Dr. Boyce Watkins says Hip Hop purists will be the ones to decide who the king of Hip Hop is.
During an interview with Vlad TV, Dr. Boyce Watkins offered praise to Eminem on his artistry, but also stated that the Detroit, Michigan rapper “is a little bit of a product of white privilege.”
The author/political analyst shared his thoughts on Em after he was asked if Eminem is the king of Hip Hop. Dr. Watkins chuckled at the question before offering a stern “no.” He then went on to break down the reasons why he feels Eminem is in fact a product of white privilege.
“I like Eminem though as a rapper,” Dr. Boyce Watkins said. “The first time I ever heard him back in the 90s, I thought he was a great artist. Eminem is as true of a lyricist as you’re gonna see. And he’s also great because he shows respect to those who came before him. So, he’s not Iggy Azalea or whatever. He’s a guy that I think at the core of his heart he’s not a wigger, but he’s not a white boy. He’s just who he is. And to me, I think that Eminem to some extent is a little bit of a product of white privilege for two reasons.
“One, he does get a little bit of that Elvis effect,” he added. “You’re a white rapper. You’re as good as the black guy. People are gonna love you more because you’re white…The other thing about Eminem that I think is an artifact of white privilege is that Eminem gets something that a lot of black artists don’t get. He gets to be a pure and true artist. Eminem, if you listen to his music, he raps about everything that’s in his soul and in his spirit. There’s not sort of this very programmatic, predictable, continual music that comes from him. Where he’s always talking about the same thing…And so, what I see with a lot of artists who’ve become corporatized is just sort of the same old stuff. And it gets old after a while.”
Dr. Watkins was later asked if Eminem selling 50 million more records than Jay Z would make the Motor City lyricist the king of Hip Hop. He explained that the king of Hip Hop would be decided by the Hip Hop purists and the Hip Hop community, and not through album sales.
“Album sales should never define who the best artist is,” Dr. Watkins said. “There are some artists who are so extraordinary that they can sell one record and everybody would still consider them to be among the best…If you’re looking at it in terms of who the king of Hip Hop is, I think that would be decided more amongst the Hip Hop purists, the Hip Hop community.”
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