Tone Deaf

3.8.21

Eminem Tone Deaf Lyrical Music Video

In today’s age of society, we are constantly taught to think twice before we say something. One’s words can be misconstrued, taking offensively, or have a serious impact on the lives of others. Some may say, the world is much more sensitive today. Whether you believe this, or simply that we are being held to a higher standard of the knowledge and respect of all walks of life, times are different now. Certain things we may have been used to in music, would not fly today. The main culprit at hand, Eminem.

That is right, Eminem has been the latest victim to be placed into the “Cancel Culture” seat. Over the past week, many popular Gen Z kids on Tik Tok went viral in their quest to cancel Eminem. Their reasoning for this, was that his lyrics were offensive and cruel, and would not be okay if released today. They’ve asked how he can rap so boldly and proudly, about some of the topics he speaks on.

Now, if you have been an Eminem fan for decades, you are probably thinking of some of the crazy things he has said in songs like Amityville, Kill You, Fack. However, it seems like these kids have still yet to find these songs, and are upset with much more recent songs, like Love The Way You Lie. Though this feels so much more recent, Love The Way You Lie was released in 2010. The song has won eight awards, and was nominated for dozens of others, including five Grammy’s. Love The Way You Lie is definitely a touchy subject for those dealing with physical and mental abuse within a relationship, but just like movies or soap operas, Eminem is painting a picture, to not only share with others what he may have been through, which may or may not relate to your situation, but to then stop you from letting this happen. The concept can easily be missed into romanticizing a toxic relationship, but if we are cancelling him for this, there is plenty more canceling for us to do, because everyone has gone through something like this in their lives, and have recorded songs about it as well.

The trend to cancel Eminem and put an end to his controversial lyrics did not sit well with the millennials whom grew up listening to the Detroit rapper. Memes, parodies and remixes to his own tracks have gone viral on the internet, explaining that there will never be a cancellation of Eminem. They touch on times being different when he said he things, they touched on lyricism, and how different (and better) this was than the mumble rap music that kids are listening to today. The Stan’s are still out there, and they will not stand for the canceling of Eminem.

Cancel culture has been an interesting thing of the pandemic. On one hand, you are upset with someone for doing or saying something that goes against your morals, but then, you are trying to “cancel” them - aka, ruin their career. We have seen this happen so many times. To some artists, they brush it off, but to others it does hurt their spirits and it shows. Eminem is not one to show true emotion, but we do know that he heard about these cancelation rumors.

Coincidently, Eminem wrote a song Tone Deaf which was released earlier this year on Music To Be Murdered By Side B. On the track, Eminem basically says that he is tone deaf to the critics. He does not care about his lyrics offending people, he is going to continue doing what he does, and if he gets cancelled for it, so be it. So, on Friday, following the reports of the cancelation of Eminem, he released a lyrical animation video supporting his song Tone Deaf.

In the video, Eminem is pictured as a cartoon wearing his Beats By Dre headphones. He is ignoring a police officer, because he “can’t hear him,” and ultimately takes us through a day of misfit behaviors that he blames all on his alter-ego. If there is one thing that we do know from Eminem, is that he plays the role of his alter-ego in many of his songs to let go of his negative energy or thoughts, or talk about some past situations that he has overcome. It is quite clear in this video, that Eminem has heard the people that attempted to cancel him, and wants to remind them that this is him, and he is not going anywhere.

Eminem’s career has been built off of the “wow” factor. Shocking people by the things that he may say, or how he says it. He has been through the ringer of trying to put out new music that was not as jaw-dropping, because people would say that he fell off. In this world, you cannot really win or loose with everyone, so the best thing that you can do, is be yourself.

This is not my favorite Eminem song, but I do think it is cool how quickly he was able to respond to this cancellation trend, with a song that fit the bill so perfectly. Since dropping on Friday, the music video has over 3.7 millions views on YouTube.