On the perception of a Genius
One question that comes often in introductory conversations is what kind of music do you like? For me, this is an interesting question because I really don’t have a specific kind of music that I enjoy more than others. Some of my favorite artists are Jason Mraz, John Lennon, The Black-eyed Peas and Eminiem. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Eminem. I’ve tracked the release of many of his new songs and indeed listened to the entirety of his new MMLP2 album. One of the first of these songs to be released as a single is called “Rap God.” The first time I listened to the song, I absolutely loved it. One of my favorite parts to rap, and one of the reasons I love Eminem so much, is that the poetry is so incredible. It is incredible both as poetry but also in its performance. “Rap God” is the pinnacle of that. It is masterfully written and brilliantly performed with some incredible feats of poetic genius. I am saddened however, when I hear criticism of such brilliant of poetry and music from a brilliant artist being called “homophobic,” etc. I know exactly the section of the song that they are referring to and Eminem is talking about gay people. But it is not in a homophobic nor even a negative way. And anyone who says otherwise is being pretentious asshole and has not closely listened to the song.
Gay rights, and homosexual people are very much in the public consciousness nowadays. There are multiple movements of every size and nature with regards to the subject. If you really listen to “Rap God” (and I suggest you do so with the lyrics all laid out, not in one of the Youtube lyrics videos) you’ll find that the song does nothing to discourage and demean the gay pride movements. Instead Mathers gives them some advice. His story of the “gay looking boy” essentially talks about how they don’t fight aggressively enough for what they want. The movement holds peaceful rallies for their cause but they don’t actually protest. Mathers is saying that that won’t get the job done. They won’t get anything they want unless they stand up, and aggressively fight for it. Actively protest, become outwardly offended. Mathers uses a metaphor of the gay boy watching a massacre at a church and sitting there doing nothing. He’s not angered by it, he is just there. That’s the same thing for gay rights movement. Their rights and privileges are being massacred by the government and society yet all the gay community has to say about it “YEAH I’m gay! Please give me my rights.” Mathers references how simply the fact of the gay looking boy being called gay, gives the boy a kind of false sense of accomplishment and progress. Really it means nothing unless the gay boy makes it mean something.
Eminem has for years been a proponent of gay rights. In 2000 with his first Marshall Mathers LP on the track entitled “The Real Slim Shady,” he says how if people are able to hump animals and cut up and eat humans like “cantaloupe;” things considered unnatural yet they happen are not balked at if not simply ignored, then two men can get married. Sure perhaps its unnatural in the sense that we are not supposed to have sex with animals, that’s not the natural order of things. It is not natural for two male mammals to have sex (at least not by societal definitions of natural, I suggest looking up Baba Brinkman’s rap album “The Rap Guide to Human Nature” track entitled “The Evolution of Gayness”). So how could a guy, as normal and down-to-earth as Eminem change his stance on an issue such as that after 13 years of saying it publicly? Well, that possibility seems unlikely to me. You see, people misinterpret Eminem because the artform he has mastered is physically difficult for people to understand. You can’t hear all of the words to a song unless you listen very closely or read along. And this reality is only because Eminem is so damn good at his craft. And why isn’t he some kind of a public spokesman for the gay movement if he agrees with it? Because that’s not who he is. Look up another couple songs “The way I am” from MMLP1 and “So Far..” from MMLP2. Marshall Mathers is about as honest as anyone can be. Listen closely to what he says. Understand it before jumping to conclusions. I don’t pretend to know the man, that would make me a pretentious asshole. All I do is hear what that man has to say and trust that he isn’t lying like a pretentious asshole. I’m confident that’s not the case after as he states in “the Way I am:” “I am who I say I am, and if I wasn’t, why would I say I am?”
Rap God: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7cQ3b0iqLo
Rap God Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/eminem/rapgod.html
The Real Slim Shady: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJO5HU_7_1w
The Way I am: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQvteoFiMlg
