Rap/Hip-Hop is currently one of the largest music genres in today’s society. Marshall Bruce Mathers III, more commonly known as Eminem, is one of the most successful artist in the rap game with almost 150 awards (Wikipedia) to his name - one being the artist of the decade award; this almost certainly has to be accompanied with a sense of pride. During Eminem’s early career, he portrayed asshole like characteristics and would have taken that sense of pride and turned it into offensive pride. It was after his nearly fatal overdose in 2007 (Rolling Stone, 2011) that we saw a different side of Eminem, one who would turn the sense of accomplishment into proper pride. Marshall’s explicit lyrics and boastful public appearances during his upcoming
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According to Blackburn (Blackburn, 2014), narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is composed of 4 dimensions. Eminem falls under all four dimensions but there is one that he shines in most: self-absorption and self-admiration. This aspect involves the person being self-obsessed with him or herself. In Eminem’s case, you see this in several records that he produced. A perfect example for this is his hit record “My Name Is” released in 1999. Someone who didn’t listen to the record can already make the assumption that the track is talking about Marshall himself. Not only is the name of the record self-centering but the intro to the track has Eminem saying “[e]xcuse me[,] can I have the attention of the class[…]?” (Lyrics, 1999) He is implying that he wants to be heard; he wants to get as many viewers as possible to hear the wonderful song about himself. The track “Role Model” which came out a few years later, also portrays the self-absorption dimension with lyrics stating “[y]ou probably want to grow up to be just like me”. (Lyrics, 1999) Eminem is so self-absorbed that he believes everyone, just like the lyrics say, should and want to be just like him. Eminem also falls under the exploitiveness and entitlement dimension; a category where the individual doesn’t feel entitled to the rules surrounding him or her. During a video …show more content…
Eminem says it himself during an interview with Much (Much, 2000), that he subconsciously started to tone down his behavior bit by bit after every album. Marshall grew as a person and became accustomed to the “celebrity life”. It’s not a surprise that at the beginning of his career Marshall did what he did; he achieved great success in a short period of time and was surrounded by a large amount of sycophants that triggered with acquired narcissism – which affects many celebrities. Marshall was able to tone down this narcissism but it wasn’t until 2007, after his nearly fatal overdose, that the switch flipped and a new Eminem was born. Proof’s death, Eminem’s best friend, is what caused his downward spiral leading to the overdose, saying that it was “one of the darkest times in [his] life” (Rolling Stone, 2011). According to psychologist Karen White (Class Notes, 2015), after the occurrence of a major failure in a narcissist’s life, there is a possibility of change to break free of narcissistic tendencies -this is exactly what happened to Marshall after the overdose. Today Marshall is a changed man and puts out inspirational records rather than controversial
According to Blackburn (Blackburn, 2014), narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is composed of 4 dimensions. Eminem falls under all four dimensions but there is one that he shines in most: self-absorption and self-admiration. This aspect involves the person being self-obsessed with him or herself. In Eminem’s case, you see this in several records that he produced. A perfect example for this is his hit record “My Name Is” released in 1999. Someone who didn’t listen to the record can already make the assumption that the track is talking about Marshall himself. Not only is the name of the record self-centering but the intro to the track has Eminem saying “[e]xcuse me[,] can I have the attention of the class[…]?” (Lyrics, 1999) He is implying that he wants to be heard; he wants to get as many viewers as possible to hear the wonderful song about himself. The track “Role Model” which came out a few years later, also portrays the self-absorption dimension with lyrics stating “[y]ou probably want to grow up to be just like me”. (Lyrics, 1999) Eminem is so self-absorbed that he believes everyone, just like the lyrics say, should and want to be just like him. Eminem also falls under the exploitiveness and entitlement dimension; a category where the individual doesn’t feel entitled to the rules surrounding him or her. During a video …show more content…
Eminem says it himself during an interview with Much (Much, 2000), that he subconsciously started to tone down his behavior bit by bit after every album. Marshall grew as a person and became accustomed to the “celebrity life”. It’s not a surprise that at the beginning of his career Marshall did what he did; he achieved great success in a short period of time and was surrounded by a large amount of sycophants that triggered with acquired narcissism – which affects many celebrities. Marshall was able to tone down this narcissism but it wasn’t until 2007, after his nearly fatal overdose, that the switch flipped and a new Eminem was born. Proof’s death, Eminem’s best friend, is what caused his downward spiral leading to the overdose, saying that it was “one of the darkest times in [his] life” (Rolling Stone, 2011). According to psychologist Karen White (Class Notes, 2015), after the occurrence of a major failure in a narcissist’s life, there is a possibility of change to break free of narcissistic tendencies -this is exactly what happened to Marshall after the overdose. Today Marshall is a changed man and puts out inspirational records rather than controversial