Superman

Not surprising at all that the Superman song raised a lot of controversy. It is viewed as the most misogynistic of the whole album.

In fact, the song is principally a retaliation against pop singer Mariah Carey who dated Eminem for several months, although Mariah keeps lying and denying it. In 2002, Eminem dated Mariah for several months and when he got tired of their relationship, he called the singer and broke up with her.
We may ask : why would Eminem want to attack her on the track Superman where she gets dissed badly? :

“What you Mariah? fly through twice, / But I do know one thing though, / Bitches they come, they go”.

The real reasons have been hidden for a long time, but J.R Watkins, Kim’s cousin, who enjoys invading Marshall’s privacy, revealed them :

“I found out that Marshall was dating Mariah Carey. But he was very high maintenance. His daughter will come before anyone.
“Mariah started to get jealous. According to him, she was like, ‘Oh fine superdad – just run off.’”

This explains a lot. Mariah Carey should have known that Hailie goes first in Marshall’s life. But she probably wanted to have a selfish relationship excluding Eminem’s little daughter.
Eminem takes his role as a father seriously and this attitude honors him.
Obviously, Mariah Carey has felt humiliated by the disses of the song Superman. Obviously, she is also lying about the whole affair, pretending she never dated Eminem.

“Did I have a sexual relationship with him? No, I didn’t. I knew him, I hung out with him a few times, but nothing sexual occurred. I’d admit it if it did, but it didn’t. And that’s why I was so upset about the whole thing, because I was like, `Look, if I had an intimate relationship with the person, that would be one thing, but…’ Maybe he thought because nothing happened he’d look bad or something.”

Eminem look bad? Does he need Mariah to look good ? He can have nearly any woman he wants to and I am pretty sure he wouldn’t have felt annoyed if nothing had happened between both of them.
No matter what happened or did not happen between Mariah C arey and Eminem, Carey belongs to the kind of pop artist I frankly despise. Long before her flying with Eminem, I heard her speaking on MTV and found her very superficial.

This is a typical example of her lies to her public, when she pretends that her sexy image has nothing to do with reality:

“I know I have this image that’s sexy. But I’m basically like Mary Poppins” she says. “That’s my nickname! I’m prudish. It’s like playing dress up. When you go through difficult stuff as a kid sometimes your childhood stays with you. I’ve hung onto that. There was a period when I was in a relationship that was confining, where I had to wear turtlenecks and long pants and that wasn’t me. I broke out of that – around the same time of the “Honey” video, where I jump out of the water like a secret agent – everybody was shocked. But that was the real me coming out.”

Mariah Carey prudish? That’s so laughable from a woman who exposes more than a half naked body on stage. Sex is the only thing she can sell, because she lacks talent. She is certainly beautiful, but brainless.
I sincerely doubt her artistic quality. What should we think about a singer who was payed 28 million dollars by the record company EMI to stop singing?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1777172.stm

She has also proven to be emotionally unstable in her past and has been hospitalized in psychiatric care for nervous breakdown.

When Eminem threatened to use Mariah’s voice for his next album, Mariah threatened him to call her lawyers. She told the “Sun”:

“I don’t think he should do that because it will get him in a bit of trouble with my lawyers.
“If he is thinking of using a voicemail I left a year ago it is crazy.
“It feels like he is engaging in a catfight with me. It’s like dealing with a girlfriend in seventh grade. It’s like fighting with a little girl. It’s childish.”

When Eminem won best actor and best male awards at MTV awards on May the 31 in 2003, he added sarcastically:

”I can’t believe I beat Mariah for her role in “Glitter”.
Carey’s latest retaliation is a parody of the Eminem Show called “The Marionette Show” where she sang:

“You should’ve never intimated we were lovers/ When you know very well we never even touched each other”

You could hardly believe such statement. J.R Watkins witnesses the contrary.
But Mariah Carey is not the only story behind Superman. The lyrics caused a lot of controversy. The misogynistic content is aimed at a certain category of women; the kind of women who turn around Marshall out of lust.
The Superman video caused a lot of problems because MTV wanted to censor it for a very large part. Eminem decided to boycott MTV and to add the video as a bonus on the 8 Mile DVD.
Of course, the video is aimed at an adult audience, but it is worth seeing, particularly the way Eminem handles Gina Lynn. He does it with a lot of humor( as usual).
Superman shouldn’t be viewed negatively. It is just a story, where Eminem plays women’s most wanted hero.

“Superman”
(feat. Dina Rea)

[Girls voice is Dina Rea]

[Intro]
Oooooh
You high baby
Yeah
Ya’
Talk to me
You want me to tell you something
Uh-huh
I know what you want to hear…

[Chorus A]
Cause, I know you want me baby, I think I want you too
“I think I love you baby”, I think I love you too
I’m here to save you girl, come be in Shady’s world
I want to grow together, let’s let our love unfurl
You know you want me baby, you know I want you too
They call me superman, i’m here to rescue you
I want to save you girl, come be in Shady’s world
“Ooooh boy you drive me crazy”, bitch you make me earl…

[Verse 1]
They call me superman, leap tall hoes in a single bound
I’m single now, got no ring on this finger now
I’d never let another chick bring me down, in a relationship
Save it bitch, babysit, you make me sick
Superman ain’t savin’ shit, girl you can jump on Shady’s dick
Straight from the hip, cut to the chase, I tell a muthafuckin’ slut, to her face
Play no games, say no names, ever since I broke up with what’s her face
I’m a different man, kiss my ass, kiss my lips, bitch why ask
Kiss my dick, get my cash, i’d rather have you whip my ass
Don’t put out, i’ll put you out, won’t get out, i’ll push you out
Puss blew out, poppin’ shit, wouldn’t piss on fire to put you out
Am I too nice, buy you ice, bitch if you died, I wouldn’t buy you life
What you tryin’ to be my new wife, what you Mariah, fly through twice…

[Prechorus]
But I do know one thing though, bitches, they come they go
Saturday through Sunday, Monday, Monday through Sunday yo’
Maybe i’ll love you one day, maybe we’ll someday grow
Till then just sit your drunk ass on that fuckin’ runway ho’…

[Chorus B]
Cause I can’t be your Superman
Can’t be your Superman
Can’t be your Superman
Can’t be your Superman
I can’t be your Superman
Can’t be your Superman
Can’t be your Superman
Your Superman, your Superman…

[Verse 2]
Don’t get me wrong, I love these ho’s
It’s no secret, everybody knows
Yeah we fucked, bitch so what, that’s about as far as your buddy goes
We’ll be friends, i’ll call you again, i’ll chase you around every bar you attend
Never know what kind of car i’ll be in, we’ll see how much you’ll be partying then
You don’t want that, neither do I, I don’t want to flip when I see you with guys
Too much pride, between you and I
Not a jealous man, but females lie
But I guess that’s just what sluts do, how could it ever be just us two
I’d never love you enough to trust you, we just met and I just fucked you…

[Prechorus]

[Chorus A / Chorus B]

[Verse 3]
First thing you say, “I’m not fazed, I hang around big stars all day
I don’t see what the big deal is anyways
You’re just plain old Marshall to me”
Ooh ya’ girl run that game
“Hailie Jade, I love that name, love that tatoo, what’s that say”
“Rot in pieces, uh, that’s great”
First off you don’t know Marshall, at all so grow partial
That’s ammo for my arsenal, i’ll slap you off that barstool
There goes another lawsuit, leave handprints all across you
Good Lordy whoadie, you must be gone off that water bottle
You want what you can’t have, ooh girl that’s too damn bad
Don’t touch what you can’t grab, end up with two backhands
Put anthrax on a tampax, and slap you till you can’t stand
Girl you just blew your chance, don’t mean to ruin your plans…