Rap God
Eminem, Nostalgia and the Art of Storytelling
I’ll never forget the first time I heard Eminem.
I was in the 11th grade. This was in the dark days before YouTube, Shazaam and all that high tech business. Eminem’s “My Name Is” came on the radio. I remembered this track — the irreverent lyrics, the don’t-give-a-fuck attitude, the already-dated references to Pamela Anderson — all of it. It was like a joke, some kid’s retaliatory look back at school and stupid-ass teachers from hell. Yet somehow it struck a chord in me. I didn’t know what this song was until a few days later, when the radio DJ made the introduction:
And now, “My Name Is” — by M&M.
“What?” I thought. “M&M? Like the candy?”
On first listen, I immediately thought this rapper — or should I say, this jokester — was African-American. Not a Caucasian golden boy with platinum blond hair. This was in the days when access to music videos was limited to what you saw on TV. Imagine my surprise when somebody told me Eminem was white! Whaaaaat?
It wasn’t like I was brought up to think that hip-hop or street culture belonged to one race. The Beastie Boys were established elder statesmen. We had some faux-rap groups like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit. My surprise stemmed from Eminem’s attitude. There was something about his bravado and use of comic imagery that made me think…African-American rapper.
I had no idea at the time that Marshall Mathers was an underground freestyle legend from Detroit, that his radio singles were scratching the surface of his talents or that he would go on to release one of the great rap albums in recent memory.
I just thought Eminem was cool and funny. Maybe a one hit wonder?
Fast forward one year, and “The Real Slim Shady” is blowing up everywhere.
You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing:
Cause I’m Slim Shady, yes I’m the real Shady
All you other Slim Shadys are just imitating
So won’t the real Slim Shady please stand up,
Please stand up, please stand up?
Turns out that “The Real Slim Shady” is one of the weakest tracks on The Marshall Mathers LP. I realized this a year later when I finally decided to listen to the album in its entirety. “The Real Slim Shady” was so annoying (as any song on the radio is likely to be after CONSTANT rotation) that I held off listening to the album.
I put my friend’s CD into my Discman and…boom! The rest is history.
I didn’t know jack squat about rap music as a whole or who Nas was. I thought Puff Daddy was real hip-hop. But regardless of what labels I liked to put on things at the time, one thing was for sure: there was something memorable, visceral and special about the Marshall Mathers LP. It was fantastic from start to finish and it was consistent. Lyricism was not in my vocabulary back then — but Eminem had it. He had the gift of gab. He had the ability to weave stories about murder and rape and chainsaws and homophobia together into some catchy-ass songs. His beautiful dark twisted fantasy.
This was around the time when the accusations came.
Eminem was a white supremacist.
Eminem advocated violence against women.
Eminem was a terrible role model.
I always looked past the criticism. I look at Eminem’s albums as well-constructed horror movies. Do directors or writers get blamed for using vivid imagery or depicting violence on screen? No!
Eminem spins realistic pictures in your head that leave an indelible impression. Whether he was rapping about his demons or his mother or Kim or Hailie or some twisted fan, Eminem was always able to reach the point of absurdity.
The point of absurdity is when he pulls you in and pulls you back out with the sheer over-the-top-ness of it all. One of the first tracks, “Kill You,” illustrates this:
You god damn right BITCH, and now it’s too late
I’m triple platinum and tragedies happen in two states
I invented violence, you vile venomous volatile bitches
vain Vicadin, vrinnn Vrinnn, VRINNN! [*chainsaw revs up*]
Texas Chainsaw, left his brains all
dangling from his neck, while his head barely hangs on
Blood, guts, guns, cuts
Knives, lives, wives, nuns, s***s
Last I checked, Eminem never took out a chainsaw. He never murdered people. In the same way that a director paints a palette with his cinematography and script, Eminem paints a story with his words.
I said you don’t, wanna fuck with Shady (cause why?)
Cause Shady, will fucking kill you (ah-ha ha)
I said you don’t, wanna fuck with Shady (why?)
Cause Shady, will fucking kill you..
The tongue-in-cheek song ends with this:
Ha ha, I’m just playing ladies
You know I love you
It’s an outlet for him to make the fantastical real. And it’s an outlet for us to listen. I am not an Eminem apologist. I merely advocate my admiration for his talent, flaws and all. I won’t stop watching The Amityville Horror and I won’t stop listening to The Marshall Mathers LP.
Fast forward 13 more years. The Marshall Mathers LP Part 2 dropped this month. Big expectations as only a “Part 2” can deliver. And I’m the perfect demographic for his audience. 30-something years old, big on Eminem from back in the day, strong associations all around.
Eminem isn’t blowing up radio anymore. Conventional radio is dead, a casualty of progress. Em has become the elder statesman, joining the likes of Jay Z, Nas and the “old guard” of hip hop. In one corner, we have the up-and-coming hopefuls like Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Jay Cole. In the other corner we have the hustlers putting in the time to do the solid work — Killer Mike, Pusha T, Game, et al. At this point, Eminem’s defined who he is and we’ve defined who we are. There’s nothing left to prove.
Maybe he catches on with the new generation of listeners — maybe he doesn’t. I’m not holding my breath. Nor do I feel strongly about it anymore, in the way that I used to yearn for others to embrace the music that *I* listened to. All that’s in the past now.
What I am looking for is a consistent product, and LP Part 2 delivers the goods. The references to the previous record, the spitfire vocabulary, the homophobic jokes and slurs — they’re all there. More importantly, Em’s still got it. “Rap God” is by leaps and bounds the standout track:
Well, to be truthful the blueprint’s simply rage and youthful exuberance
Everybody loves to root for a nuisance
Hit the earth like an asteroid, did nothing but shoot for the moon since
MC’s get taken to school with this music
Cause I use it as a vehicle to ‘bus the rhyme’
Now I lead a new school full of students
Me, I’m a product of Rakim, Lakim Shabazz, 2-Pac N-
-W.A, Cube, Hey Doc, Ren Yella, Eazy, thank you, they got Slim
Inspired enough to one day grow up, blow up and be in a position
To meet Run DMC, and induct them into the motherfuckin’ Rock n’
Roll Hall of Fame
Even though I’ll walk in the church and burst in a ball of flames
Why be a king when you can be a God?
It’s nice that Eminem can come back and show us how it’s done. Marshall Mathers is on this Earth to do one thing, and he does it well.
Much respect to the Real Slim Shady, the absurdly gifted Eminem, née Marshall Mathers. Rap virtuoso extraordinaire. May the Lord have mercy on his competition.
[This post originally appeared on my blog.]
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