Eminem Songs Taught As Literature in College Classes

The Freie Universität of Berlin is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is one of eleven elite German research universities in the German Universities Excellence Initiative. Scholars of Freie Universität Berlin were recently treated to a good lesson on Eminem’s bars. Sounds like a dream to hip-hop freaks, right?

Often regarded as the greatest rapper alive, or as they say – ‘Rap God’, Eminem might be a controversial figure for educational institutes. But academia seems to be absolutely fascinated with him. Keeping the explicit bars aside, colleges decided to dive deep into his verses and find meaning in his form of literature.

Thousands of research papers are dedicated to Em. Earlier this year, he was mentioned over 600 times in well published articles. Educational and Research Fields such as Social Science, Music History, Philosophy and Literature are dedicated to study Marshall Mathers’ legacy.

A German professor tuned in “The Way I Am” lyrics in order to illustrate the use of anapestic tetrameter, a specific poetic meter. Students rewarded his unorthodox approach and passion with huge applause and one of them even recorded (@amirerbs) this segment of the lecture. We all know how it goes,

“And I am whatever you say I am
If I wasn’t, then why would I say I am?
In the paper, the news, every day I am
Radio won’t even play my jam”

Eminem – The Way I Am (2000).

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, another teacher was explaining how to effectively change a rhyme scheme with the example of Eminem’s “Drug Ballad”

“And you’ll be sick then and you’ll probably barf
And my prediction is you gon’ probably fall
Either somewhere in the lobby or the hallway wall
And everything’s spinnin’
You’re beginning to think women are swimmin in pink linen…”

There are a lot of reasons to seek a college education, and this is certainly a good enough one. That student loan seems to be worth it!