Word: eminem
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...unless we think Britney Spears or Blink 182 is capable of summing up our most profound, complex emotions, it seems that hip-hop is where we need to look if our generation hopes to identify a spokesperson of its own. The most obvious candidate for the job, then, is Eminem, because he is the only serious figure in pop music today with both the fame and the talent to compare to that of Cobain in his prime...
...first, the similarities between Cobain and Eminem are striking. Chris Norris of Spin Magazine observes, “Both were (are) left-handed, mom-hating, daughter-having, dysfunctional-wife-marrying, grossness-loving, who were utterly remade by a musical subculture, and then tried to present it as subverting the mainstream—even when it became the mainstream.” But beyond these interesting—and largely superficial—coincidences, there isn’t much common ground between Kurt and Slim. While Cobain always protested the sort of social order that embraces misogyny and homophobia, Eminem...
Despite his incredible skill, Eminem has a lot to learn before he’s qualified to speak for anyone other than himself, and as far as I’m concerned, the void left by Cobain’s suicide remains unfilled...
Besides, he moans, since leaving the fray, the art of freestyle dueling has gone downhill. On today’s rap battlefield—as seen on MTV and in the Eminem film 8 Mile—cruelty often trumps sheer ability. “Now, I feel like there’s no flow, there’s no rhythm there anymore,” he says. “Show me how to rap. Yeah, you can make fun of me, but what’s it really about?” While he subsequently gave up verbal...
...defies real criticism; it simply is. As if to prove everything he said on 2001, Dre came up with the most monolithic hip-hop beat I’ve ever heard, whose blank, perfect handclaps and minor-key stabs herald Judgment Day, 50’s arrival. Eminem was right when he said they were “juggernauts of this rap shit / like it or not.” The song chugs along inexorably, wiping out any sense of forward propulsion—it only makes you want to stare downwards and crush the floor while 50 mutters commands...