Eminem betrays hip-hop heads with mainstream persona, lyrics

Anthony Quinonez Anthony Quinonez enjoys hip
hop music, waxing philosophical and badmouthing his L.A. Dodgers.
Send or comments to [email protected].

As a music journalist, last week should have been the most
exciting time of the year for me. The 43rd Annual Grammy Awards
were held (right here in Los Angeles at Staples Center) to
recognize the “best” performers of the year.

I could have cared less.

I have my own little personal Grammy party every year. I wait
until the next day and bitch and moan as the groups (few as they
may be) that I like get passed over for a statuette.

This year was a little different. It seemed an unlikely duo was
set to perform the finale for this year’s show. Yes, I
couldn’t believe my ears the first time I heard that Eminem
and Elton John were going to perform “Stan” for
millions of people.

Something about the pairing of these two really bugged. I had to
wonder whose idea this was. It certainly wasn’t Slim
Shady’s. It was unlikely that is was the brainchild of Elton
John either. The stunt had to be the work of the show’s
producers, expressing some kind of “We can all get
along” sentiment.

Anyway, the performance of “Stan” was more lifeless
and less soulful than even I could imagine. It was while watching
this that I realized that not only did the pairing of the two
artists bother me, but something about Eminem’s persona
rubbed me the wrong way.

Now, Eminem doesn’t bother me for all the typical reasons.
I have no problem with his anti-homosexual lyrics, not because I
myself am prejudiced but because I steadfastly believe in an
artist’s right to say what ever they like.

I also believe that listeners shouldn’t take an
artist’s lyrics at face value. If this were so, half the
rappers you hear would be facing murder charges right now.

The problem I have with Eminem is his wild popularity. Now, this
is a touchy subject for one simple reason: Eminem is white. My
problem with the Shady one, however, has nothing to do with skin
color. After all, that would be hypocritical on my part, being a
Mexican-American who is a hip-hop aficionado.

My beef with Eminem runs deeper than anything having to do with
appearance. When I see him I see wasted talent at the expense of
record sales.

There was a time when Eminem was an accomplished underground
artist, appearing on many other rappers’ albums and
compilations to make a living. Before Slim ever got with Dr. Dre, I
remember hearing hip-hop heads describe him as “the illest
white kid to pick up a mic.”

Eminem went from completely underground to selling millions in
just a couple years. For this I should congratulate the kid,
right?

I like to see hip-hop records sell, and Eminem deserves to be
one of the most popular rappers out right now. But he has ditched
hip-hop fans on his two mainstream albums, “The Slim Shady
LP” and “The Marshall Mathers LP.”

On “The Marshall Mathers LP,” Slim several times
addresses his disgust with the whole “˜boy band’ genre.
He is equally upset about being grouped with these pop band because
he is white. Go figure.

To a point I empathize with Eminem. But I really can’t
feel bad for the guy because the first singles off his two albums,
“My Name Is,” and “The Real Slim Shady,”
are downright corny.

How can he be mad when he throws lame hooks into his radio
songs? Of course 13-year-old girls are going to like the stuff.
Dressing up as Britney Spears in his video only gives Eminem appeal
to the TRL crowd.

Fortunately there is some hope. Eminem still does some
underground stuff and is currently involved in two “dis
wars” with Everlast formerly of House of Pain and Evidence of
Dilated Peoples.

For those that are unaware, a “dis war” is when two
MCs, for whatever reason, feud with each other in songs. Instead of
going to blows, the rappers leave it up to listeners to determine a
victor.

This is something that is undoubtedly hip-hop. These feuds have
been happening since the early days of the genre. KRS-ONE
single-handedly made a name for himself battling MC Shan back in
the day and some of hip-hop’s most illustrious names have
been involved in these feuds, such as Kool Moe Dee, LL Cool J, Ice
Cube, Cypress Hill, N.W.A. and Common.

Most famous, of course, is the feud between Tupac and Biggie
Smalls which ended in the tragic death of both rappers.

For the most part though, beef between rappers is settled after
a couple of songs. Everlast started the current feud by dissing
Slim Shady on a guest appearance on Dilated Peoples’
“Ear Drums Pop.” He accused Eminem of taking shots at
“caged deer” like *NSYNC and Christina Aguilera.

Eminem answered back on the song “I Remember” with
his group D-12. The next round of songs were never released
commercially, but can be found on the Internet, including Everlast
dedicating “Whitey’s Revenge” to the Slim one and
Eminem countering with “Quitter.”

It’s on “Quitter” that Eminem finally takes a
shot at a rapper who can fight back: Evidence of Dilated Peoples.
Slim took a shot at him because the initial Everlast dis occurred
on the Dilated Peoples album, “Platform.” While
Everlast has never been thought of as a great lyricist, Evidence is
well respected in underground circles.

Evidence quickly followed with “Search For Bobby
Fisher” in which he really takes it to the Shady one. An
answer song is expected soon.

The sad part of this is that of all the people who have
purchased Eminem albums, very few know about these feuds or of
Eminem’s other underground songs.

Eminem can use his popularity to introduce his fans to
underground hip-hop on his next album. Whether he will do so
remains to be seen.

If he does I won’t have to dis his next single.