recent album, but IMO his lyrics are much weaker than they used to be.