“ ‘Till I collapse I’m spilling these raps long as you feel ’em
‘Till the day that I drop you’ll never say that I’m not killing ’em
‘Cause when I am not, then I’ma stop penning ’em
And I am not Hip-Hop and I’m just not Eminem“
Marshall Mathers has not been Eminem for a very long time and whilst, as the author suggest, this has probably been his salvation, I cannot help but feel a sense of sadness that the Enfant terrible of the 2000’s is now beloved of the Guardian reading classes and has all the subversiveness of a Sunday School teacher.
And yet, was Eminem ever more than the performative rebellions of the of 90’s counter culture, sticking it to the man, without ever threatening the status quo? He’s now safely in his mansion, issuing apologies for the controversies he was encouraged to court by the left, because it was all ok when it was only the Christian Right been offended, and railing against the demographics he once claimed to champion.
A role model? Of the courage and spirit to beat addiction and transform your life. Yes, absolutely. But he’s also sadly exemplary of so many liberal artists, who made their names through championing free speech with their transgression of the moral standards of the day, only to abandon these principals as soon as the ideology fell out of favour with the political classes. If Marshall Mathers has anything of interest left to say now, I doubt he would dare say it.
“But he’s also sadly exemplary of so many liberal artists, who made their names through championing free speech with their transgression of the moral standards of the day, only to abandon these principals as soon as the ideology fell out of favour with the political classes.” What’s made you think this? Was he championing free speech? Did people even talk like that back then? It never seemed to me that his “transgression” represented anything except to give voice to his feelings. And that he abandoned the ideology, what ever is meant by that, is more a nuanced and mature view of life and the world that comes with age.
True, artist do mature but the makers of South Park have matured still produce cutting satire. I guess I just thought I’d never see the day when Will Smith was a bigger bad ass than Eminem.
Why all these articles making a pop singer out to be some sort of messiah/philosopher figure?
He’s a pop star. If he was popular when you were in your teens, his music probably still gets you up to dad dance. If you were outside that age group, he’s another name in an endless rotation of popular culture figures you are vaguely aware of while paying the mortgage and trying to keep the kids on the straight and narrow.
That’s a very long bow you’re drawing there. Are you disputing that classical music is very much an upper class affair?
It’s a music genre that hasn’t changed or been added to in any meaningful way for a couple of centuries, and to its fans that means it’s better than popular music which is looked down on as it’s constantly evolving. I’ve always found it to be a mild form of snobbery to be honest
Edit: I see you’ve completely changed the nature of your comment so mine now doesn’t make much sense
Let us look, regardless of taste, at popular music in the 1970s, and the artistic, creative and musical skill of those who performed, whether motown, pop,R and B, solos, bands, heavy rock, ballads, country, or a number of other genres?
Clapton, The Beatles, Led Zepplin, Crosby Stills, Barbara Streisand, Carpenters, untold numbers of ” one hit wonders” like Procul Harum, Colin Blunstone, and others.. Bee Gees, the Who, and more motown stars than I can remember who combined gospel, blues, wind, strings, beat and electric? And on and on… Why do the youth of today still have this music at their dances, discos and parties,
The youth like to listen to music that is relevant to them, if you weren’t still living in the 70s you would realise rap songs like ‘ghetto gospel’ Tupac featuring Elton John do bring all those elements together, there’s plenty more, rap songs like DJ shadow ft mos def 6 days:
I got a feeling there’s gonna be a riot
I don’t read the newspapers because they all have
Ugly prints
Check me out
Check me out
Bring it on! Bring it on!
Bring it on ’cause there’s gonna be some shit tonight!
At the starting of the week
At summit talks you’ll hear them speak
It’s only Monday
Negotiations breaking down
See those leaders start to frown
It’s sword and gun day
Tomorrow never comes until it’s too late
You could be sitting taking lunch
The news will hit you like a punch
It’s only Tuesday
(What time is it?)
You never thought we’d go to war
After all the things we saw
It’s April Fool’s Day
(What time is it?)
Tomorrow never comes until it’s too late
Tomorrow never comes until it’s too late
Tomorrow is another day
Today is another bomb
Tomorrow is another day
Today is another bomb
Tomorrow is another day
Today is another bomb
Tomorrow is another day
Today is another, bomb
Fire!
Here goes a shot!
Escalation, devastation
Generation, separation
Situation, dissipation
Shot!
Another shot another shot
The tender vessel pressure pop
The heart is cold the gun is hot(shot)
I’m not sure if they done or not
I’m not sure that they wanna stop
The gun is cold the blood is hot(shot)
(Shot shot shot shot shot shot shot)
The hearts are weak the guns are not
You hear a whistling overhead
Are you alive or are you dead?
It’s only Thursday
(What time is it?)
You feel the shaking of the ground
A million candles burn around
Is it your birthday?
(What time is it?)
Tomorrow never comes until it’s too late (get tomorrow on the phone)
Trying to be smart, get tomorrow on the phone
Tomorrow never comes until it’s too late (I need to see tomorrow)
You trying to reach tomorrow
Think tomorrow’s come I think it’s too late
And flobots handlebars:
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
Look at me, look at me
Hands in the air like it’s good to be
Alive, and I’m a famous rapper
Even when the paths are all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to “”
And “”
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want, ’cause, look
I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome
And I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone
Look at me, look at me
Just called to say that it’s good to be
Alive in such a small world
I’m all curled up with a book to read
I can make money, open up a thrift store
I can make a livin’ off a magazine
I can design an engine
Sixty-four miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic
Conditions, I know how to run the business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers, shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the system
I can do anything with no resistance
‘Cause I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
And I can split the atom of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule
Look at me, look at me
Drivin’ and I won’t stop
And it feels so good to be alive and on top
My reach, is global
My tower, secure
My cause, is noble
My power, is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let ’em all die of exasperation
Have ’em all healed of their lacerations
Have ’em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don’t like ’em
And I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command because
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
And I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
And I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
These are relevant to our times in a way that the beegees or half those band could be.
Do have appreciation for 70s music though, my dad was born in the 60s, he reckoned the bee gees were awful, we used to listen to Ian dury, dire straits, the doors, the eagles and genesis from that era, when we were kids we used to think Ian dury was the coolest, and ‘this is what we find’ would be contraversial even by today’s standards, we thought it was the most hilarious song ever:
Morning Reg, meat and two veg?
He done him with a ten pound sledge
He done himself a favour crash
Forty year-old arse-wipe, Mrs. Elizabeth Walker of Lambeth Walk
Had a husband who was jubblified
With only half a stalk
So she had a milk of magnesia and curry powder sandwich
Half a pound of uncut pork
Took an overdose of Omo, this made the neighbours talk
Could have been watching Frankie Vaughan
On the telly and giving herself a scratch
This is what we find
This is what we find
This is what we find
A sense of humour is required
Amongst our bacon rind
Hello, Brian, wash and iron?
Try it on, it’s only nylon
Single bachelor with little dog, Tony Green of Turnham Green
Said, “Who’s a clever boy, then, girl”
Yes you know whom I mean
‘Cause the mongrel laid a cable in the sandpit
Of the playground of the park
Where they had been
And with a bit of tissue
He wiped its bum-hole clean
A bit of claggy on the waggy
This is what we find
This is what we find
This is what we find
I must have had a funny time
On the Golden Hind
O vanitas vanitatum
Which of us is happy in this life?
Which of us has our desire
Or having it, is gratified?
Hello, Mrs. Wood
This boy looks familiar, they used to call him Robin Hood
Now he’s Robin f****** sh** c**t
Home improvement expert
Harold Hill of Harold Hill
Of do-it-yourself dexterity
And double-glazing skill
Came home to find another gentleman’s kippers in the grill
So sanded off his winkle
With his Black and Decker drill
This is what we find
This is what we find
This is what we find
The hope that springs eternal
Springs right up your behind
No, no, no. It doesn’t matter if you can’t say anything about Bach himself; it’s the music that counts, and the music has survived because of it is sublime. His music can touch the soul, it can give rise to intense emotional responses, it even has an intellectual power. Perhaps the same will be said of Eminem about 300 years from now, who knows? But I’m willing to speculate.
no, apparently unless you are wearing a signet ring, have a hunting mascot on your car bonnet, sport a ” Brigade” watchstrap and have tapes on your tail coat, and are wearing a Schoffel, Bach music cannot be played on any electrical device… seriously… I read this on the interweb alongside climate change so it must be true?
Bach sucks. Eminem is more of a Mozart. He will always be a relevant historic figure. Bach is the Blockbuster on Demand of classical artists. He tried and did well but he had no grassroots, brick and mortar backing. Eminem has, like Mozart, a REAL backing. Mozart has the entire ART industry in his name. Eminem has an entire candy and the spaghetti restaraunt “mom’s spaghetti”. Bach has nothing. Bach is nothing. Go frick yourself Bach.
He’s right though. In fifty years time, no-one will remember Eminem except people who can’t dance. There are many global celebrities from the first half of the 1900s who are almost completely forgotten now.
It was a PERFECT way of looking at music
I outgrew pop music when I was about 25 b/c I had a job, home, and was a varsity coach. I only listen to ANY now b/c I coach teenagers. And music now is just it’s been since Big Band music: for kids. We all grow out of pop music eventually.
As a kid of the 90s Im an eminem fan, and this song, rather than ‘dad dance’ still makes me want to take on the establishment! (humour intended) I think this article should have mentioned MOSH some lyrics:
Let the president answer a higher anarchy
Strap him with an Ak-47, let him go, fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil
No more psychological warfare, to trick us to thinking that we ain’t loyal
If we don’t serve our own country, we’re patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes its all lies
The stars and stripes, they’ve been swiped, washed out and wiped
And replaced with his own face, Mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you know why,
Cause I told you to fight.
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
This is about the Iraq war, and takes bush to task in a way no massive mainstream artists did at the time did, and ‘if I get sniped you know why’ recognised the danger of taking on the establishment, I’m finding it hard to word the effect it had on me and my peers but I will leave it at inspirational and it put into words that fear that actually this war was not in the name of American values and democracy at all, gave us a different perspective. At the time it was reviewed:
] DX magazine wrote that “he (Eminem) turns political and blatantly lashes out at Bush on ‘Mosh’ (sure to cause some repercussions from politicians considering his visibility).NME magazine wrote a favorable review: “And then there’s ‘Mosh’. Oh boy, there’s ‘Mosh’. — Should ‘Encore’ prove to be a swansong, then ‘Mosh’ is its blaze of glory, a scalding assault on the Bush regime that hits all the harder for its arriving days too late. The rapper sounds absolutely livid as he mounts a stealthy assault on the Prez that swells with density and rage over its five minutes until fire and brimstone is raining down on the shitwit Texan’s perpetually befuddled head. Although you might argue that everything Eminem says is inherently political through the sheer numbers that he reaches and the sheer anti-social nature of most of what he espouses, this is a different kettle of politicised fish entirely. “If it rains, let it rain/Yeah, the wetter the better/They ain’t gonna stop us, they can’t/We’re stronger now more than ever”, he rages with a demented fervour that makes Rage Against the Machine sound like Belle & Sebastian. And if that non-specific rabble-rousery is a little on the vague side, the likes of “Stomp, push, shove, mush/f**k Bush until they bring our troops home” should make it crystal clear. On a more base level, it’s f**** fantastic to jump up and down and bang your head to, which is the level where politics and pop most effectively connect.”[7] Steve Jones of USA Today said that the song “[lambastes] President Bush and his war policies.”[8]
]
I think I consider him inspirational maybe rather than a role model as such. But he was no doubt far more influencial than any of the manufactured artists at the time.
Poets and rock music writers communicated passion, anger and vulnerability far more powerfully using nuance and metaphors. This is crude sledgehammer art, but suited to our times.
Taken as a whole I do not see why this can’t be read as poetry I’ll share the lot:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the Republic for which it stands
One nation under God
Indivisible with liberty and justice for all…
It feels so good to be back.
I scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel, re-energize and rewind
I give sight to the blind, my insight through the mind
I exercise my right to express when I feel it’s time
It’s just all in your mind, what you interpret it as
I say to fight, you take it as I’mma whip someone’s ass
If you don’t understand, don’t even bother to ask
A father who has grown up with a fatherless past
Who has blown up now to rap phenomenon that has
Or at least shows no difficulty multi-task
And in juggling both perhaps mastered his craft
Slash entrepreneur who has helped launch a few more rap acts
Who’s had a few obstacles thrown his way through the last half
Of his career typical manure moving past that
Mr. kisses ass crack, he’s a class act
Rubber band man, yea he just snaps back
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me and I won’t steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel
We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march
Through the swamp, we gonna mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors (c’mon)
All the people up top on the side and the middle
Come together lets all bomb and swamp just a little
Just let it gradually build from the front to the back
All you can see is a sea of people some white and some black
Don’t matter what color, all that matters we gathered together
To celebrate for the same cause don’t matter the weather
If it rains let it rain, yea the wetter the better
They ain’t gonna stop us they can’t, we stronger now more than ever
They tell us no we say yea, they tell us stop we say go
Rebel with a rebel yell, raise hell we gonna let em know
Stomp, push, shove, mush, Fu** Bush, until they bring our troops home (c’mon)
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me and I won’t steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel
We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march
Through the swamp, we gonna mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors (c’mon)
Imagine it pouring, it’s raining down on us
Mosh pits outside the oval office
Someone’s tryina tell us something,
Maybe this is God just sayin’ we’re responsible
For this monster, this coward,
That we have empowered
This is Bin Laden (Bush) , look at his head noddin’
How could we allow something like this without pumping our fists
Now this is our final hour
Let me be the voice in your strength and your choice
Let me simplify the rhyme just to amplify the noise
Try to amplify the times it, and multiply by six…
Teen million people, Are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach alqueda through my speech
Let the president answer a higher anarchy
Strap him with an Ak-47, let him go, fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil
No more psychological warfare, to trick us to thinking that we ain’t loyal
If we don’t serve our own country, we’re patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes its all lies
The stars and stripes, they’ve been swiped, washed out and wiped
And replaced with his own face, Mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you know why,
Cause I told you to fight.
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me and I won’t steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel
We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march
Through the swamp, we gonna mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors (c’mon)
And as we proceed,
To Mosh through this desert storm,
In these closing statements, if they should argue
Let us beg to differ
As we set aside our differences
And assemble our own army
To disarm this Weapon of Mass Destruction
That we call our President, for the present
And Mosh for the future of our next generation
To speak and be heard
Mr. President, Mr. Senator
Having overseen the use of automatic rifles, including an AK 47, the answer is manifestly ” no” for him… The armourers would not allow him to have a ” card” to get his hands on the weapon in the first place….
Yes, but Eminem didn’t appeal to me very much. That may just be me though. I’m more a musical listener than a lyrical one and was busy clubbing in Amsterdam in the 1990s.
Um I meant like a child in the 90s? If you were in Amsterdam clubbing then you were not a kid, I meant people born in the 90s. So I was 14 when mosh was released in 2004. I’ll take it its mostly older folks on here!
Spot on m8! alas we r in a PAGAN type culture, GODless in many ways. Esp among Hollywood types! Libertine nitemare! ….people look for morality in Brad Pitt and Jolie types, Kardashians and Crazy Kanye? These people r usually undereducated and have serious orgy parties … and they never invite me! waaahhhh!
Brett H
1 year ago
Eminem/Marshall Mathers: it makes me realise how much things have changed and how homogenised everything’s become. Gluing yourself to the pavement is nothing compared to someone like Eminem rapping. It doesn’t matter if he’s still relevant or not. He was there for a while and that’s enough. Not a role model. Thank god. Role models are about control.
Last edited 1 year ago by Brett H
Brett H
1 year ago
But it does feel so empty.
Cho Jinn
1 year ago
Yeah, no. Talented and influential, sure, but also a brazen misogynist who, on cue, embraces the standard-issue entertainment industry banalities to stay relevant. Certainly not a role model, though perhaps a (yet another) model of an artist who shuns his original fan base.
I’ll agree that what you’ve described is 99% of rap music and I can’t stand the genre. Eminem however was a much more talented lyricist, even if I’m not a huge fan I can appreciate he was a very clever writer
What really exercises me is how earlier iterations of “black” music turned from this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8yGGtVKrD8
for example.
To that. In just a couple of generations.
thanks for the link. I have seen it before but it is absolute class. Never mind the serious stuff which is normally why we are here, but just watch this people and enjoy genius mixed with pure analloyed joy.
and such an insult to the creative genius that was Motown music?
Ian Stewart
1 year ago
White man successfully colonises black music – like the Stones et al, and that’s quite funny. A rebel conformist like the rest of them if they live beyond their twenties.
Allison Barrows
1 year ago
The thing about rap and hip hop is that it’s all me, me, ME. Eminem is a virtuoso lyricist, but in the end it’s all just angry narcissism and rival vengeance. Still, a lot of it is very funny. Sure beats the h*ll out of endless grunts of uh, yyeeeah, yo, ungh, and varying levels of filth on offer from other participants in the genre (see WAP, if you’ve got a strong stomach).
Aaron James
1 year ago
I have never heard his music, I bet it is dreadful.
But there must be a lot of things out there you don’t know of. Which suggests you only want to know about things you know of. Which suggests you only want agreement. Maybe try and let just a little quiver of excitement enter your life?
“ ‘Till I collapse I’m spilling these raps long as you feel ’em
‘Till the day that I drop you’ll never say that I’m not killing ’em
‘Cause when I am not, then I’ma stop penning ’em
And I am not Hip-Hop and I’m just not Eminem“
Marshall Mathers has not been Eminem for a very long time and whilst, as the author suggest, this has probably been his salvation, I cannot help but feel a sense of sadness that the Enfant terrible of the 2000’s is now beloved of the Guardian reading classes and has all the subversiveness of a Sunday School teacher.
And yet, was Eminem ever more than the performative rebellions of the of 90’s counter culture, sticking it to the man, without ever threatening the status quo? He’s now safely in his mansion, issuing apologies for the controversies he was encouraged to court by the left, because it was all ok when it was only the Christian Right been offended, and railing against the demographics he once claimed to champion.
A role model? Of the courage and spirit to beat addiction and transform your life. Yes, absolutely. But he’s also sadly exemplary of so many liberal artists, who made their names through championing free speech with their transgression of the moral standards of the day, only to abandon these principals as soon as the ideology fell out of favour with the political classes. If Marshall Mathers has anything of interest left to say now, I doubt he would dare say it.
Perhaps, it’s not so empty without him after all.
“But he’s also sadly exemplary of so many liberal artists, who made their names through championing free speech with their transgression of the moral standards of the day, only to abandon these principals as soon as the ideology fell out of favour with the political classes.”
What’s made you think this? Was he championing free speech? Did people even talk like that back then? It never seemed to me that his “transgression” represented anything except to give voice to his feelings. And that he abandoned the ideology, what ever is meant by that, is more a nuanced and mature view of life and the world that comes with age.
True, artist do mature but the makers of South Park have matured still produce cutting satire. I guess I just thought I’d never see the day when Will Smith was a bigger bad ass than Eminem.
South Park is a pale imitation of what it was at its prime in my opinion
k
Why all these articles making a pop singer out to be some sort of messiah/philosopher figure?
He’s a pop star. If he was popular when you were in your teens, his music probably still gets you up to dad dance. If you were outside that age group, he’s another name in an endless rotation of popular culture figures you are vaguely aware of while paying the mortgage and trying to keep the kids on the straight and narrow.
What an overly simplistic way of looking at music. It’s possible to enjoy something without being limited to your two categories of teens and Dads.
Oversimplified to make the point these people are passing fashions not substantive social phenomena.
Bach will still move the human soul in 200 years. Eminem not so much.
Very few people (myself included) could tell you anything Bach did. It’s survived simply because it’s favoured by the upper classes
“It’s survived simply because it’s favoured by the upper classes”
Uh-huh. NEXT!!!!!
That’s a very long bow you’re drawing there. Are you disputing that classical music is very much an upper class affair?
It’s a music genre that hasn’t changed or been added to in any meaningful way for a couple of centuries, and to its fans that means it’s better than popular music which is looked down on as it’s constantly evolving. I’ve always found it to be a mild form of snobbery to be honest
Edit: I see you’ve completely changed the nature of your comment so mine now doesn’t make much sense
Let us look, regardless of taste, at popular music in the 1970s, and the artistic, creative and musical skill of those who performed, whether motown, pop,R and B, solos, bands, heavy rock, ballads, country, or a number of other genres?
Clapton, The Beatles, Led Zepplin, Crosby Stills, Barbara Streisand, Carpenters, untold numbers of ” one hit wonders” like Procul Harum, Colin Blunstone, and others.. Bee Gees, the Who, and more motown stars than I can remember who combined gospel, blues, wind, strings, beat and electric? And on and on… Why do the youth of today still have this music at their dances, discos and parties,
The youth like to listen to music that is relevant to them, if you weren’t still living in the 70s you would realise rap songs like ‘ghetto gospel’ Tupac featuring Elton John do bring all those elements together, there’s plenty more, rap songs like DJ shadow ft mos def 6 days:
I got a feeling there’s gonna be a riot
I don’t read the newspapers because they all have
Ugly prints
Check me out
Check me out
Bring it on! Bring it on!
Bring it on ’cause there’s gonna be some shit tonight!
At the starting of the week
At summit talks you’ll hear them speak
It’s only Monday
Negotiations breaking down
See those leaders start to frown
It’s sword and gun day
Tomorrow never comes until it’s too late
You could be sitting taking lunch
The news will hit you like a punch
It’s only Tuesday
(What time is it?)
You never thought we’d go to war
After all the things we saw
It’s April Fool’s Day
(What time is it?)
Tomorrow never comes until it’s too late
Tomorrow never comes until it’s too late
Tomorrow is another day
Today is another bomb
Tomorrow is another day
Today is another bomb
Tomorrow is another day
Today is another bomb
Tomorrow is another day
Today is another, bomb
Fire!
Here goes a shot!
Escalation, devastation
Generation, separation
Situation, dissipation
Shot!
Another shot another shot
The tender vessel pressure pop
The heart is cold the gun is hot(shot)
I’m not sure if they done or not
I’m not sure that they wanna stop
The gun is cold the blood is hot(shot)
(Shot shot shot shot shot shot shot)
The hearts are weak the guns are not
You hear a whistling overhead
Are you alive or are you dead?
It’s only Thursday
(What time is it?)
You feel the shaking of the ground
A million candles burn around
Is it your birthday?
(What time is it?)
Tomorrow never comes until it’s too late (get tomorrow on the phone)
Trying to be smart, get tomorrow on the phone
Tomorrow never comes until it’s too late (I need to see tomorrow)
You trying to reach tomorrow
Think tomorrow’s come I think it’s too late
And flobots handlebars:
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
Look at me, look at me
Hands in the air like it’s good to be
Alive, and I’m a famous rapper
Even when the paths are all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to “”
And “”
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want, ’cause, look
I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome
And I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone
Look at me, look at me
Just called to say that it’s good to be
Alive in such a small world
I’m all curled up with a book to read
I can make money, open up a thrift store
I can make a livin’ off a magazine
I can design an engine
Sixty-four miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic
Conditions, I know how to run the business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers, shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the system
I can do anything with no resistance
‘Cause I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
And I can split the atom of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule
Look at me, look at me
Drivin’ and I won’t stop
And it feels so good to be alive and on top
My reach, is global
My tower, secure
My cause, is noble
My power, is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let ’em all die of exasperation
Have ’em all healed of their lacerations
Have ’em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don’t like ’em
And I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command because
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
And I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
And I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
These are relevant to our times in a way that the beegees or half those band could be.
Do have appreciation for 70s music though, my dad was born in the 60s, he reckoned the bee gees were awful, we used to listen to Ian dury, dire straits, the doors, the eagles and genesis from that era, when we were kids we used to think Ian dury was the coolest, and ‘this is what we find’ would be contraversial even by today’s standards, we thought it was the most hilarious song ever:
Morning Reg, meat and two veg?
He done him with a ten pound sledge
He done himself a favour crash
Forty year-old arse-wipe, Mrs. Elizabeth Walker of Lambeth Walk
Had a husband who was jubblified
With only half a stalk
So she had a milk of magnesia and curry powder sandwich
Half a pound of uncut pork
Took an overdose of Omo, this made the neighbours talk
Could have been watching Frankie Vaughan
On the telly and giving herself a scratch
This is what we find
This is what we find
This is what we find
A sense of humour is required
Amongst our bacon rind
Hello, Brian, wash and iron?
Try it on, it’s only nylon
Single bachelor with little dog, Tony Green of Turnham Green
Said, “Who’s a clever boy, then, girl”
Yes you know whom I mean
‘Cause the mongrel laid a cable in the sandpit
Of the playground of the park
Where they had been
And with a bit of tissue
He wiped its bum-hole clean
A bit of claggy on the waggy
This is what we find
This is what we find
This is what we find
I must have had a funny time
On the Golden Hind
O vanitas vanitatum
Which of us is happy in this life?
Which of us has our desire
Or having it, is gratified?
Hello, Mrs. Wood
This boy looks familiar, they used to call him Robin Hood
Now he’s Robin f****** sh** c**t
Home improvement expert
Harold Hill of Harold Hill
Of do-it-yourself dexterity
And double-glazing skill
Came home to find another gentleman’s kippers in the grill
So sanded off his winkle
With his Black and Decker drill
This is what we find
This is what we find
This is what we find
The hope that springs eternal
Springs right up your behind
No, no, no. It doesn’t matter if you can’t say anything about Bach himself; it’s the music that counts, and the music has survived because of it is sublime. His music can touch the soul, it can give rise to intense emotional responses, it even has an intellectual power. Perhaps the same will be said of Eminem about 300 years from now, who knows? But I’m willing to speculate.
no, apparently unless you are wearing a signet ring, have a hunting mascot on your car bonnet, sport a ” Brigade” watchstrap and have tapes on your tail coat, and are wearing a Schoffel, Bach music cannot be played on any electrical device… seriously… I read this on the interweb alongside climate change so it must be true?
yes, and The Chief Rabbi is Muslim…
”substantive social phenomena.”
Care to have a go at defining that?
Oversimplified to make the point these people are passing fashions not substantive social phenomena.”
But who cares, it was fun.
Bach sucks. Eminem is more of a Mozart. He will always be a relevant historic figure. Bach is the Blockbuster on Demand of classical artists. He tried and did well but he had no grassroots, brick and mortar backing. Eminem has, like Mozart, a REAL backing. Mozart has the entire ART industry in his name. Eminem has an entire candy and the spaghetti restaraunt “mom’s spaghetti”. Bach has nothing. Bach is nothing. Go frick yourself Bach.
He’s right though. In fifty years time, no-one will remember Eminem except people who can’t dance. There are many global celebrities from the first half of the 1900s who are almost completely forgotten now.
In 50 years time kids who find Eminem by chance might actually be stunned to hear such lyrics and music and wonder at it.
It was a PERFECT way of looking at music
I outgrew pop music when I was about 25 b/c I had a job, home, and was a varsity coach. I only listen to ANY now b/c I coach teenagers. And music now is just it’s been since Big Band music: for kids. We all grow out of pop music eventually.
As a kid of the 90s Im an eminem fan, and this song, rather than ‘dad dance’ still makes me want to take on the establishment! (humour intended) I think this article should have mentioned MOSH some lyrics:
Let the president answer a higher anarchy
Strap him with an Ak-47, let him go, fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil
No more psychological warfare, to trick us to thinking that we ain’t loyal
If we don’t serve our own country, we’re patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes its all lies
The stars and stripes, they’ve been swiped, washed out and wiped
And replaced with his own face, Mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you know why,
Cause I told you to fight.
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
This is about the Iraq war, and takes bush to task in a way no massive mainstream artists did at the time did, and ‘if I get sniped you know why’ recognised the danger of taking on the establishment, I’m finding it hard to word the effect it had on me and my peers but I will leave it at inspirational and it put into words that fear that actually this war was not in the name of American values and democracy at all, gave us a different perspective. At the time it was reviewed:
] DX magazine wrote that “he (Eminem) turns political and blatantly lashes out at Bush on ‘Mosh’ (sure to cause some repercussions from politicians considering his visibility).NME magazine wrote a favorable review: “And then there’s ‘Mosh’. Oh boy, there’s ‘Mosh’. — Should ‘Encore’ prove to be a swansong, then ‘Mosh’ is its blaze of glory, a scalding assault on the Bush regime that hits all the harder for its arriving days too late. The rapper sounds absolutely livid as he mounts a stealthy assault on the Prez that swells with density and rage over its five minutes until fire and brimstone is raining down on the shitwit Texan’s perpetually befuddled head. Although you might argue that everything Eminem says is inherently political through the sheer numbers that he reaches and the sheer anti-social nature of most of what he espouses, this is a different kettle of politicised fish entirely. “If it rains, let it rain/Yeah, the wetter the better/They ain’t gonna stop us, they can’t/We’re stronger now more than ever”, he rages with a demented fervour that makes Rage Against the Machine sound like Belle & Sebastian. And if that non-specific rabble-rousery is a little on the vague side, the likes of “Stomp, push, shove, mush/f**k Bush until they bring our troops home” should make it crystal clear. On a more base level, it’s f**** fantastic to jump up and down and bang your head to, which is the level where politics and pop most effectively connect.”[7] Steve Jones of USA Today said that the song “[lambastes] President Bush and his war policies.”[8]
]
I think I consider him inspirational maybe rather than a role model as such. But he was no doubt far more influencial than any of the manufactured artists at the time.
Poets and rock music writers communicated passion, anger and vulnerability far more powerfully using nuance and metaphors. This is crude sledgehammer art, but suited to our times.
Taken as a whole I do not see why this can’t be read as poetry I’ll share the lot:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the Republic for which it stands
One nation under God
Indivisible with liberty and justice for all…
It feels so good to be back.
I scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel, re-energize and rewind
I give sight to the blind, my insight through the mind
I exercise my right to express when I feel it’s time
It’s just all in your mind, what you interpret it as
I say to fight, you take it as I’mma whip someone’s ass
If you don’t understand, don’t even bother to ask
A father who has grown up with a fatherless past
Who has blown up now to rap phenomenon that has
Or at least shows no difficulty multi-task
And in juggling both perhaps mastered his craft
Slash entrepreneur who has helped launch a few more rap acts
Who’s had a few obstacles thrown his way through the last half
Of his career typical manure moving past that
Mr. kisses ass crack, he’s a class act
Rubber band man, yea he just snaps back
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me and I won’t steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel
We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march
Through the swamp, we gonna mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors (c’mon)
All the people up top on the side and the middle
Come together lets all bomb and swamp just a little
Just let it gradually build from the front to the back
All you can see is a sea of people some white and some black
Don’t matter what color, all that matters we gathered together
To celebrate for the same cause don’t matter the weather
If it rains let it rain, yea the wetter the better
They ain’t gonna stop us they can’t, we stronger now more than ever
They tell us no we say yea, they tell us stop we say go
Rebel with a rebel yell, raise hell we gonna let em know
Stomp, push, shove, mush, Fu** Bush, until they bring our troops home (c’mon)
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me and I won’t steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel
We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march
Through the swamp, we gonna mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors (c’mon)
Imagine it pouring, it’s raining down on us
Mosh pits outside the oval office
Someone’s tryina tell us something,
Maybe this is God just sayin’ we’re responsible
For this monster, this coward,
That we have empowered
This is Bin Laden (Bush) , look at his head noddin’
How could we allow something like this without pumping our fists
Now this is our final hour
Let me be the voice in your strength and your choice
Let me simplify the rhyme just to amplify the noise
Try to amplify the times it, and multiply by six…
Teen million people, Are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach alqueda through my speech
Let the president answer a higher anarchy
Strap him with an Ak-47, let him go, fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil
No more psychological warfare, to trick us to thinking that we ain’t loyal
If we don’t serve our own country, we’re patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes its all lies
The stars and stripes, they’ve been swiped, washed out and wiped
And replaced with his own face, Mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you know why,
Cause I told you to fight.
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me and I won’t steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel
We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march
Through the swamp, we gonna mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors (c’mon)
And as we proceed,
To Mosh through this desert storm,
In these closing statements, if they should argue
Let us beg to differ
As we set aside our differences
And assemble our own army
To disarm this Weapon of Mass Destruction
That we call our President, for the present
And Mosh for the future of our next generation
To speak and be heard
Mr. President, Mr. Senator
Do you guy’s hear us… hear us…
Having overseen the use of automatic rifles, including an AK 47, the answer is manifestly ” no” for him… The armourers would not allow him to have a ” card” to get his hands on the weapon in the first place….
He’s talking about president Bush.
Is there actually many on here that grew up in 90s?
Yes, but Eminem didn’t appeal to me very much. That may just be me though. I’m more a musical listener than a lyrical one and was busy clubbing in Amsterdam in the 1990s.
Um I meant like a child in the 90s? If you were in Amsterdam clubbing then you were not a kid, I meant people born in the 90s. So I was 14 when mosh was released in 2004. I’ll take it its mostly older folks on here!
Spot on m8! alas we r in a PAGAN type culture, GODless in many ways. Esp among Hollywood types! Libertine nitemare! ….people look for morality in Brad Pitt and Jolie types, Kardashians and Crazy Kanye? These people r usually undereducated and have serious orgy parties … and they never invite me! waaahhhh!
Eminem/Marshall Mathers: it makes me realise how much things have changed and how homogenised everything’s become. Gluing yourself to the pavement is nothing compared to someone like Eminem rapping. It doesn’t matter if he’s still relevant or not. He was there for a while and that’s enough. Not a role model. Thank god. Role models are about control.
But it does feel so empty.
Yeah, no. Talented and influential, sure, but also a brazen misogynist who, on cue, embraces the standard-issue entertainment industry banalities to stay relevant. Certainly not a role model, though perhaps a (yet another) model of an artist who shuns his original fan base.
Yeah, let’s slap some b*tches and murder some h0mosexuals. It’s rap: Such doggerel, such art, such talent – Such cr@p kultcha!
I’ll agree that what you’ve described is 99% of rap music and I can’t stand the genre. Eminem however was a much more talented lyricist, even if I’m not a huge fan I can appreciate he was a very clever writer
What really exercises me is how earlier iterations of “black” music turned from this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8yGGtVKrD8
for example.
To that. In just a couple of generations.
I can’t stand Jazz. Play as many different instruments as loud as you can, all with different timing and you’ve got yourself a jazz band
Yeah freeform is a challenge I can’t handle, but the jazz rock of the seventies was easier and enjoyable too.
Okay! Try Bessie Smith then. I accept that we can all have varying tastes, but rap is not a musical taste.
thanks for the link. I have seen it before but it is absolute class. Never mind the serious stuff which is normally why we are here, but just watch this people and enjoy genius mixed with pure analloyed joy.
You forgot to mention the huge posteriors they love so much!
and such an insult to the creative genius that was Motown music?
White man successfully colonises black music – like the Stones et al, and that’s quite funny. A rebel conformist like the rest of them if they live beyond their twenties.
The thing about rap and hip hop is that it’s all me, me, ME. Eminem is a virtuoso lyricist, but in the end it’s all just angry narcissism and rival vengeance. Still, a lot of it is very funny. Sure beats the h*ll out of endless grunts of uh, yyeeeah, yo, ungh, and varying levels of filth on offer from other participants in the genre (see WAP, if you’ve got a strong stomach).
I have never heard his music, I bet it is dreadful.
Unless you’re about 10 years old I find it hard to believe you’ve never heard a single track by Eminem
I am 69. I have never heard any track by ‘Eminem’. I don’t frequent places where I would be liable to hear one.
“I don’t frequent places where I would be liable to hear one.”
Like the radio.
You never listened to the radio in the last 20 years then?
Stopped when it went hard left in the U.K. news shows, which was about 20 years ago.
I haven’t heard anything by Eminem either. I listen to the radio, but not to stations that play Eminem.
I recommend “Rap God”. I’m 64.
It has very clever insights in the lyrics, but the music itself is quite tedious, like most rap.
What on earth is this medium doing writing about this irrelevant quasi pond life? Who even cares, let alone knows who he is?
But there must be a lot of things out there you don’t know of. Which suggests you only want to know about things you know of. Which suggests you only want agreement. Maybe try and let just a little quiver of excitement enter your life?