Eminem: Respected Headliner or Token Rap Act?

This Summer, hip-hop’s hottest comeback kid will be headlining two major music festivals: Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, both of which, might I add have been historically rock and roll/jam band oriented.

It makes me think of a few years ago when the British festival Glastonbury was criticized by the band Oasis for signing Jay-Z to be one of the festivals headlining acts. How did Jay-Z respond? He remixed one of their songs, threw their words back in their face and tore the festival to shreds. (Jay also headlined Bonnaroo last year as well)

“We don’t play guitars, [Oasis], but hip-hop has put in its work like any other form of music.”- Jay-Z

So, with the trend of rappers at major music festivals on the incline, is Eminem just another following the common thread, the “token rap act,” or do these festivals really believe that he has the star power and talent to awe hundreds of thousands of listeners?

Answer? Last years Jay-Z and Eminem concerts in Detroit and New York were hailed as the “hip hop Woodstock” and Eminem was asked to headline these spots because he deserves them. You’d be hard pressed to find anybody in music who has been more relevant over the past ten years, to find someone whose won more grammys, and to find someone whose caused more controversy then Em. The public gave him the time off that he needed and forgave him when he came out with his lackluster Relapse album. But with Best Rap Album (his fourth) once again under his belt, Eminem is back at the top and has no intentions coming down. So are Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza just following a popular trend of having a rap artist headline one night? No chance in hell, not only does Eminem have too much pride to fall into that category, he is the king, the best, and the reason hundreds of thousands of people are going to road trip 20 hours to these festivals.

–Corey Teich