H I P H O P M AT T E R S

dramatized something that, in reality, was much bigger than the two principals. As their battle unfolded, it shed light on what arguably was the most important factor in hip hop’s brief but stirring history: the steadily growing impact of whites in the movement. Eminem’s

ascendancy punctuated the extraordinary changes that created an

enormous sense of anxiety within hip hop regarding the degree to

which whites�"white-controlled corporations and white consumers

�"had become the dominant force in the movement. It was a devel-

opment, some feared, that threatened the very soul and survival of

hip hop.

. . .

Eminem’s emergence in American pop culture came during a time of

sweeping change in the music industry. By 1999, the year of his major label debut, the music industry began grappling with a cultural and technological upheaval that raised serious questions about its future economic health. According to the RIAA’s 2002 year-end statistics,

the number of CDs shipped between 2000 and 2001 dropped more

than 6 percent. Between 2001 and 2002 the RIAA reported another

decline, nearly 9 percent. The declining number of CDs amounted to

just over one billion dollars in lost revenue. During the same period the industry also experienced the shutdown of thousands of retail

stores and widespread layoĆłs. Several reasons combined to explain

the industry’s economic woes�"consolidation, skyrocketing produc-

tion and marketing costs, disposable music, big advances to superstar artists, stiĆł competition from new media such as video games and

the personal computer, and music downloading.

In September of 2002, Hillary Rosen, then serving as chairperson

and CEO of the Record Industry Association of America, told the

U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Internet and Intel-

lectual Property, �śIt is estimated that more than 2.6 billion files are copied every month�"and no creator, no property owner is compen-sated for these copies.” According to Rosen, �śTaking music on the

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