UNDER-RATED (Does Eminem doo it for yoo?)

Member Name: davidso_99

Product:	Does Eminem doo it for yoo?
Date:	10/07/02 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: original, honest

Disadvantages: media hype

Throughout this op, I will purposely try to stray away from the fact that Eminem is white, for I feel this, along with media hype and his general controversial being detract from his undeniable talent as a hip hop 'mc.' I thus want to focus more intimately on his character and music. I will not mention his poor upbringing, his loathing of his mother or even his dead uncle Ronney. Nor will I give any mention to his turbulent relationship with ex wife Kim, or his much publicised use of narcotics, or his trial for 'pistol whipping' someone for that matter. I'm sure you can find all kinds of weird and wonderful facts by consulting other ops, but for now lets for once ignore the hype and take a closer look at the character and his music irrespective of irrelevant facts.

Rap artist after rap artist, time after time choose to base their tracks on pure self-glorification and materialistic obsessions, which is now recognised as typical of the 'bling bling' rap industry. However, Eminem, quite refreshingly tends to reverse this. His lyrics tend to be more concerned with home issues- being neglected as a child, drug abuse etc. This is perfectly illustrated in the 'Steve Berman' skit where his manager says, and I quote:

"You know why Dre's album was so successful? He's rapping about blunts, forties and bitches. You're rapping about homosexuals and vicatin"

This is the underlying essence of Em'. He'll say what other people won't say so as not to loose face. Most call it intentional controversy. I call it honesty- "He didn't just say what I think he did, did he?" Yes he did. He will be openly homophobic (not something I necessarily condone) despite political correctness. He will openly mock the political establishment. He will openly tell everyone he hates and thinks about murdering his wife, and his parents for that matter and will not once shy away from it. Tracks lik
e 'Kim' on 'The Marshall Mathers LP' (where he does indeed murder his wife) and 'Cleaning Out My Closet' on his most recent album, 'The Eminem Show' are explosions of anger, which express this hatred perfectly.

It is apparent that he uses his art as a channel through which he can release his built up anger and as a means of self-expression. This, I suggest is a primary reason for his tremendous success. Eminem wears his heart on his sleeve (pardon the cliché), which draws the fan closer to him in that they can identify and sympathise with the man.

Upon the subject of Eminem, this site is littered with 'ops' produced by those with elitist mentalities who generally tend to afford little or no credit to a legend in the making for they would consider him to be too 'mainstream' and not 'underground' enough for their liking. This is despite the fact that Eminem did in fact hail from 'the underground' as we know it. Nevertheless, the true elitists within hip hop circles-his fellow rap artists tend to consider him to be amongst the greatest lyricists around. His style and delivery are original and upon listening to his material, you often find yourself gasping in awe and asking 'How did he come up with that?' A prime example is 'Stan,' probably his most popular and influential track to date. As you'll probably already know, the song depicts a crazed, obsessive fan that kills himself, wife and child as a result of Eminem's failure to reply to his letters. It's a very emotion-evoking track with its deep, solemn base line and rain effect allied with Dido's soft vocals. Very original in its deviation from the happy, party atmosphere that seemed to characterise the majority of hip hop tracks. And its things like this that set Eminem apart from the rest.

A white, weedy, squeaky voiced boy who obviously has issues, would, with this alone have no chance of bre
aking into a predominantly black, thuggish and well established industry. This shows the extent of his great talent. A talent that has the ability to transcend borders which indeed makes Eminem undoubtedly amongst the best.
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