Contrary to belief, Gen Zers have not called for Eminem to be canceled amid the release of Houdini, the lead single from the rapper’s latest studio album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce). Despite stirring disappointment, Marshall Mathers mostly sparked a battle of the generations.
Houdini, which was released on May 31, makes a punchline out of both Megan Thee Stallion’s 2020 shooting and contemporary identity politics.
Highlights
- Despite controversy, Eminem's track 'Houdini' opened at Number 2 on the Hot 100 chart, his best solo showing since 2010.
- Eminem's new album 'The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)' sparked a generational battle but no call for cancellation by Gen Z.
- Sasha Allen's TikTok review of Eminem's album, focusing on his transphobic lyrics, received over 1.4 million views.
The highly anticipated track opened at Number 2 on the Hot 100 singles chart, representing Eminem’s best solo showing since 2010, The New York Times reported on Sunday (July 14).
The success of Houdini inevitably challenges the notion that famous white men are adversely affected by "cancel culture" in their careers.
Gen Zers have not called for Eminem to be canceled
Image credits: finessir
Image credits: finessir
Gen Z, a generation deeply engaged with social media, often drives cancel culture, a phenomenon where public figures face backlash and potential career consequences for controversial actions or statements.
Nevertheless, Eminem’s 12th album, which arrived on Friday (July 12), has not been entirely free of criticism.
Among the questionable lyrics, the 51-year-old artist raps: “My transgender cat's Siamese, identifies as Black, but acts Chinese.”
Eminem has been mocked since the release of Houdini
Taking to his TikTok page, 22-year-old Sasha Allen, who is notable for speaking about his trans identity, reviewed the rapper’s new album in a video that amassed over 1.4 million views.
“He talks about transgender people a lot,” Sasha told his 1.3 million followers. “I think he says Caitlyn Jenner's name like eight f*”***g time.”
Image credits: chriis_woooo
In his new album’s song Habits, the Grammy Awards winner raps: “I’m ’bout as much of a boy as Bruce Jenner is, ’cause I’m not a boy, I’m a man, b*tch, man-b*tch.
“My speech is free as his choice to choose gender is (man).”
Eminem also expresses: “All these pronouns, I can’t remember (damn). They or them, theirs? (Whose?) His or him, hers?”
Houdini is the lead single from the rapper’s latest studio album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)
Sasha, a Gen-Zer, continued his review: “I'm f*****g annoyed because, you know, it's not hard to, like, make funny jokes about transgender people.
“They're really easy to make fun of, especially with, like, little one-liners in a f*****g rap.”
Eminem mentions Caitlyn Jenner again in his song Brand New Dance, where he can be heard saying: “I’ma have everybody jumpin’ to this, Caitlyn Jenner in the front row pumpin’ her fists, with a simple little twist and a flick of the wrist.”
Caitlyn is further mentioned in The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)’s Evil, Antichrist, and Road Rage.
Image credits: yyyeattt
Sasha added: “I'm listening to [the album], and all it is is him saying something about trans people that's, like, not even funny.”
The TikToker went on to criticize Eminem’s constant taunting of his cancelation, as exemplified by the song Trouble, in which the lyricist spits: “You gonna cancel me, yeah? Gen Z me, bruh?”
A reminder that Generation Z typically includes individuals born from 1997 to 2012.
Many Gen Zers on TikTok expressed just how little they cared for Eminem's music
Sasha admitted: “I was sitting there listening to [the album] so ready to hear some crazy s**t, and all he did was say Caitlyn Jenner eight times.”
The critic argued: “No one even gives a f**k about Caitlyn Jenner anymore,” before revealing: “I'm a transgender Gen Z person sitting here listening to the f*****g album, like, waiting for you to cook up some s**t. Instead, you just say Caitlyn Jenner's name and then yell at everyone to cancel you.”
Sasha concluded: “No one's canceling you. I f*****g hate to break it to you. No one gives a f**k.”
Some people failed to understand that Gen Zers did not care enough to cancel Eminem
A TikTok user commented: “I used to be a big Slim Shady fan and I was hoping we were gonna get some old Eminem vibes but it just wasn’t funny and wasn’t even good.
“That whole style of rap has really just gone downhill.”
A person agreed: “I feel like he’s just grasping at straws to be relevant with that genre of like edge lord millennials and boomers.”
A person wondered: “I'm trying to figure out this album concept--was he trying to cancel himself (Eminem) or was he trying to cancel (and ultimately kill) the Slim persona so people would stop saying they want Slim back?”
