Eminem is one of the most talked about superstars in this world. And also one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted. It is amazing how some people are rapid in their judgement why they start talking about Eminem.
It is easy to misinterpret his words if they are taken literally.
There are so many good reasons to love and to appreciate Eminem as an artist and as a person, though :
-Eminem is an artist with a high level of skills. Its a real pleasure to discover the way he handles words and syllables. Eminem has understood the power of language and he knows how to use words and sentences to create the effects he wanted to. His words are poetry and many people apreciate the talented wordsmith for his ability to play with words.
-Eminems work is full of originality. Each video is different from the other. The videos are the result of the hard work of the artist with his team.
-Eminems texts are full of humor. Anybody with a sense of humor will appreciate them and find them funny.
-The rage that is expressed in his music can be used as a positive power to the youth. Unlike many conservative peoples opinion, you get ged rid of negative emotions and manage to let them out while singing along. I am not the only one to have experienced this. Many people can testify it.
-Eminem is a great defender of freedom of speech. He has pushed freedom of speech to its limits, which is something very positive.
-Eminems authenticity on stage cannot be doubted. To see him on stage is to love him. His audience particularly appreciates him for his sincerity.
-Eminem has a political opinion. He reacts against the American governments policy. He wants people to use their criticism instead of accepting the governments (hypocritical) speeches.
-The talented rapper has reunited the poor black and white underclasses. He has started a revolution in hip hop. Thanks to him, hip hop has become accessible to a larger audience.
-As a person, Marshall Mathers has earned many peoples sympathy :
his personality, his « just dont give a fuck attitude » have influenced a lot of persons in a positive way.
-He has shown his loyalty to his fellows from D12 after becoming famous. He would never let them down. Marshall is known as a loyal person by all the people who have approached him.
-Marshall never fakes his feelings. He openly shows when he likes or dislikes a person, which is a real quality. His honesty and his sincerity cannot be doubted.
-Marshalls life is reflected in his music. A lot of people can learn from it. The main lesson he teaches us is never to give up and to believe in our dreams.
-Marshall is a dedicated father to his daughter.
Of course, Eminem is not perfect, but nobody is. He has made mistakes in his life and he had the great honesty to admit them publicly. It is so easy to stereotype and to predjuge him at first sight. I wish people who constantly talk against him would make the effort to have a deeper look at the artist and at the man himself. They might be surprised to discover so many positive things about him.
> -The talented rapper has reunited the poor black and white underclasses. He has started a revolution in hip hop. Thanks to him, hip hop has become accessible to a larger audience.
“reunited the poor black and white underclasses”? What does that mean? America is as segregated as ever since the beginning of the hip hop era. Any increase in dialogue, understanding or socialization between the races due to hip hop, has been mostly by virtue of black hip hop artists appealing to the non-black audiences, not the other way around. The huge number of white fans who make up the lion-share of Eminem’s fanbase are from the suburbs and have neither an interest in hanging out with blacks nor much desire to explore other black artists in hip hop, save the ones linked to Eminem (D12, Obie Trice, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre) or whose videos they see being hammered 30x a week on MTV (Jay-Z, Nelly).
If there was a “revolution in hip hop” it was started by artists like Run DMC back in the 80’s with their Aerosmith “Walk This Way” collabo, The Beastie Boys and even, as wack as he was, Vanilla Ice. Eminem is the product of this so-called “revolution,” not the genesis. He’s without a doubt talented, but he’s not solely responsible for making hip hop more “accessible to a larger audience.” Know your (hip hop) history.
Not all of the Eminem fans come from the suburbs…
I have a similar cultural background than Eminem. I used to hang out with Blacks since I was 18, my kids are metis.
How can you say that white Eminem fans are not interested in hanging out with Blacks? How can you say that they are all suburban kids?
How can you say that they are not interested in other black hip hop artists other than the Shady crew?
You are stereotyping us. And by the way, not every Eminem fan is white…
I didn’t say “every Eminem fan is white” or “all of the Eminem fans come from the suburbs.” Read my post again, carefully.
> How can you say that white Eminem fans are not interested in hanging out with Blacks? How can you say that they are all suburban kids?
I was at the Hot 97 Summer Jam in New York last summer. There were groups of black friends at the show and groups of white friends but virtually no multi-racial groups of young people there. I also saw the vast majority (not an overstatement, trust me) of non-white fans walking out of the Meadowlands Arena after 50 Cent’s performance before Em’s headlining set (which I stayed for).
I don’t know where you live but in the US and NYC where I live, that kind of socialization is, for better or worse, not unsual and pretty much standard. These kids may all listen to the same music, but that hasn’t led to them wanting to hang out with each other in any greater numbers than before hip hop or Eminem became popular.
> How can you say that they are not interested in other black hip hop artists other than the Shady crew?
How can I say this? I’ve been reading this blog for a couple months now and, despite a description in the “Who Are We?” section that says you will “mainly post on hip hop and R&B music,” correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve yet to see a post about any artists who are not connected to Shady/Aftermath in some way so. You’re not the only one though, I’ve met plenty of people who think hip hop begins and ends with Eminem.
I don’t know if you read other hip hop oriented blogs and sites but many of them have recently been discussing a new artist named Kanye West whose album was released this week. Have you even checked this artist out? If not, you should. If yes, I can’t beleieve you wouldn’t be moved by his music enough to post some thoughts on him because from a creative and cultural point of view, this will probably be one of, if not, the most important hip hop albums released this year.
> I used to hang out with Blacks since I was 18, my kids are metis.
I am black and have hung out with black people my whole life as a consequences (and white, and Asian and Jewish and Middle Eastern people too in case you’re curious) but I don’t see how that’s germane to the points I was making about Eminem.
I have no problem with Eminem, I think he’s talented and like his music as much as the next hip hop fan. I just have a problem with arguments trying to credit him with doing something he hasn’t.
Ok, Ian, let me respond.
First of all, don’t consider this as a beef. As long as we do respect each other, there is no reason to consider our debate as a beef. It is just a debate.
Maybe i have misunderstood you on some points.
Ok, I’m speaking from a European’s point of view. I have never been to the US, so I cannot tell about what you experienced at Hot Summer Jam. I went to Eminem’s concert in Paris and i can tell you that I have seen so many different people from so many different nationalities and groups were mixed up.
In Europe, there is not so much segregation, but still i have experienced some stupid racist behavior as a white mom of two metis kids.That’s why I also can’t stand racism Eminem has been confronted to from Benzino and his crew in particular. As Chuck D from Public enemy pointed it out intelligently, a blind man wouldn’t care about Eminem’s skin color, but about his talent.
talking about Jews, I used to hang out with Jewish people too and Jewish culture is a culture I know pretty much. I’ve been studying Hebrew as an autodidact for three years:). I have met so many people from different colors and nationalities in my life. Among them, syrians, chinese,magrhebians,israelis etc. Knowing other cultures is always an enrichment:)
I’m also listening to other hip hop artists who are not from the shady Camp like Gangstarr,Saul Williams, Public Enemy, Mystikal, Eve…. I have discovered an Asian rapper, Jin, who seems to be very gifted for rap. I’m also interested in underground rappers like Backstab the Kingpin…
I will check Kanye West as soon as I can.
The reason why I don’t post about other artists who are not from the shady camp is that i know them less. Eminem happens to be my favorite artist and the one i know best. Plus i run the Eminem part Gavin’s blog. Logically there are more texts about him.
I think Marshall has done a lot for interracial relations. In any case, more than Benzino and Dave Mays , the big racists, will ever do. Yes, he’s white and yes his skin color is an advantage in the music industry. He is not the only artist whose color is an advantage. He doesn’t use it to his only advantage. The people Eminem signs to Shady records are black. Eminem opens the door to hip hop to people who would never have listened to this kind of music. He has always been true to his roots. And his roots are hip hop.
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Has anyone heard of Kid Mic? He’s a rapper out of Florida, he attends Stetson university… He is without a doubt gonna be the newest artist to Shady Records.
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go here. it’s a new eminem book they wanna publish to silence the critics. e-mail them with your name age location, why you like eminem and how he changed your life. they need 200,000 signatures for it to be published.