The hanging pants with higher boxer shorts thing actually started about 20 years ago in California with the Hispanic gangs. Black gangs picked it up. Another think the Hispanic gangs did first was wear white t-shirts and black trousers. They all wore the same clothes, so it was very difficult to identify a single individual.
The nasty-ass repulsive lyrics are an outgrowth of the frustration in the inner cities. I know the feeling of not being able to get a job or care for my family, it's about the worst feeling in the world. That, coupled with the crap that some guys take from cops, can really put a bad dent in one's attitude. Minority culture in the United States has progressed significantly in the last 40 years. It wasn't that long ago that if you were Black, you took your life in your own hands if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's changed a lot. Not perfect yet, but a lot better.
But you are right, the overall persona is totally inmate oriented. And I personally have neither the desire or the need to listen to some of the rank noise that comes out of the radio these days.
As an artist, (a real one), and a musician, (a real one), I have a very specific definition of Art. I see junk that is represented as art but is not all the time. Artists are responsible for creating the civilization. Artists have a great responsibility, and to see Hollywood and the recording industry claim that this nutball's brain vomit is "Art" or that he is "artistically expressing himself" not only degrades the definition of Art, but creates an environment where other people actually believe the non-Art is in fact Art.
They can call it music if they want to. Fine with me.
But it sure as hell is not Art, and Eminem is not an artist. He's sort of a porno poet. His junk serves no useful purpose. He wouldn't know a work of Art if it walked up and bit him on his ass. |
