Are Suge Knight’s accusations against Eminem justified?

You want to piss me off? Ok, bring up two stereotypes that some people like to apply to Marshall Mathers: sexism and racism!
As a single mom of two bi racial kids, do you really think that I would buy Eminem’s records if I thought that he was a blatant racist and a misogynist?

Suge Knight, the founder of Death Row recently implied that Eminem was a racist and a misogynist:

“When Eminem came out, I liked him. I thought he could rap, and I thought he was funny… But when you start saying black women are nigger bitches and gold diggers, then I’ve got a problem because I’ve got a mother, I’ve got daughters.

You cross a line when you start stereotyping a race. Eminem is making his money off black people and black culture, then turning around and degrading black women. He’s a racist.”

It is funny to see people like Irv Gotti and Suge Knight who spread a degrading image of black women through their lyrics point fingers at Marshall Mathers, calling him a sexist person. Don’t fall into their trap if you’re not familiar with rap music and hip hop culture: rap music lyrics might often have a misogynistic content, but the rules of rap also allow female emcees to bash males in their lyrics.

Ice Cube’s lyrics are at least as sexist as Eminem’s and I would never call O’ Shea Jackson a sexist person, because I make a difference between a character and real life.
Eminem is not the first nor the last rapper to call women sluts, hoes and bitches. Many people have called Eminem a misogynist out of ignorance. It is clear that Marshall Mathers doesn’t hate women. A misogynist wouldn’t add in a song like Kill You « I’m just playing ladies, you know I love you ». Eminem is a man who has a dark sense of humor, he plays with words and people gotta learn how to read him between the lines.

People such as Suge Knight, Irv Gotti , Ja Rule and Benzino (and the list goes on…) should learn how to respect black women’s image first before claiming that Eminem is degrading them. Because they are black, is it ok for them to call them down ass bitches? Is it ok for them to show nudity and to sell sex in their videos and magazines? Is it ok, because of their skin color to sell « big booties » and « hip hop honeys » in the same hip hop mags?

Eminem did a regrettable mistake in his past. I don’t think that his Foolish Pride song is defendable. However, I think that anybody who calls Marshall Mathers a racist is very wrong. Shady people like Suge Knight, who have blood on their hands and who were involved in dark affairs, would like the public to believe that Eminem is a racist man who takes advantage of Blacks by making money out of their music.

I have said it many times, but I will repeat it as much as needed: Eminem has spent most of his life with black people. He embraced their culture and has a passion for their music. Marshall’s best friends are black. A black man, Andre Young aka Dr Dre, who you can count among his best friends, signs his checks.
On the local Detroit scene, Eminem collaborates with many black artists. Eminem is not a culture stealer, he is an enrichment to rap music, because he is an amazing lyricist who sounds like nobody else.

As for his former tapes, Chaos Kid, has totally situated a context that the Source owners wanted to misrepresent for their own commercial interests.
Not only had Eminem broken up with his black girlfriend in a context of high racial tensions that was typical to Detroit in the early 90’s, the Foolish Pride song is one of the songs that belongs to those « suckering rhymes » (the name says it all) created by Eminem and his fellow wite emcees in reaction to a rejection against a black community that didn’t really want to hear about white emcees.

My readers also need to acknowledge that the whole  Eminem is a racist thing is part of a big commercial plot.

A greedy emcee from Detroit, Aroc and two accomplices, have sold Eminem’s former tapes to Benzino for a record deal. Eminem’s former tapes were not intended to publication. The lyrics to those songs have never been written down. Benzino, who has proven to be a big opportunist and a person with no ethics, has used those tapes in order to break Eminem’s career and to get noticed as a « rapper ».

Today, the man who bashed Eminem has resigned from the Source that currently faces bankruptcy. The man who claimed that he defended black women’s image faces some sexual harassment charges.

I think that violent and dishonest people like Suge Knight, Irv Gotti and Benzino should keep their mouth shut about Eminem.

Eminem has already apologized for his former mistake. Now Suge wants Eminem to participate to a summit and justify himself again? I don’t see any logical reason for Eminem to participate to such a reunion, unless Suge intends to trap him. This wouldn’t be the first time a dangerous man like him tried to get somebody knocked out (Suge paid somebody to assault Dr Dre at the 2004 Vibe Awards) or killed for his own dirty interests.

Eminem was clever enough to stay out of his beef with Dr Dre. Why would he meet a person that has obvious bad intentions?

Besides his murder charges, Suge Knight has done horrible things in his life. I think that his own sins don’t allow him the right to judge one single mistake of a man who lives for hip hop and who has not the big bad wolf role some people would like him to endorse in order to serve their own interests.