If you only know one thing about Eminem, know this: he was born into a community which has no public voice. His neighbours and schoolmates will never become journalists or lawyers or politicians. The closest any of them will get to a TV studio will be as an exhibit on the Jerry Springer Show. When someone from such a disenfranchised community attains a public platform, I say we sit up and listen. When what that person says resonates with tens of millions all over the world, I say we ignore him at our peril.

Eminem’s legion of critics seldom stray beyond three observations about his lyrics. They’re misogynistic, they’re homophobic, and they’re unsuitable for young children. All three observations are literally true. None constitutes an intelligent indictment – or even a basic understanding – of the artist’s work. And none of these objections would be raised if he worked in a more middle-class medium.

Trainspotting is a masterpiece of modern independent cinema. It is also totally unsuitable viewing for eight year-old children. But no one criticises the film or its director on this basis. We accept upper age limits for movies, and increasingly for TV shows and computer games. We’d do the same for novels, plays and art exhibitions if more little blighters took any interest in them. Maybe the music industry needs such a system. But that’s not Eminem’s problem – particularly as his latest album declares his sympathy with concerned parents: “I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t let Haillie [his own young daughter] listen to me neither”. In a world of ever more extreme media, ever more accessible, ever more shamelessly marketed to children, protection is the responsibility of parents, not artists.

If Eminem was a sculptor, a painter or a playwright, reviewers would rave that his ‘shocking’ and ‘important’ work ‘unflinchingly explores themes of misogyny and homophobia’. But he’s a rapper. And so his critics – secure in the knowledge that poor people can’t be objective – proclaim that he is a misogynist and homophobe. Perhaps if they listened more closely they would realise that Eminem is using homophobic and misogynistic language to provoke Middle America into exposing its own hypocrisy. And it’s working.

Every time the rapper says something politically incorrect, Lynn Cheney or Tipper Gore lead the mother’s of the Bible Belt in screaming for his head. But these outraged citizens do nothing to help America’s impoverished millions. As long as their tax cuts pay for them to go private, they couldn’t give “two squirts of piss” if public schools and hospitals collapse. They think of Eminem as ‘White Trash’ yet they would have simultaneous cardiac arrest if their children coined the terms “Female Trash”, “Gay Trash”, or “Black Trash”.

The rapper highlighted this hypocrisy when commenting on the school shootings in Columbine and other affluent suburbs. The media blamed Marilyn Manson, prompting Eminem to ask, “where were the parents at? …Middle America. Now it’s a tragedy. Now it’s so sad to see – in upper class cities – /having this happening. /Then attack Eminem.”

He is furious at a society which prides itself on fairness and open-mindedness, while keeping all the power in the hands of the wealthy. “This democracy of hypocrisy…The Divided States of Embarrassment,” calls itself ‘the land of opportunity’ and then undemocratically hands the Presidency to a rich daddy’s boy who can’t string a sentence together. Eminem is determined “to ambush this Bush administration/… push this generation/ of kids to stand and fight/ for the right/ to say something that you might not like”.

Personally, I don’t agree with, approve of, or admire everything Eminem says. But he’s making a powerful and timely point. The U.S. Constitution guarantees Freedom of Speech. The U.S. Government feels perfectly justified in fighting pre-emptive wars, wherever it sees fit, in the name of ‘Freedom’ (they would have called the last war ‘Operation Iraqi Liberation’ but that spells O.I.L.). Yet when a member of the poor, disenfranchised masses tries to exercise their suppposed freedom, all hell breaks loose. “Congress keeps telling me I ain’t causin nothing but problems/ And now they’re saying I’m in trouble with the Government/ I’m lovin it/ I shovelled shit all my life/ And now I’m dumping it/ on White America.”

Eminem’s work is even more important given the music industry’s on-going love affair with mundane lyrics and manufactured bands. “I’m sick of you little girl and boy groups/ all you do is annoy me/ so I have been sent here to destroy you.” Eminem is living proof that a diverse contemporary audience still want to hear cleverly-written, thought-provoking, politically-charged songs. I say ‘Hallelujah’.

And his songs do provoke strong feelings. The track ‘Drips’ opens with an explicit description of unprotected sex. It goes on to blame the spread of AIDS on female promiscuity. As a feminist I find this notion offensive and I suspect that it’s not terribly accurate. But this song is probably increasing contraceptive-use among poorly-educated young men – the demographic that ‘stay safe’ campaigns have had least effect on. If one song can slow the spread of AIDS in ghettos across the States, then what good is my self-righteous feminism to anybody?

Eminem’s greatest talent – the key to his success – is his ability to articulate anger. The anger of a kid abandoned by his father; the anger of a child raised by an unstable, drug-addicted, single mother; the anger of a talented young man expected to work a McJob forever. It is almost out of control, lashing out at those in his immediate sphere and also at the shady political forces which conspire to keep the downtrodden in their place. His is the anger of the poor, disenfranchised community from which he comes.

Thus his most terrifying lyric has nothing to do with misogyny or homophobia. It’s a simple question: “Tell me/ how much easier would life be/ if 19 million motherfuckers grew to be just like me?”

Don’t shoot the messenger. Listen up.