The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #31122 Message #404116
Posted By: Jim the Bart
22-Feb-01 - 06:43 PM
Thread Name: Eminem carrier of folk torch?
Subject: RE: Eminem carrier of folk torch?
Matt - I meant that he isn't a killer, he is an artist; whether a good one or not is anyone's opinion. Last summer I sat down with my sister-in-law's step-son (got that?) who was listening to some pretty radical stuff in the rap/death metal vein. Eminem was the only one I can remember specifically. To make a long story short, I just wanted to listen to try to figure out if this stuff was truly evil or just a bunch of hooey. What struck me was a spoken "disclaimer" of sorts that Eminem has on the front of his song killer. He says that this stuff is just his music and that you shouldn't mistake it for reality. It's the same kind of acknowledgment of theatricality that Kiss showed when they would do their bow at the end of a concert.
Sure his stuff is hate-filled; but what people who don't listen miss is that it mostly the kind of self-loathing, angst riddled sh*t that seems to connect for a lot of teenagers. Take the song he did last night on the Grammies. He's speaking for a lot of unwanted, unloved kids and he's doing it quite eloquently. He's talking about the false hero-worship that a lot of black tee-shirted latch-key kids have been lugging around with them. And the disillusionment that they get back in return. Who else is even acknowledging that these kids exist before they decide to blow up their school?
The question people should be asking after last night is not "why is this guy on the Grammies?" It should be "why does this music connect with so many young people?"
I think that the vocal on the recording of the song that Moby did last night (the part sang by the woman singer, who's name I don't know) was a sample of an old blues tune from the archives. It's almost as scary as Ralph Stanley singing "Oh, Death" in "Brother, Where Art Thou?".
later, all
Bart