< I like Eminem, and my reasons are not solely intellectual. I am not trying to persuade anyone to listen to his music, buy his music, or support him in any way. I think that people are completely reasonable if they find him appalling. I am a lesbian, and I do consider myself a feminist, but I do not think that listening to Eminem is necessarily masochistic. These are some reasons why I listen to him:
1. Eminem's racial and class position in hip hop is different from other white rappers before him; His economic and emotional struggles seem genuine. Eminem is definitely symptomatic of the post-modern condition. His identity is a mixture of different (black and white American) cultures. He challenges the notion of cultural purity by being himself.
2. Eminem is honest about domestic violence. I do think that he is very biased, and he seems somewhat oblivious to the pain he must put his wife through, but I think that in order for Americans to truly confront domestic violence as an issue, we need to have a realistic picture of what it looks like. It is only within the last couple of years that institutions/organizations/police have been addressing non-heterosexual domestic violence as equally important (i.e. gay/lesbian, female-to-male, children-to-parents, etc.). This makes me wonder what else I (and other Americans) are failing to understand about the reality of domestic violence. Listening to certain Eminem songs make me think about this. This leads to my next point...
3. You may be thinking that it would be more fair to listen to Kim's side of the story. This is true. I have listened to Lydia Lunch and others speak frankly about being a victim of violence, and I am not saying that Eminem is somehow more important. However, an abusive person's account of the story is crucial if we are going to understand how to rehabilitate/change abusers and how complicated abusive situations are. Abuse can easily be reciprocal, and even when it is not, the complicated nature of relationships is evident in Eminem's songs.
4. His music is really catchy, and he is a creative and talented artist. Yes, I really think that.
The bottom line is that I think Eminem is frank and honest. I appreciate him on that level. I also think that what he represents culturally is interesting. I do not agree with very many things that he says, but that does not preclude me from listening to his music. I also find many things he says absolutely disgusting, but then again, I like shock value.