Is Eminem Right; Music in Today Society

Is Eminem Right? In the essay Eminem is Right , there is a lot of discussion about the links between the music that our teens listen to and the amount of violence and rebellion that is occurring. The teens of today have enshrined a new generation of music idols who share generational signatures in song after song is to rage about what not having a nuclear family has done to them (Eberstadt 251). Broken homes, family dysfunction, checked out parents and (especially) absent fathers , all have a big effect on today’s youth and these are the things our generation sings about and listens to (Eberstadt 251).

The songs and problems that these various artist sing about are legitimate problems not only in their childhood, but in the millions of American teens current childhood. Parents are early offended by the lyrics of the singers, because children know when they are from a broken home and they do rebel and get upset with their families. Eminem openly sings about his life to make money, but what he sings is true about a lot of teens and he knows this. He targets Baltus 2 them with his songs, because they make those kids feel less alone.

Comparing the song Successful by Drake is a great way to show an artist who grew up listening to Eminem and that generation of music. He sings about him rising to the top and how he sings about his family and how he couldn’t of gotten where he was if it wasn’t for a few things that happened in his life. He sings about his mother running away from home and leaving him and his siblings, but he left something in the car and caught her before she was out of the driveway. He sings that they stood there and cried, because she couldn’t handle it without a man in their life.

Drake sings that he then became the “phantom” meaning his father. Drake sings about how all his friends are back at home, while he became successful. He sings “ … and when I leave I always come right back here, the young rapper that everyone in rap fear, a lot of you all still soundin’ like last year, the game has changed and I’m the mother f***ing cashier…”(Successful). He then goes on and sings about how the money, cars and clothes don’t make him happy, his rapping to others and singing his “song” is what its about.

The chorus for this song is; Baltus 3 “I want the money, money and the cars, cars And the clothes, the hoes I suppose I just want to be, I just want to be successful I just want to be, I just want to be successful I just want to be, I just want to be successful” The chorus shows the conflicted side of the artist and that he really wants to sing to relate to his fans. He also sings about how he wants things to go his way but they never seem to. When comparing this song and the many songs that Eminem has wrote they conflict and agree in many ways.

All Eminem feels is hate for his mother and his non existing father. He sings about adornment and abuse, but fails to see that not all children who listen to his music feel the same way that he does. He didn’t handle it in the best way and now he is yelling and targeting parents for not even being parents. The song Successful sings about the same problems but not in an angry way or in a way that is leading the youth of today into a violent rage or making them commit crimes against there parents.

Even though the music these days is violent and vulgar it shouldn’t be the main blame of today’s youths misbehaviors and rebellion. Nowadays parents are way to easy Baltus 4 to put blame on anyone but themselves. Yes, music is a big part of today’s youth but it can only influence to a certain point, then it’s up to that child or their parents to decide what they make of the songs. As a parent you teach your children to do right by themselves and you, so really once you let them into the world you just hope that you taught them well, and hope they follow your example.

In the song Successful there are points in the song where Drake sings that he made his life the way it is, no one else lived the life he did. Eminem sings about abandonment, and being abused, and in return he sings about beating his mom and even in a few songs sighs about beating his ex wife. The constant aggression in his songs is very noticeable, but it doesn’t mean that all children or teens that listen to his songs feel that same aggression that he does. The way children act and interact isn’t influenced by the music and by the lyrics that many singers sing, its mainly there upbringing.

If parents teach their children the right values and the right way of seeing things from someone else point of view, then there children shouldn’t feel the need to be aggressive towards there parents. All a child wants, is to make their parents happy and if you praise them for their good behavior then they will continue the same behavior, but if you only give them attention when they Baltus 5 misbehave, then they may associate bad behavior with “praise” or attention.

This is a bad way to get attention, but like a lot of Eminems songs, parents aren’t there to give normal amount of praise. Concluding that it’s more likely that parents cause bad behavior than the songs of popular rappers and singers, only because most children want to be given attention and be included in there parents lives. In arguing the point if Eminem is right or wrong, a lot of good arguments arise and tare down the argument that Eminem is influencing our children to cause havoc and disorderly conduct.