Generation Z discovered “Love the Way You Lie” last week and questioned the lyrics: “If she ever tries to f —— get out again / I’mma tie her up in bed and set this house on fire”
The last target of the Generation Z cancellation crusade in TikTok he didn’t even have to suggest anything new to say in response. Eminem he is armed and ready for this fight throughout his career.
Instead of releasing a new freestyle or entering the studio, the iconic rapper simply released a new music video for an existing track from his 2020 release “Music to Be Murdered By – Side B.”
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“Tone Deaf” was ready to cancel culture before canceling culture was ready for Em. And let’s face it, the rapper has been proof of cancellation since he came on the scene with the phrase: “Hi, kids, do you like violence?”
A deep dive into the lyrical content throughout his career makes it clear that he feeds on this culture of cancellation and has done so even before it got its name. Mothers tried to cancel it in the 2000s, even the government and the police got involved.
Each movement only created another classic album release and even greater success and fame for the man who was once the greatest artist on the planet. He may have disappeared from the glory of those heights, but he can still become a rhyme.
“It’s okay not to like my s — / It’s okay, drink your wine, b —- / And get off the air, stop whining, this is just a rhyme, b —-” he intones on track released more than a year before Generation Z started looking for him.
“I will not stop even when my hair goes gray (I am deaf to shades) / Because they will not stop until they cancel me (yes, yes)”, he knocked, clearly predicting exactly what has now happened.
They even put their name on Twitter as a trend last week, although it was mostly Generation Y and Generation X quickly coming to their defense. Most TikTokers stayed on the youngest skewing platform, creating an interesting cross-platform debate about the rapper.
Knowing the scrutiny and attacks he suffered throughout his career already for its lyrical content, Em knew it was only a matter of time before Generation Z stopped to listen to his music. And there was absolutely no doubt that they would try to cancel it because of that.
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Eminem was the target this time, when Generation Z apparently discovered his “I love the way you lie” collaboration with Rihanna for the first time. It was the lines “If she ever tries to f —— get out again / I’ll tie her to the bed and set this house on fire” that detonated them.
These are not even the most inflamed lyrics in Eminem’s deep music catalog, although the artist himself addressed the fact of saying “this is … in the straw” to an obsessed and anguished fan in his “Stan” winner Oscar. And he is certainly not the only artist to express violence in his art.
The premise of their 2010 collaboration that made TikTok furious is about the dysfunction of both parties in a relationship that is doomed to end in destruction – and yet neither party seems willing or able to separate from each other.
A major commercial success for the duo, the track was critically acclaimed after the release for its fight against domestic violence, with Rihanna saying that her insightful and honest look within this type of relationship is why the song is so striking.
She received equal praise for a sequence told from her character’s perspective that further clarifies the dysfunction of the relationship and the violence perpetuated by both parties. It is not meant to be an easy song (or two) to listen to, but it is one that resonated deeply with those who have been there.
