Page 135 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

Music 119

I saw cotton
I saw black
Tall white mansions and little shacks
Southern man
when will you pay them back?
I heard screamin ’
and bullwhips cracking
How long? How long?

Furthermore, “ Sweet Home Alabama ” contains the verse, “ Now in
Birmingham they love the Governor, ” which refers to segregationist Alabama
Governor George Wallace. By aligning Greg Buell ’ s working - class Whiteness
with a taste for what is considered by many to be racist music, 8 Mile con-

flates racism with class, and in so doing provides Eminem with a cultural
milieu from which he can righteously seek to escape. The idea of escape from
racism, prejudice, and poverty, an overarching theme in rap music, is skill-
fully transplanted intact onto a racial identity traditionally viewed within
the genre as that of the oppressor. Rather than cynically appropriating Black
working - class suffering, Eminem makes the case that escaping from within
the territory of the oppressor makes him empathetic with, and equal to, the
condition of the oppressed. Simply put, he argues it is possible to be an Other
within White working - class culture, to feel oppressed by your own people,
even if you are yourself White and working class.
Having symbolically positioned himself on the side of the oppressed
Other, Eminem performs an act common to Others: he appropriates the
music of the oppressor to articulate his dissatisfaction, free - styling rap
lyrics over “ Sweet Home Alabama. ” He mockingly assumes the exaggerated
southern twang associated with White trash, and speaks of trailer park
reality rather than urban ghetto life: “ Now I ’ m living at home in trailer/
What the hell am I supposed to do? ” In a show of unity, Future adds his
own commentary on Rabbit ’ s situation: “ Well Jimmy [Rabbit ’ s real name]
moved in with his mother/ ’ Cause he ain ’ t got no place to go, ” and Rabbit
continues the verse, “ Now I ’ m right back in the gutter/with a garbage bag
that ’ s full of clothes. ” At the conclusion of the scene, Future reveals that

he has signed Rabbit up for another rap battle, and pleads to his reluctant
friend to participate, arguing that his skills will redeem him, and the matter
of race will be forgotten: “ Once they hear you, it won ’ t matter what color
you are! ” Rather than trying to force his way into a resistant Black artistic
community, the White rapper in 8 Mile is actually invited, indeed begged,
to add his voice to hip hop discourse.