• purpleworm [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        3 days ago

        “white people who are afraid of black hiphop” is a broader umbrella than the archetype that you seem to have in mind and 1000% includes many people whose favorite “rapper” is LMM.

        • Frogmanfromlake [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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          3 days ago

          LetterLiker might also be a millennial who grew up in the time when Eminem was the poster boy for that type of person. “I like Eminem because he doesn’t rap about bitches and money. He raps about life,” was what every white Eminem fan said back in the day

            • Frogmanfromlake [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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              3 days ago

              I know and I understood your point. I was just saying that the OP probably isn’t as tapped in and was culturally trapped in that era where Eminem was the only person that applied to for the majority of people.

              The fact that it can be applied to multiple people shows how much things have changed. Would Post Malone fit in that category too?

        • LetterLiker [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          3 days ago

          This is a good point! I was not accounting for those people.

          With those people I would argue that LMM isn’t a “rapper”; he’s a poet, playwright, composer but he doesn’t make his career off of releasing rap albums. The way a rapper would do. And if they argued that I’d just shrug my shoulders and give em a thumbs up and move on with my day.

          • purpleworm [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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            3 days ago

            Well, let me rephrase that there are a lot of people who would identify him as easily their favorite “artist who produced raps” even if we’re saying that’s not necessarily a “rapper,” but the fact that it distinctly is rap in some sense is a huge part of the appeal, even though the “appeal” in question heavily leans on treating rap as a novelty that is only an art in-and-of-itself insofar as you can do lyrical miracle bullshit with it. Basically I’m saying LMM is like if Lil Dicky did slavery apologia.

            Edit: And some of this legacy from Hamilton is pretty enduring, like for example being responsible for the worst parts of Epic (not bad overall, to be clear, but it’s got some really bad parts).