Testing the ExceptionAn Analysis of Eminem’s Language Uses from a Corpus-based Approach

Abstract

The presence of internationally known rapper Eminem in the hip-hop scene has been controversial since his beginnings in the late 90’s. His exceptionality as a Caucasian individual in a predominantly African American genre is reflected in the number of records sold and the support from influential figures in the hiphop world. In our study, by maintaining a sociolinguistic approach, we have used Wordsmith Tools to analyze Eminem’s language uses in his album, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), and compared them to contemporary African American rapper Jay Dilla’s album, Welcome 2 Detroit (2001). The analysis of these two similarly sized corpora from both rappers who belong to the same age group, city of origin and gender, allowed us to place ethnicity and language at the center of this study. Our results show that their language uses present significant similarities in relevant aspects of rap related to the communicative role of the African griot in the African American tradition, while some important differences were also noted