posted September 15, 2003 11:39 PM           

Let me tell you, there are other rap artists that are far worse and far more obscene than this guy but they simply don't get the attention or exposure he does. Why??

quote:

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I never would've dreamed in a million years I'd see, so many people who feel like me/who share the same views and the same exact beliefs, it's like an army marchin' in back of me/So many lives I touch, so much anger aimed in no particular direction, just sprays and sprays and straight through your radio waves it plays and plays, till it stays stuck in your head for days and days/who woulda thought, standing in this mirror bleachin' my hair, with some peroxide, reachin for a t-shirt to wear/that I would catapult to the forefront of rap like this? How could I predict my words would have an impact like this/I must've struck a chord, with somebody up in the office, cuz Congress keeps telling me I ain't causin' nuthin' but problems/and now they're sayin' I'm in trouble with the government, I'm lovin' it, I shoveled sh!t all my life/and now I'm dumping it on...

White America!

Look at these eyes, baby blue, baby just like yourself, if they were brown Shady lose, Shady sits on the shelf/but Shady's cute, Shady knew Shady's dimples would help, make ladies swoon baby, ooh baby! Look at my sales/Lets do the math, If I was black I would've sold half, I ain't have to graduate from Lincoln High School to know that..

---

- White America, Marshall Mathers

quote:

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I love my fans, but no one ever puts a grasp on the fact, I've sacrificed everything I have/I never dreamt I'd get to the level that I'm at, this is wack, this is more than I ever coulda asked/everywhere I go, a hat, a sweater hood, or mask, what about math, how come I wasn't ever good at that?/It's like the boy in the bubble, who never could adapt, I'm trapped, if I could go back, I never woulda rapped/I sold my soul to the devil, I'll never get it back, I just wanna leave this game with level head intact/Imagine goin' from bein' a no one to seein', everything blow up and all you did was just grow up mcing/It's crazy, cus all I wanted was to give Hailie the life I never had, but instead I forced us to live alienated

---

- Saying Goodbye to Hollywood, Marshall mathers

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~~Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves~~

posted September 16, 2003 03:25 AM         

I have nothing against Mr. Mathers, mind you, and I certainly do not wish to lessen his experiences. It is definately impressive and inspiring that he was able to overcome such adversity and actually use it to fuel his success.

Some of his lyrics are ... okay, but all you have to do is keep listening ...

RRR, you did not finish the lyrics! Shall I?

...I aint have to graduate from Lincoln High School to know that/but I could rap, so f*** school, I'm too cool to go back, gimme the mic, show me where the f***in studio's at ...
...so now I'm catchin the flack from these activists when they raggin, actin like I'm the first rapper to smack a b**ch, or say faggot/sh*t, just look at me I'm your closest pal ...

-White America

I suppose I am just WAY far out of the loop! I simply cannot listen to it, whether it is a joke or not.

May God bless the youth in the world. (and Eminem too!)

posted September 16, 2003 06:48 AM           

I respect rapping as an art form and he is unreal. I grew up listening to lots or rap/hip hop and I was aware of the 'bad' lyrics but it's just a part of the music and I never, ever swore or took the music literally.

I left out lyrics that I thought would be too offensive.. but I guess what I was trying to point out is:

• Half the critics only care because he is white and the white people are listening to him,
  
• he is just venting anger and saying what he feels, hes not trying to get out a 'message,
  
• he never realised people would care so much about what he had to say

We aren't desperate RA, there is always a 'menace' in the music industry with every generation. Look at Jim Morrison, Oh my gosh he pulled his penis out on stage (apparently). Now, we can go and watch 'puppetry of the penis' live.

I can't wait to see what my children will be listening to/watching... (tongue in cheek).

quote:

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And since birth I've been cursed with this curse to just curse and just blurt this berserk and bizarre **** that works

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-The way I am.

posted September 16, 2003 02:38 PM         

There is little in your statement that I disagree with, but I thought the point of this string was that he had some kind of "message".

And I am glad that this type of music has not affected your language and that you have not taken it literally, that says a lot about your character, you are strong ... but unfortunately I do not think this holds true for most.

Ally, no argument here!

posted September 18, 2003 04:51 AM           

Ra - I don't believe Em has any message, he just raps. I don't believe he is of some higher purpose to change the world. Dragniel said 'MATHERS SHALL HEAL BRUSES THRU ETHERS' I think that refers to him healing his own bruises. ('i' in bruise).

I think the ones who take these lyrics too literally need to listen closer to his lyric content. He doesn't want you to follow him or do as he does or say as he says. I think you will notice Em taking on more of a producing role now, getting other artists off the ground. I don't think he is comfortable with the role model status his music placed on him.

posted September 19, 2003 10:32 PM         

He's a powerful artist which means he is a sensitive soul whether or not his music is postive. He will change as a person and I think his purpose is to be outspoken on issues that are taboo in this country.

It might get him killed, but I don't think he is afraid, I'm sure he is here for a good reason. He will help today's youth not in a bad way, but in way that will help them react to the things, that could go on in the future. His main audience, are the teenagers with Scorpio in Pluto, so there is a purpose.

I heard on the radio that he's coming out with a new album next year. Which in my opinion will be a flop since I feel that it's mainly concerned with making money. He's already created a clothing line which is mainly concerned with making money. So right now, he needs to adjust his motives which I think he will.

posted September 19, 2003 10:53 PM         

Madonna was the first woman to be very open about sex, and she wanted to open those doors for other woman, so they could lose their inhibitions, and to be more expressive, in their right to enjoy themselves.

Her music is also completely different. She is no longer a pop artist as much as before. Her music mainly consists of techno, electronic, acoustic, and synthesizers. She puts emotion into techno music. Her album was a flop becuase it was out of place in today's mainstream music. Plus she was outspoken about the war.

You have to remember that she is a fantastic marketer. So at the Video Music Awards, she kissed Britney and Christina, so that people would remember she's out there, and to buy her album. She even resorted doing a Gap commercial with Missy Elliot. Again this is all marketing and I don't consider this near her personality. She wants people to listen to her music.

Personally, I really liked her album, she even cursed in her first song, to give it a parental sticker. But besides that, she is singing to herself, and at the same time you're relating to her beliefs and feelings. She even had song concerned only with Jesus.

posted September 20, 2003 01:32 AM           

Remember Eminem is contracted to do at least 1 more album to fulfill his recording contract (If memory serves me correctly). I hope he does release a newbie, it's not as raw and honest as his old stuff but I'm sure it will keep me amused

I haven't stated here before but one thing his music does for me is give me a huge motivational influence. I think nearly every song says to me (most of my favorites anyway): You can do it, you can do anything and you can make it happen.

posted December 06, 2003 11:53 AM         

I used to listen to his music and admired him as a rapper. His level of technical excellence is amazing.

It isn't the man or his talent that we should be looking at, however.

It is the effect his music, his movies and his lyrics have on the future, our children.

His intention, or lack of it is unimportant, just as an intent to provide children with sexual education by showing them pornography is unimportant.

What is important is what the kids take away from it. It is so easy to overlook these effects when we are fans. It is so easy for the intellectuals among us to fawn over his artistic genius and to downplay the havoc that his brand of music and the lifestyle it glamorizes have wreaked among our younger generations.

So many of our children grow up WITHOUT guidance these days in this age of the "two income family" propaganda that has leeched into our brains and stolen our common sense and the nuclear family right out from under us.

It was not as I listened to Eminem and his music that I lost respect for Marshall Bruce Mathers, for he is indeed charismatic and he is indeed a rebel who tells it like it is.

It is how he tells it like it is, and the parts of what he tells that our children take away from the truth that he tells.

They don't hear his message to the parents as an attempt at social reformation.

They hear: "YEA Mom, Yea Dad! F*** you for leaving me alone! Eminem's right! You SUCK! I Hate you! You're the reason that I'm having premarital sex, YOU'RE the reason that I'm swearing like a sailor. It's not T.V. it's YOU!"

When the truth is that it is a combination of irresponsible parents, an irresponsible media machine and an irresponsible humanity that have created this soul vacuum of a society.

Eminem IS just as responsible as the parents, and so are all of the producers that stand in line to sign up artists that glorify hedonistic, materialistic acts like his.

It was as I watched him play a part in this attempt to flush the future of humanity down the toilet, that I lost all respect and admiration that I may have once harbored for Marshall Bruce Mathers.

His karmic debt will be heavy, of that there is no doubt, because as so many of us have pointed out in this thread, he speaks truth, and therefore he almost certainly KNOWS the truth of what he is doing. He knows the part that he is playing in the tragedy and he keeps on doing it anyway. May God bless Marshall Bruce Mather, and may Marshall Bruce Mather find God.

daf

"Every thought that has once crossed the mind,every feeling that has once passed through the heart,every word that is once spoken and perhaps never thought about any longer,every action once done and forgotten,is given a life,and it continues to live.It is just like a traveler who is journeying,and on his way he has some seeds in his hands and throws them on the ground.
When the plants grow in that place he never sees them;he just threw the seeds and they are there."

"Everything that is once felt,thought,or spoken is born as a living being,with a destiny,with a purpose to fulfill;and as it has birth,it necessarily has death. Therefore,besides living beings, feelings,words,thoughts,and the effects of one’s actions float in the air,rise up and come down,swing hither and thither,and seek their location in objects and in living beings."

"Thoughts are beings.They are as much living beings as are we."

posted April 28, 2004 08:32 PM         

And aside from all the negative feelings and thoughts that he spews, it really is inspiring in some respects to see what he's managed to accomplish from so little and how he feels about it. Just because he's rich now doesn't mean he isn't still suffering inside. Having loads of money doesn't cure your problems or make them go away. Sheesh, his suffering and his expression of it got him that wealth. How must that feel sometimes? He's probably very confused about it. Like Eddie Vedder was with dealing with fame, as well. They're both Capricorns, by the way.

posted May 11, 2004 03:14 PM         

Eminem's music is both a social commentary and a satire or parody. His message is delivered by playing out the sick, twisted ways of our society in such an exaggerated manner, that it should be apparent that what he is doing is wrong. He knows this and that's part of the point. He takes our faults and blows them up to larger than life scale so that we can see them.

This, perhaps is admirable. What is absolutely unforgiveable is this:

Eminem KNOWS that his message is being delivered mainly to the kids, NOT to their parents. Furthermore, kids do NOT necessarily have a very good grasp on the satirical medium. To a kid, the line between what he is doing that's real, and what he doing that is farce becomes blurred.

Eminem KNOWS this, as is evidenced by his placing the blame for the crap that kids are listening to SQUARELY on the shoulders of the parents. He knows that, to some extent, kids are coming out screwed up because their parents aren't there screening the messages that reach them.

So what does he do? He cranks up the twisted nature of the message. He makes the sadism larger than life. It's as if he is saying, protect your children or else MY message will get to them.

Understand though, that he is NOT defending the kids, or society. He has convinced himself that he is, but in fact, he is not. See, he KNOWS that his message isn't getting to the parents...just the kids.

The entire idea that his message creates awareness of social problems is a figment of Eminem's imagination, created by Eminem for the benefit of himself and his fans, in order to justify his own contribution to those problems.

He sits in a glass house, lobbing boulders in order to point out how horrible it is that people in glass houses are throwing stones. Meanwhile, the kids are getting hit with rocks from all sides.

posted May 31, 2004 02:36 PM         

The majority of the kids that listen to his music don't have decent parents to speak of. He speaks to the heart of those children because he KNOWS their pain. They can identify with him. Through experiencing their pain (and hopefully setting it free) he IS helping them. Helping them to better understand their own anger at a situation they have no control over. They are angry because mom's a drunk and dad beats the BLEEP out of her. He gives them an outlet for that anger. That is why I love him. I understand HIS pain. I lead a similar life, only my path lead me another way.

I also think that bringing these social issues to light in his music, he is opening the eyes of the coming generations that will soon be old enough to make choices for their nation. He speaks out against the things he believes are wrong. That is pretty ballsy in this day and age. Not many public icons are willing to put their necks on the choping block. I find him refreshing.... and oh my gosh is he sexy! *blush*

posted June 03, 2004 09:02 PM         

"So I get off stage right? drop the mic
Walk up to these hot chicks and I'm all like
What's up, ladies? My name's Slim Shady
I'm the lead singer of D12 baby
They're all like "Oh my God! It's him"
"Becky oh my f***in God it's Eminem!"
"I swear to f***in God, dude you f***in rock!"
"Please Marshall, please let me suck your c***?"

Especially when I drop the beat and do my accapellas
All the chicks start yellin, all the hot babes
Throw their bras and their shirts and their panties on stage
So like every single night they pick a fight with me
But when we fight it's kinda like sibling rivalry
Cause they're back on stage the next night with me
Dude I just think they're tryin to steal the light from me
Yesterday Kuniva tried to pull a knife on me
Cause I told him Jessica Alba's my wife to be
This rockstar sh*t, it's the life for me"

Yea...he feels their pain and empathizes with them. I see your point now.