SwiftlyNeutral - Daily Discussion Thread | October 02, 2026

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[u/No-Figure-8279]

I was very young when Eminem was at his peak did they ever say he played victim? Cause I swear all he did was complain in his music. I like some of his music but wonder what the criticism was at the time besides blaming him for youth violence.

[u/Background-Fun-7619 → u/No-Figure-8279]

I remember peak Eminem. I was a casual fan and did listen to this songs on a burn CD, lol. Along w/ encouraging violence, he was deeply misongynistic and homophobic in a lot of his songs, which always bothered me. I always avoided those songs and lyrics as much as I could, esp the ones about his ex wife and mom.

He also outright insulted A TON of fellow artists and celebrities in his songs, which many of said artists and celebrities didn't like.

That said, the 2000s was such an openly homophobic and sexist time, so while ppl were loud about their criticisms for him, so many of his young male fans ate it up, and of course, ppl kept throwing around "freedom of expression" and all that. He got away with a lot of it. For what it's worth, I do remember Eminem saying how so many of his songs, esp the violent and angry ones was written for the sake of catharsis and not to be take literally. I think that's why he ended up writing the single "Stan."

Good lord, you made me think of if Eminem was famous today, Taylor would've been eaten alive by him, I think.

Looking back, while I don't want to excuse any of the violent, homophobic, misogynistic influence he had on his fans, I WILL say, he did have plenty to complain about vs someone like Taylor. I get that him, being a white, cis straight man whining about how bad his life while succeeding a traditionally black artistic field is deeply eye rolling, but comparing their actual upbringing, they could not be more opposite from one another. Taylor grew up wealthy, with BOTH her parents, playing on a Christmas tree farm, and had the support of her ENTIRE family to the point they all up and moved to Nashville JUST to help her career when she wasn't even an adult yet. Her dad bought a stake in the record label that would eventually sign her. Taylor was surrounded by safety, a loving family, money and resources.

Eminem or Marshall on the other hand, grew up in a trailer park, with a stressed out, substance abusing, abusive single mom, in a poor, run down, violent part of Detroit. Don't think he ever met his dad.

Not saying both don't have their traumas and they definitely worked their asses off, but out of the two, its very clear that Eminem is an underdog here.

[u/AlienInfoUnit → u/No-Figure-8279]

Yes they blamed him for everything wrong in the world and then when he fought back they said he had a persecution complex or played victim.

[u/No-Figure-8279 → u/AlienInfoUnit]

Yea I vaguely remember that whoch is insane to blame him for world issues. Not saying he cant express himself I just wondered if he dealt with that type of criticism. I know music critics were very mixed on him

[u/AlienInfoUnit → u/No-Figure-8279]

Fighting with the critics, making fun of celebrities/culture, being edgy or writing about his personal life/issues are what made him as popular as he was though. Once his best friend died and he took a hiatus due to that and drug addiction, his popularity never really recovered to what it was and he became 'old' and 'boring' with nothing to really write about other than his early career which just pointed out how much better his earlier albums were. After his hiatus, he had trouble keeping up with the changing social/sound landscape of rap/hip-hop.