Eminem the Messiah?

Eminem the Messiah.

Let me just get this out of the way: this sounds wrong.

This sounds sacrilegious.

And it would be, if I were referring to the Jewish Messiah...but I am not.

The Messiah figure to which I am referring is secular in the sense that he or she does not have to be tied to a religion to be "the Messiah."

He or she is the Messiah because he or she is the one person who can unite a group of people and liberate them from what is keeping them in bondage.

The music of Eminem portrays Eminem as a Messiah figure, one who has come to liberate and unite an angry mass of white middle-class youth. If one examines the lyrics of Eminem's music with scrutiny, one will find that he proclaims to have this mission.

Starting towards the beginning of his career, Eminem made the bold statement, "I don't give a f---, God sent me to p--- the world off" in his hit song "My Name Is." This is not exactly what one would call a noble mission, but nevertheless it is the one Eminem claimed. The craziest part is that this statement of purpose resonated with some and united a swarm of unhappy youth who saw Eminem as the one who best embodied everything they were feeling.

Eminem describes this group in the following excerpt from "Without Me":

"Little hellions, kids feeling rebellious / Embarrassed, their parents still listen to Elvis / They start feeling like prison is helpless / Til someone comes along on a mission and yells "b----" / A visionary, vision is scary, could start a revolution / Pollutin' the air waves a rebel"

As the "narrative" of Eminem's mission unfolds, these "little hellions" find so much inspiration from Eminem that they begin to adopt his way of living. This is what Eminem refers to in "The Real Slim Shady," when he says "and there's a million of us just like me / Who cuss like me, who just don't give a f--- like me / Who dress like me, walk, talk and act like me / And just might be the next best thing, but not quite me."

"White America," with its mix of inspiration and vulgarity, succinctly describes the culmination of his efforts to unite the angry youth:

"I never woulda dreamed in a million years I'd see so many mutha f--kin people who feel like me / Who share the same views / And the same exact beliefs / Its like a f--kin army marchin in back of me / So many lives I touched / So much anger aimed at no perticular [sic]"

This myth is not completely pure in that a) Eminem did not necessarily bring a group to a better place, and in that b) his lyrics can embellish the truth.

a) Although he did unite a group of angry white middle-class youth, it is difficult to prove that he released them from their hate simply by providing them with a common music.

b) Eminem has a knack for creating an image of himself, and this image is not always true to reality. Ego distorts his listeners from ever receiving a completely accurate depiction of his true self. It is difficult to understand how much of his uniting power was a reality, and how much of it was an illusion he created with his lyrics.

An egotist? Yes.

A genius? Lyrically, perhaps.

A Messiah? Not purely.

The Real Slim Shady? Of course.