Commenting Christian Lindberg's views on Eminem

Times online has posted an article called « How Eminem taught me
that hip hop is art » where contemporary trombonist Christian
Lindberg expressed about Eminem :

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7948-1052167,00.html

It is interesting to notice that Lindberg points out the negative
image the press often displays of Eminem. It reminds me of some
article about Eminem I had found in a magazine called « I love
English » that is aimed at teenagers who want to improve their
English in France.
If I had taken their (wrong opinion) into account without
researching more on Eminem, I’d probably hate the talented artist by
now. The trouble is, such articles do influence a lot of people and
many people believe what is written in the press without analyzing
things deeper. Many people also allow the media to think in their
place and are satisfied with a superficial view on many subjects.
In fact, « I love English » portrayed Eminem as a big racist, an
homophobic man and a big women hater. They even dared saying that
his lyrics were worth nothing !
If Eminem was such a bad person, he wouldn’t reach such a great
audience (9 millions of persons) from different cultural backgrounds.

As he stated it in an interview given to the « Daily Mirror » in
2003, Eminem isn’t the evil person the press often wants us to
believe he is :

“They portrayed me as a vicious, vile, evil person. But I wouldn’t
have got anywhere in this business if I was just a complete asshole.”

In fact, those people from “I love English” don’t know Eminem in
detail. They don’t seem to get his sense of humor nor his satyre of
society. This magazine which-by the way- portrays other pop stars in
a positive way, has lost my respect. Why? Because their article on
Eminem was a misrepresentation of the truth.

I totally agree with Christian Lindberg when he says:

« He has a great sense of drama, he’s intelligent and provocative,
but above all he is someone who communicates. It’s an irony that he
is so frequently misunderstood. There are clearly people out there
who want to silence him and I think that’s because his lyrics are so
true and revealing of American society. »

Eminem is actually great in acting. He manages to captivate you and
makes you penetrate into his universe. Eminem has something to say.
You may disagree with his point of view (even some of his fans don’t
share the same point of view on things Eminem expresses), but you
need to get his message.
It is so true that many conservative and narrow minded people are
trying to shut Eminem down, because his presence is deranging.
Eminem is the mirror of true life, the mirror of the decay of the
American society. A mirror some people may be too scared to look at.
Lindberg’s views on Eminem are interesting. He has understood that
rap music is a sophisticated art. The rythm in rap music is complex
and you need a good sense of rythm to be a good rapper. Of course,
rap music cannot be explained the way you would analyze a classical
composer’s work on a score. It escapes to those rules and it often
scares traditional musical critics who don’t see ” real music” in
rap, which is so untrue.
Rap music was born in the ghetto. It is linked to street culture. It
has a rich sound and rythm that is in constant evolution.
If you look back at NWA’s style, you will notice that their album is
rich of so many different musical styles like reggae, jazz, soul,
blues…

Eminem masters rythm and sound very well. He also masters the words.
He is a real good rapper. In my opinion, he’s a genius of rap.
Lindberg points it out so well: “Eminem puts a personal stamp on
everything he does.”

This ability makes him so unique in the world of hip hop. His
particular voice, his originality, his high level of skills makes
you recognize him in a crowd of 10 000 different rappers. Eminem’s
music is great art.