#5. The Eminem Show - Eminem
I don’t remember when exactly I had my first exposure to Eminem’s music, but I do know that by the time I did, I had already formed my opinion of him and it wasn’t too rosy. In terms of pop culture, there’s a general formula I often follow: The more coverage and exposure you get, the less talent you likely have. It’s almost like a bell-curve, and it was foolproof for the likes of Brittney Spears, Joe Buck, and anyone and everyone affiliated with or “competing’ on American Idol.
But Eminem defied the Exposure/Talent Continuum. Before even giving the music a chance, I thought he was a spoiled, whining, no-talent homophobe who sang borderline controversial lyrics simply to get notoriety and push record sales. My opinion was one based of turdlets of info from the mainstream media. Big mistake.
After slowly warming to him earlier in the decade on a song-by-song basis, a co-worker and friend burned me a copy of The Eminem Show upon it’s release in 2002. After a few listens-through, I was in absolute awe of just about every track (save for the stupid skits, a disturbing but tolerable 21st century development). For the next year, it seemed everyone I knew had come to the same realization as I did and this album seemed to always be on the stereo (or in some cases, they were much quicker than I to realize the man’s talent).
Taken on the surface (which is pretty much all the media bothered with) yes, the lyrics and visuals on The Eminem Show could be considered offensive, childish or obscene. However, when you take into consideration that (A) it’s the 21st Century and (B) what younglings were listening to before Eminem, you start to see the layers of genius buried beneath the unpolished surface.
Consider…
“Drips” – While it features descriptions of procreation you wouldn’t even hear in a locker room, it’s much more likely to educate someone about the perils of unprotected sex than 1950s-style health class lectures or having students carry around an egg for a week. Sure, you won’t be able to eat Sour Cream Dip for a while after giving it a good listen to, but I don’t recall spam like Brittney Spears or other early-decade best sellers warning people about the perils of AIDS. For all the campaigning Bono does, I don’t remember U2 ever telling it like it is.
“White America” – the ultimate Eff You to the hypocrites and those who prefer to put certain people and arts in certain boxes and cultural boundaries. You can break the song down line by line but there’s one that resonates and says it all: “Hip-hop was never a problem in Harlem, only in Boston, After it bothered the fathers of daughters starting to blossom”
“Without Me” – a simple ode to the media, critics and detractors. You hate me but you can’t live without me. I save you the effort of having to find something else to bitch about. You should thank me.
“Cleaning Out My Closet” – the one thing I do try to avoid is the drama about the dude and his mom and ex wife, but “Closet” is a powerful, soul searching, angry recount of the family drama that’s at the genesis of not only select songs, but his overall persona. And unlike some of his other maniacal and homicidal rants, this remains above the fray. The anger is there, thankfully, but the emotion is pure.
And my personal favorite track off the album:
“Square Dance”. A lot of people have painted over their 2002 selves through some pretty rosy revisionist history. A lot of people don’t remember the post-9/11 tension in the country, between the torch burning masses demanded the blood of all people brown, and the Fifteen Percenters who either didn’t see bombing the third world to smithereens as viable justice, or, who didn’t trust the “leadership” in place at the time to effectively execute such a plan. I remember saying to my wife “Where are the Bob Dylans? The Joan Baezes? The Byrds?”
It seemed like even music was following dehr orders in lockstep, nobody would simply call it like it was. Where was the dissent? Then there was Square Dance:
Yeah the man's back, With a plan to ambush this Bush administration,.
Mush the Senate's face in and push this generation,
Of kids to stand and fight for the right to say something you might not like
Amen Slim. Amen
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