But now, with another decade of life behind me I can see the reality: Eminem's music is just not for kids.
You might be thinking, "No shit" or "Oh isn't it REALLY??"
I wonder how original rappers feel about the scrubbed-clean MTV 'rap' crap that comes out these days.
I have no illusions about somehow being an expert on the genre, but even with my limited knowledge I believe I'm correct in the impression that rap is supposed to be an outlet of expression for the oppressed and struggling lower classes. That's not a pejorative statement, I'm just pointing out my perceived realities.
There was a message, usually not G-rated, but a message nonetheless. Frequently, anger towards The Man, frustration against the Establishment. Things that a person with no other mode of communication legitimately had reason to rap about.
Then you have raps like Super Bass and Get Low. No links to that shit.
Chris Rock does a bit on this. Just YouTube: "rap chris rock" and you'll find it.
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I also thought it strange that a white guy was rapping. Rap is a 'black' thing, isn't it?
Again, years later, I see deeper. No. Rap is (or was) a poor thing. And yet, even then I wasn't really 'wrong', was I? I still live in a not-quite-nice part of town. It's easy to correlate the two when you grow up with that picture in front of you all the time.
Well yes, it's an outlet.. but a black thing? A poor thing? I mean, it did start that way, but it had evolved into just that outlet. At first it was the ones who had nothing left but their imaginations. They took records, made them skip into a timed beat and worded over it. All they wanted was to be heard. Then there was "gangsta rap" which took the turn you're looking at. From there though, there's a load of 'good' rappers out there who aren't necessarily poor, nor black, and don't necessarily channel anger in such an aggressive form. It's the roots of it, but by no means is it confined.
ReplyDeleteThen again, it's easier to hit the spotlight when you've got an interesting life to talk about. Take Eminem before broken-record-syndrome. But then you've got other finely talented individuals like Common. That guy is almost pure positive vibes.
As far as color though, it's as much black as singing soul music. It's more common in the black community, some are just born with it, but other races can always chip in without their purpose being edgy.
WOAH HUGE COMMENT.
I was expecting and hoping for no less from ya on this subject. (^_^)-b
DeleteRap is one of the music genres that, for the most part, I wasn't in to. It was mostly that I just didn't get it. Even though I came from a moderately poor background, I just couldn't relate. As I got older though I was able to relate more. Before that time though some of Eminem's work did get to me, such as Lose Yourself. I wanted to be someone like that, who lived for the moment and took chances. I still do. Though I do take more chances these days.
ReplyDeleteThat song and 'Stan' are my two favorites from him.
DeleteI LOVE HIM!
ReplyDeletehis songs were one of the few songs I memorized :D
hehe..RAP ROCKS! ^_^
Did NOT expect you to be a rap fan. Post a vid of you guys rapping, eh?
Deletenever gonna happen! hahahahaha! but I'll try to ask my friend about it, maybe she'll do it. hahaha! she's more fun in video than me ;p
DeleteCertainly not my type of music, still not a fan or rap to this day as well.
ReplyDeleteCare to elaborate? No judgements or criticism, just curious.
DeleteHiss!! @ Super Bass. Man I hate that song and what's worst is everyone plays it everywhere! e__e Grr.
ReplyDeleteI was never really fond of the rap genre growing up but my cousins would play it all the time so there was no escaping Naz, Tupac, etc. :D Still not a major fan of it because I prefer music I can relate to but there are some rappers I like. Lupe Fiasco being one of my favourites and of course Eminem. *_*
I definitely get not being able to relate. I think that's a large part of why I have a greater appreciation for the genre now. I have more bitterness, haha.
DeleteI really like this post.
ReplyDeleteMy Son is mixed race and I kinda credit Wu-Tang and Dead Prez (if you wanna hear political rap listen to DP) with a little bit of educating him about black awareness.
Not that he listened to them and decided to become a "gangster", he was brought up way better then to aspire to that, but their music made him want to find out more about his cultural history.
In our house we listen to all kinds of music, Son told me a while ago he was on my spotify Placebo playlist - his spotify is linked to his facebook - so it posted on his page that he was listening to Placebo and someone commented on that, saying they thought he was just into hip-hop. It made him laugh, the stereotype prevails !
He was into Eminem - when he was 13 - but that has reminded me of a story that I might make into a blog post, so I'll save it for that.
I am going to send him that picture though - he'll love it.
That's refreshing, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of black cultural history is all the way back to Africa but that is a bit outdated of me, isn't it?
DeleteNo, I don't think so. That's the origin of all black people. But that I knew about, whereas I think a lot of the more serious rappers talk about what happened after that, particularly in America. We are English, Sons father is Jamaican descent - and although black people ended up in Jamaica as a result of slavery, they became the majority there, so I think for the most part later generations had a different experience to those that were born in America.
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