There’s no need to emphasize that people’s sensibilities have become far more delicate (while also dichotomously becoming more impervious) since the era when Eminem was first rising to prominence at the end of the twentieth century. And, looking back now, the outrage conveyed then would likely only be a fraction of what could happen to Em in this cultural moment. Indeed, he would have been “cancelled” so fast had he come up in the present, he probably never would have even gotten a chance for listeners to hear “Kim,” from his 2000 album, The Marshall Mathers LP.
A song title, in fact, that seems uncanny when taking into account that Kanye West is feeling the same murderous rage (masked as “intense love”) toward Kim post-separation that Eminem did toward his own Kim. The difference being that Kanye has decided upon a “healthier” approach by instead targeting his Kim’s new beau, Pete Davidson. Not just in the lyrics of “Eazy,” but in the video as well. Particularly in the video, one might add. As a hybrid of claymation and live action, it is the former medium that allows Ye to carry out his fantasy of kidnapping Davidson, killing him (kind of) and burying him so that he can plant roses that will sprout from around his disembodied head.
In contrast, Eminem goes straight for Kim’s jugular (literally), but, like Kanye, also calls her out for moving on with another man as he screams, “How could you just leave me and love him out the blue?!/Oh, what’s the matter, Kim?/Am I too loud for you? Too bad, bitch!/You’re gonna finally hear me out this time!” Well, for one, it seems unlikely that either of the Kims moved on “out of the blue,” for, as erstwhile Kardashian nemesis Taylor Swift phrased it, “I gave you so many signs.” What’s more, who knows how many times both Kims had to hear their respective “wild cards” out before finally throwing up their hands and running for cover. Unfortunately, there is no actual “cover” for such women, so condemned as they are to forever be in the public eye. For Kim Scott, that spotlight was doomed to shine on her by association with Eminem; for Kim Kardashian, she has double the “load” thanks to her own viral fame and “empire.”
Although it seems improbable that Kardashian could ever take the slightly less empowered path of Scott (and not just because the latter had a far more traumatic childhood), who only just recently tried to commit suicide again, the lingering, underlying depression and paranoia that such a fraught relationship can cause is sure to remain with Kardashian for the rest of her life. Especially since, she, too, is bound (a word that carries weight considering that music video they filmed together) to Kanye ad infinitum thanks to bearing his spawns. Luckily, Kanye has yet to use one of said “soldiers” to record them on a track that paints a picture of him killing their mother (as Eminem did with his daughter, Hailie, on “97 Bonnie and Clyde”).
Such a “binding” was mutually beneficial to both parties at one point in both of their careers, though it was Kardashian who benefitted from the publicity surrounding their relationship at the outset before Ye started to need her more for the purposes of damage control regarding his outbursts. And having someone as “stalwart” as Kim constantly standing by his side through every meltdown turned out to be quite a buttress for his fledgling “mad genius” act.
With Kim K, a white woman (in spite of all the blackfishing), at his side, Kanye also seemed to go through a period where he was more revered for being “the Black man.” Thanks to, obviously, the “boon” of a white lady to “justify” his formerly incendiary, but now “accepted” “art.” Even if said white lady is just that: white (with the “I’m Armenian” card to play for “ethnic convenience,” to boot). And manipulating Blackness for her own monetary gain. As it is said in an article entitled, “The Kardashians’ Multiracial White Supremacy,” “To modify ‘white supremacy’ with ‘multiracial’ is the key to understanding the stakes of the Kardashian domestic empire, as well as its anti-Black violence. In short: they produce raced reality and value for, not apart from, the homogeneous project of the (white) human. And they do so by aesthetically and biologically incorporating selective, ‘soft’ variations on tropes of Blackness: be it in the form of an ass implant, a cheekbone restructuring, or a mixed-race child.”
With Kanye, Kim and her Kardashian-Jenner cabal had a “huge win” for their brand in terms of being able to declare Legitimacy through yet another Black man willing to “go all in.” And maybe Kim’s fundamental whiteness coalescing with Ye’s Blackness (before he got on the Trump train) is part of why, when Kim appeared as his fiancée in the 2013 video for “Bound 2,” it received such praise and dissection as, “Kanye continues to dismantle white American iconography, subverting it by placing himself (and his topless reality star of a honey) in the middle of it all. This is Kanye deconstructing Marlon Brando, James Dean and Elvis all at once while instilling fear of a black planet.” Ironic, considering the aforementioned issue with the Kardashian-Jenners’ use of “Blackness” is to merely reiterate a neo-white supremacy. One cleverly disguised to suit the various potential outcries of the twenty-first century.
As for Eminem being one of the few white rappers truly embraced as “talented” in the music industry (sorry Vanilla Ice), there appears to be another inverse correlation between him and Ye in that the latter is being increasingly shunned by a genre that once joyfully embraced him, with even Kid Cudi turning on his “once-great” mentor in favor of a friendship with “Skete.” With Kardashian going in the full-tilt opposite direction of the Black man with said rebound, Kanye instead prefers to prove he has “a type” with the likes of Julia Fox and his latest replacement, Chaney Jones. Who could have “eazily” been used in Ye’s revenge video as a Kim lookalike. But no, all malice portrayed visually in this dramatic number featuring The Game (who, incidentally, just declared himself to be a better rapper than Eminem) is reserved solely for Davidson.
In turn, this has created as much malice directed at Ye for being so petty and “scary” and “disturbing.” Yet is art not the only place to “safely” be all of those things? Maybe once upon a time. For, oddly, there was far more praise for Eminem’s “rap genius” when “Kim” was unleashed onto the world in 2000 than there has been for Kanye’s hate-filled missive directed at both Pete and, at times, Kim—notably in the verse when he raps, “We havin’ the best divorce ever/If we go to court, we’ll go to court together/Matter of fact, pick up your sis, we’ll go to Kourt’s together.”
Moreover, just as Eminem did, Kanye serves venomous lyrics about custody as he shades, “I watched four kids for like five hours today…/I got love for the nannies, but real family is better/The cameras watch the kids, y’all stop takin’ the credit/Non-custodial dad, I bought the house next door/What you think the point of really bein’ rich for?” In opposition to Eminem’s Kim, Kanye’s Kim has her own ample means to raise her children in an environment that promotes a cush and (more than somewhat) vacuous lifestyle. Which prompts Kanye to fire more shots at his ex about her parenting style with, “When you give ’em everything, they only want more/Boujee and unruly, y’all need to do some chores/Rich-ass kids, this ain’t yo mama house/Climb on your brother’s shoulders, get that Top Ramen out.”
Elsewhere, with the line, “God saved me from that crash/Just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s ass (who?),” Kanye says what Eminem did on “Kim” much more sparsely. Conversely, Eminem goes into far greater detail with contempt directed at Kim’s new boyfriend via the lyrics, “At first I’m like, ‘Aight, you wanna throw me out, that’s fine!’/But not for him to take my place, are you out your mind?!/This couch, this TV, this whole house is mine!/How could you let him sleep in our bed?!” Kanye is undoubtedly wondering the same thing as he stews in his freshly-bought house next to Kardashian’s, thinking what Em did on “Kim” when he seethed in the chorus, “So long, bitch, you did me so wrong/I don’t wanna go on/Living in this world without you.”
In this sense, the “scarier” thing about “Eazy” isn’t that West would be likely to kill Davidson (otherwise he wouldn’t “healthily” express that fantasy, just as O.J. Simpson never did, eerily connected to this whole bizarre pop culture ouroboros that Kimye hath wrought). But rather, himself. Granted, everyone would insist his ego is too massive for suicide to be on the table (“How I ain’t bring nothin’ to the table when I’m the table?”), but those familiar with narcissism are aware that the narcissist is willing to attempt self-harm in order to be noticed by the party he wants attention from.
On writing the lyrics for “Kim,” Eminem recalled, “I do remember feeling the frustration of us breaking up and having a daughter all in the mix. I really wanted to pour my heart out, but yet I wanted to scream.” In certain regards, that’s what “Eazy” feels like a product of. Even if it has somehow managed to cause more shock and dismay than Eminem vividly describing murdering his own Kim in a six-minute track. Maybe it just goes to show that misogyny is still alive and well in that people care more about a man’s well-being (Pete’s) than another “dumb bitch’s.”
