Eminem wrote Rap God to annihilate his enemies. Little did the Detroit rapper know that this particular song can be used to also annihilate some centurion-old philosophers which had some crooked and crazed and cold-blooded ideologies about popular culture. Look, I was going to take it easy on them not to hurt their feelings. But I am only going to get this one chance.
Our Doberman of today is Eminem. Eminem who in 2013 released the album The Marshall Matters LP 2 with the mythical song Rap God. Eminem who thanks to that particular song entered the Guinness World Records for most words (1560 to be exact) in a hit single.
Our poodle of today is the Frankfurt School. The Frankfurt School who did many wondrous things as describing cultural hegemony (for those who do not know: the media presented is tool to promote a ruling-class narrative). The Frankfurt School who also did many wicked things as cementing the difference between high art and low art. Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno, we got beef with you today.
Our Goliath is Eminem, ready to slay the Adorno Giant.
Listen, do not misunderstand me. I know that Adorno had the best intentions when he wrote down his ideas about the cultural industry. The aim was to reveal the capitalistic and venomous and parasitic hegemony that could be hidden in popular culture. But through doing that Adorno demonized many of sub- and counterculture.
Understand, my beef is not with the ideas of cultural hegemony, or even the cultural industry. It is with the concept of the existence of a difference between high art and low art. The intrinsic nature of high art. The commodity of low art. High art for the sake of art itself. Low art for the sake of soulless, searching-for-money, senseless sacrifice to appease the ruling class.
Enter Eminem with enough rhymes to maybe try to help get some low art through tough times.
If art exists just for the sake of being art, the art that gets the highest acclaim is the art that is most artistic. The art that showcases the mastery of the craft. The art that reaches to display the virtuoso of its maker. It is Mozart writing another ingenious and intricate and inspiring composition just to show Salieri that he can.
It is Eminem making a diss-track to annihilate his enemies.
Rap God exists as an artistic showcase to display the virtuoso of its maker. Virtuoso in rap is not to be compared to virtuoso in classical music. Virtuoso here is related to vocal-skill, validating rhythm, and vexing impressive provocations. Virtuoso is being able to rap 6.14 words per second. Supersonic speed is showcasing virtuoso.
Acclaim is an essential part in high art culture. It is the titles, the awards, the cultural heritage that solidify the autonomy of the high art. This acclaim is given from the art field itself. Critics. Contemporaries. Characters that have the cultural capital to do this.
Again, critical acclaim is different for rap than for more traditional ‘high’ art. But rap has their own critics and contemporaries and characters with their own unique cultural capital. And Eminem does refer to this specific acclaim in Rap God: /Inspired enough to one day grow up, blow up and be in a position to meet Run-D.M.C. and induct them into the motherfuckin' Rock’n'Roll Hall of Fame/
And I hear you; “Low art is ‘low’ because it perpetuates the capitalistic myth of success, sends a venomous message of hegemony, while clamping onto young minds like a parasite slowly destroying their ideologies as it feeds of their innocence and naivety. Eminem made a shit-ton of money with this song, and only made this song for the money.”
To you I say; truly listen to the song again.
Rap God is a defense of the skill of its maker. Rap God is a defense of the music-genre itself. Rap God remarkably refrains from bragging of the rich resources of its maker, and is instead filled with ingenuity and intricate lyrics and inspiring vocal techniques.
Virtuoso and critical acclaim and mastery of the craft can be found in all the corners of the art world. Eminem is our Goliath that has slain the myth of difference between high and low art.
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