Day 3

I've been listening to Eminem tonight. I started listening to Eminem tonight because I was listening to that B.o.B. album tonight and I was enjoying Em's verse on "Airplanes". He's better than B.o.B. on that song. This isn't surprising since Eminem is pretty much the best rapper on every song he has ever appeared on. The most notable example is when he outshined Jay-Z on "Renegade". Yeah, Nas had fun with this, but it's no slight against Jay that he got beat by the guy who just may have the best flow of all time. And he's still got it...just listen to that verse on "Forever". And yet I've never been a huge Eminem fan.

I've always been sort of ashamed of the fact that I'm not that big an Em fan. It's impossible to hate on his talent...even if you don't like the guy you have to give him credit. If you can't acknowledge him as one of the greatest of all time you just don't truly respect rhyming as an art form. His flow is fucking batshit. He is truly ridiculous. But I've always been a little turned off by his lyrics.

But here's the thing. I listen to a LOT of rappers of disturbing lyrics. I'm not talking about Biggie or Jay-Z rapping about guns. I'm talking about really shady stuff. Like Ice Cube's Death Certificate, which in addition to songs about burning down Korean liquor stores features a quaint track called "Nappy Dugout" wherein Cube explains in great detail to a father all the things he plans to do to his underage daughter. This I don't condone (I can go either way on burning down Korean liquor stores) yet I defend Death Certificate's place among rap's great masterpieces. Then there's Scarface and the Geto Boys...any hip hop head respects them as legends. But just go listen to "Assassins"...seriously, if you never have just go listen to "Assassins". This is disturbing shit. Why do I respect Scarface and Ice Cube more than Eminem?

Sadly, I keep coming back to the same answer and it's not all that flattering. I can't avoid the thought that it has to do with race. It's easy to defend Scarface and Ice Cube lyrics. You just have to talk a little bit about race in America and the way the ghetto was created and the cycle of violence and poverty and bla bla bla liberal bla. Easy to do if you have even a basic understanding of these things. So if Eminem were a black man he would be easy to defend on the same grounds. But since he is white we hold him up to a different standard. Which is totally fucking racist. Basically we are saying (notice I've gone to the collective here because I'm embarrassed), "Eminem should know better than to say such horrible and shocking things...he is white."

Thing is though...Eminem grew up with just as miserable a childhood as most black rappers. True, he was not discriminated against by mainstream society for his skin color. But he was poor, abused, and discriminated against as trailer trash. Does that make his lyrics acceptable? Not necessarily...but it makes them at least as acceptable as Ice Cube's, who in all honesty didn't grow up in all that different of a social situation.

I'm happy that I've sort of gotten past my distaste for Eminem. It's still difficult music to listen to but I can push through it and respect him for everything he has going. I mean, he's just so good. And there are so many levels to his lyrics that you don't hear if you just turn him off. He'll still never be on the same page as Jay and BIG for me, but I gotta give some respect where it's due.

At some point I'm going to write something about why everyone who truly respects rap music should also listen to country music. I'm also going to defend Kid Rock. Watch for that shit. Gonna be real...

Just for fun...in that comment section....if someone can name a song that Eminem raps on where he is not the best rapper on the track post it there.