Originally Posted by SATCHMO

People misunderstand my criticism of him. I don't think he's not a great lyricist, he is. He changed the trajectory of lyricism in hip hop when he came along, nor do I hate him because he's embraced in the mainstream. I do get put off at times when an artist gets so "media saturated", but Eminem is not na example of this and it alone certainly doesn't make me an elitist.

I hate Eminem, because he's a total waste of oxygen. He generates little to nothing of intrinsic value to the world of hip hop in proportion to the breadth of his influence. He has the veneer of legitimate talent, in as much as he is very good at creative wordplay; he certainly has put in his time with pen to paper, but that is not all that makes an emcee. the Slim Shady LP was extremely innovative and a bit of a novelty when it first came out, but every successive album after that proved him to be a one trick pony and the world ate it up like it was a hot fudge sundae.

So now he wants to become the new mature culturally relevant Eminem. Please. It's too late and besides, that's more a marketing ploy to keep his maturing demographic than it is anything else.

In a nutshell I hate Eminem not because he's bad at what he does, but because he's really a douche that has little to no artistic integrity, who has used his own musical career as a magnified petri dish for his own dramatic life. In essence, he's white trash with a microphone.

Originally Posted by Conan

I disagree. Firstly, there is a fine line between a One Trick Pony and a signature style. Second, you dismiss the possibility of his having artistic integrity by claiming he uses his musical career to bring attention to himself. And yet, I'm having a hard time remember the last time Eminem did something that could legitimetly be called a publicity stunt. He even took a musical hiatus and dropped off the face of the Earth for a while to deal with his problems privately. It's only through his music that he exorsizes his personal problems. And I ask you, isn't that the hallmark of a great artist?

Was his stuff a little immature at times? Definetly. But he was always deeper than his lyrics, the naivety of both his persona and his fans wrapped themselves in infinate layers of irony. A true satirist. Was a lot of his subject matter used purely for shock value? Yes. He's even said this himself. Listen to any D12 song and it's clear that it's just bullsh*tting, makes for some fun hip hop though. And when he did delve deeper into his pysche, the results were sincere and often quite beautiful. Over all, he's a great emcee and i'm sure a pretty cool guy.

And be careful about how you use the term "white trash". As far as I'm concerned it's as derogative as a few other words.

Originally Posted by OBEY

"Never trust your own eyes, believe what you are told".

Originally Posted by Conan

I disagree. Firstly, there is a fine line between a One Trick Pony and a signature style. Second, you dismiss the possibility of his having artistic integrity by claiming he uses his musical career to bring attention to himself. And yet, I'm having a hard time remember the last time Eminem did something that could legitimetly be called a publicity stunt. He even took a musical hiatus and dropped off the face of the Earth for a while to deal with his problems privately. It's only through his music that he exorsizes his personal problems. And I ask you, isn't that the hallmark of a great artist?

Was his stuff a little immature at times? Definetly. But he was always deeper than his lyrics, the naivety of both his persona and his fans wrapped themselves in infinate layers of irony. A true satirist. Was a lot of his subject matter used purely for shock value? Yes. He's even said this himself. Listen to any D12 song and it's clear that it's just bullsh*tting, makes for some fun hip hop though. And when he did delve deeper into his pysche, the results were sincere and often quite beautiful. Over all, he's a great emcee and i'm sure a pretty cool guy.

And be careful about how you use the term "white trash". As far as I'm concerned it's as derogative as a few other words.