To many parents, Eminem is a perfect culprit. Because some of his lyrics contain explicit sexual content and offensive words, it is so easy to accuse him at first at to make him look guilty when a child acts in a perverted way.
An event that happened in 2002 was giving Eminem a bad name :
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/08/29/nemin29.xmlI
In Manchester, a 12 years old boy who had listened to the Ken Kaniff skit had the bad idea to threaten a 9 years old boy with a piece of metal and to force him to perform some oral sex on him.
My question is : how many persons in this world (including teenage kids) have listened to the Ken Kaniff skit ? How many of them have acted weird afterwards ? Probably very few.
The story has been debatted here :
http://www.buzzgrinder.com/archives/eminem_lyrics_blamed_in_sex_crime.php
Who is Ken Kaniff ? Ken Kaniff is a sick character that is obviously gay. He appears several times on Eminems three records, the Slim Shady LP, the Marshall Mathers LP and the Eminem Show. Ken Kaniff also appears on the Slim Shady Show.
You will find more info about Ken Kaniff here :
http://www.shadysoldiers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1885&PN=1
The track that « inspired » the 12 years old boy is probably the Ken Kaniff skit from the Slim Shady LP :
[Ken Kaniff]I’m gonna call this motherfucker.
Oh fuck yeah.
Give him a piece of mind. A piece of my ass.
[Operator]Thank you for waiting. Hello, may I help you.
[Ken Kaniff]Oh thank you. I need to make a collect call.
[Operator]What number?
[Ken Kaniff]Oh the number is **6-2***
[Operator]At the tone, please say your name.
[Ken Kaniff]Kenneth Kaniff, from Connecticut. Automated piece of shit.
[Eminem]Yo.
[Ken Kaniff]Hey there, cock boy.
[Eminem]Who’s this?
[Ken Kaniff]This is Ken Kaniff.
[Eminem]Who?
[Ken Kaniff]Ken Kaniff from Connecticut, you little bitch.
[Eminem]From Connecticut? I don’t know nobody in Connecticut.
[Ken Kaniff]Yeah, you wanna get a hotel room with me?
[Eminem]A hotel room?
[Ken Kaniff]Yeah, you want me to lick your ass, Eminem?
[Eminem]Yo, who is this, Cage?
[Ken Kaniff]You want me to fuckin melt in your mouth and not in your hand?
Melt in your ass you little cock boy.
[Eminem]Yo, shut up you little bitch.
[Ken Kaniff]Oh, you think I’m lying huh…
[Eminem] Hahahahahaha
Ok, the language is explicit. Ken Kaniff offers a parody of a gay character. The skit is funny and isnt aimed at 12 years old kids.
Id say that this story is a typical example of irresponsible parenting. The mom of the teenager did not even any idea of what Eminems lyrics were about :
« My son likes Eminem but I have only let him listen to tracks that make the charts. When they played that awful song in the courtroom I felt sick. »
If she had known, she would have had the possibility to buy her son some clean version Eminem Cds. As far as I am concerned, forbidding Eminem to her son is not the solution. Parents should take their childrens musical tastes into account
but not only their musical choices. Parents should try to know their kids better. If they really invested themselves more in knowing their kids better, it would certainly avoid a lot of drama.
Ken Kaniffs words are not the real problem of the 12 years old boy mentioned in this story. It is goes deeper than that. It is obvious that this teenager had some mental problems that might be solved by counselling.
Eminem never told anybody of his listeners or fans to act weird. He never cautioned crazy behavior. In his song « Stan », he advices Stan not to act « crazy ».
It is not a proven fact that music perverts people. The people who are convinced of the contrary should also accuse any creator of a « crime story » to promote violence and murder. So many people are watching violent movies that are about crime and rape. That doesnt make criminal or rapists of them.
People accuse Eminem out of ignorance. I agree with this statement made about Eminem on a musical review website :
Eminem (real name Marshall Mathers = M&M = Eminem = GET IT?) is a foul-mouthed, hilarious, ultra-clever white rapper who has set the flame of the world alight with fire during the past few years with his supposedly profane woman- and gay-bashing lyrics, violent situations and adult themes – targeted towards kids! He has been set up as a kind of supervillain in the press when all he really is is a really smart songwriter who sings about things that make uptight people uncomfortable for a very good reason – theyre the same things that make STUPID people violent. You and I both know that if we hear a song about raping or murdering somebody, its just a song. But there are loads and LOADS of unbelievably ignorant, violent, maladjusted freaks out there who may very well take this stuff a little too seriously. Right? So the uptight people are correct, right? And Eminem is just out to make money without concern for our childrens well-being? Not necessarily. He just doesnt think that he should take the blame for societys stupidity. The dangers of creating an unintended response in certain listeners is, in fact, the main theme of the Marshall Mathers LP. But everybody seems to miss that, harping instead on his fag-bashing and woman-bashing. Hes just JOKING when he does that crap. Those are the kinds of jokes that smart people MAKE when theyre making fun of DUMB people. So lets actually talk about the albums, okey-dokey? Okey-dokey indeed, Mr. Prindle!
You will also find some full comments about Eminems albums on the same website:
http://www.markprindle.com/eminem.htm
Another person said: Look if youre going to be forcing little boys into sodomy while theatening them with a metal pipe I think you have bigger problems that whats in your CD player. She has a good point.
The problem of this 12 years old boy lies elsewhere and he probably needs a serious therapy.
There is nothing wrong with teenagers in general listening to Eminem. Parents just should make it sure that their kid is mature enough to listen to his songs. If they arent , buying clean CDs should be a real alternative. In both cases, it supposes that parents perfectly know their kids character, which means focusing a real interest on them.
Dont blame Eminem for your own failures.
i think it’s dumb. isnt the parent the one that bought the cd in the first place? What kind of idiot buys a cd for their kid without checking it out first. it’s so simple. the parents should be telling their kids it’s not real, instead they get all uptight over everything violent or sexually oriented and it’s like oh bad words and violence its evil. but you try to hide it from your kids then they arent being told it’s not real then they’re more likely to get shocked by it if they do hear or see such things. i’m not saying that young kids should listen but when they’re teenagers these things should be explained to them. i think eminem makes light of that. if they dont know it’s not real they’re more likely to act on it. the attitude now a days is instead of parents taking an active role in the upbringing they leave it up to the schools, day care, babysitters/nannies, etc. it’s like “HELLO!” you cant avoid letting your children grow up and being aware of these things. so smarten up!
It’s not eminem’s fault you’re a dumbass!
I would just like to say thank you to whomever wrote this article. I am a highschooler who carries a 4.0 GPA, is in many extra-curricular activities, has never smoked (cigarettes, marijuana, or any other substance), has never been involved in any sexual acts of any sort, and is a huge Eminem fan. I know all of the lyrics to all of his songs, and I even relieve my stress by listening to his music. Obviously, I haven’t gone astray by listening to “questionable” lyrics by my favorite artist. Nor do I know anyone else who has. Thank you for writing this and allowing a different side of the story to be heard.
THANK YOU FINALLY A PARENT WHO REALIZES THIS!!!IM SICK OF PARENTS BLAMING EVERYTHING THEIR KIDS DO ON THE MEDIA!!!!!!!!!