Who is
Eminem: Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better
known by his stage name Eminem (often stylized as EMINƎM)
and by his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer,
songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group, D12, to mainstream
recognition. In addition to being a member of D12, Eminem is also one half of
the hip hop duo Bad Meets Evil, with Royce da 5'9". Eminem is one of the
best-selling artists in the world and is the best selling artist of the 2000s
(decade). He has been listed and ranked as one of the greatest artists of all
time by many magazines including the Rolling Stone magazine which has ranked
him 82nd on its list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The same magazine
has declared him The King of Hip Hop. Including his work with D12 and Bad Meets
Evil, Eminem has achieved ten number-one albums on the Billboard 200. He has
sold more than 42 million tracks and 49.1 million albums in the United States,
and 100 million albums worldwide.
Why
is Eminem so popular (a psychological point of view)
One of the website readers asked me to write an article
about Eminem's vast popularity and the psychological reasons behind it.
In the online community people are divided into two
groups. A group that follows Eminem and loves him and a group that wonders how
he managed to become popular.
Many of Eminem's songs contain hate speeches, Cursing and
direct assault on other people. Now if these things are morally wrong then how
come can they become popular?
The first lesson you must learn when you attempt to
understand the psychology of human beings is that morality has nothing to do
with popularity.
If a product, be it a song or whatever, managed to target
some of the human's important needs then it will become successful even if it
was morally wrong to listen to it.
Most of Eminem's songs targeted very important needs that
many people had and as a result they got addicted to them. In this post i will
tell you how these songs attracted the people who needed them.
Reasons many of Eminem's songs became popular hits
1)Assaulting
others is a bad thing, right?: Most people will agree
that assaulting others is a bad thing but some of them will forget their own
code of ethics when someone assaults a person that they hate. If someone assaulted
your worst enemy then you might find a justification to support this act! Human
beings are masters of self deception and most of them will like the person who
assaults their enemy even if they clearly stated that they are against hate
speeches. Eminem attacked many people in his songs and with every person he
attacked he collects more fans because they hated that person he assaulted
2)
The need to feel superior: In many of my previous articles i said
that people use jokes, criticism and gossip to feel superior by putting others
down. Ask any person about discrimination and he will tell you that its a bad
thing but wait until nobody can see him and you might find him doing the
opposite of what he said. Eminem discriminated against different groups such as
black people and as a result many of those who wanted to feel superior started
to listen to his songs because they made them feel better. After all if someone
kept telling you that you belong to the superior race then you will certainly
get an ego boost
3)
The need for support: Eminem's songs are not only limited to
verbal assault and cursing but he has many songs that defend children who were
abused, the ones who were picked on and those who felt helpless. Because those
people are in serious need of support Eminem emerged as the hero who can help
them take their rights back. Many of the people who were suffering because of
the way they were raised found Eminem's songs very appealing because they
provided them with the emotional support they needed. Eminem also released
motivational songs such as "Till i collapse", ""Fight
music" and "I am not afraid". All of those who needed a
different kind of support, motivation in this case, liked those songs and so
came to like Eminem.
4)
Pleasing others : In San Diego the government asked citizens
to vote an a constitution amendment that would allow Gay. marriage. Almost
every person supported the new constitution under the name human rights but
when it came to the time of voting the law was rejected because most people
said no to it. This shows you how humans think, in front of others they want to
show that they respect human rights even if the issue was an unacceptable thing
as gay marriage but when no one can see them they do what they believe is
right. Eminem attacked gays as well and while many people claim that every
person should be free to do what he wants to do they will always act the
opposite when they get the chance. People who are afraid to honestly say their
opinion listen to such music to feel good since hearing someone repeating what
you believe in will always have a good effect on your mood
5)
Identifying with Eminem: Eminem was raised in tough conditions
where he suffered from abuse and poverty. Because so many people have lived
what Eminem have been through they felt like there is something common between
him and them and as a result they liked his songs. In my article the psychology
of music i said that we get attracted to whatever resonates with what's
happening inside our minds
Final
words
I don't claim that i have covered all the psychological
reasons that made Eminem's songs popular but i believe that i provided a good
insight on some of the reasons that made him popular.
I don't have any doubt that Eminem has an expectational
talent but when it comes to the popularity of a product psychology can give a
better explanation than talent can.
[image source: photostock.com]
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