Rapping Politics

Literature concerning the interconnectedness of politics and popular media has rapidly gained traction over the past few years as popular media scholars like John Street and Regina Lawrence interpret, contextualize, and define the theoretical Venn diagram between politics and media. This thesis answers the question: Is Marshal Mathers, or, as he is most famously known, Eminem, a political figure? Eminem has been a familiar face in the rap industry for over two decades; his success and longevity as a White man in a Black-dominated enterprise have been the locus of multiple analyses. Indeed, the implications of his race on popular hip-hop music comprise a majority of the discourse surrounding Eminem's career. However, scarce, if any, research is committed to analyzing the extent of Eminem’s active participation in American politics. The literature dedicated to Eminem hyper-focused on his race and the constructs of whiteness in African American music, often failing to examine Eminem’s engagement in contemporary politics. On the contrary, I examine him as a political actor, not despite his celebrity status but through it, concluding that Eminem fulfills all the characteristics of a politicized celebrity. Thus, my thesis not only supplements the scholarship on political entertainment but, arguably, provides novel evidence for the affair between politics and popular media.