Given his subsequent superstardom, culminating in no less than an Academy Award, it may be easy to overlook exactly how demonized Eminem was once his mainstream debut album, The Slim Shady LP, grabbed the attention of pop music upon its release in 1999. Then, it wasn't clear to every listener that Eminem was, as they say, an unreliable narrator, somebody who slung satire, lies, uncomfortable truths, and lacerating insights with vigor and venom, blurring the line between reality and parody, all seemingly without effort. The Slim Shady LP bristles with this tension, since it's never always clear when Marshall Mathers is joking and when he's dead serious. This was unsettling in 1999, when nobody knew his back-story, and years later, when his personal turmoil is public knowledge, it still can be unsettling, because his words and delivery are that powerful. Of course, nowhere is this more true than on "97 Bonnie and Clyde," a notorious track where he imagines killing his wife and then disposing of the body with his baby daughter in tow. There have been more violent songs in ap, but few more disturbing, and it's not because of what it describes, it's how he describes it -- how the perfectly modulated phrasing enhances the horror and black humor of his words. Eminem's supreme gifts are an expansive vocabulary and vivid imagination, which he unleashes with wicked humor and unsparing anger in equal measure. The production -- masterminded by Dr. Dre but also helmed in large doses by Marky and Jeff Bass, along with Marshall himself -- mirrors his rhymes, with their spare, intricately layered arrangements enhancing his narratives, which are always at the forefront. As well they should be -- there are few rappers as wildly gifted verbally as Eminem. At a time when many rappers were stuck in the stultifying swamp of gangsta clichés, Eminem broke through the hardcore murk by abandoning the genre's familiar themes and flaunting a style with more verbal muscle and imagination than any of his contemporaries. Years later, as the shock has faded, it's those lyrical skills and the subtle mastery of the music that still resonate, and they're what make The Slim Shady LP one of the great debuts in both hip-hop and modern pop music.
...,,,,,Ever since the beginning of the mass media...... the periodic discussion of entertainer as role model has reared it's ugly head. Fire-brand hysteritics foresee crumbling empires in every swear word & cuss. And yet.........an artist creates to elicit a response, a personal reaction within each person that encounters their art. Self expression is only half of communication. So how much...
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HA, I FOUND IT!!!Here, ladies and gents is the original version of "My Name Is" in all it's homophobic glory! As I was saying in a comment to my previous post, the original lyrics to this song included gems like "My English teacher wanted to have sex in junior high/The only problem was, my English teacher was a guy..." and Em portraying himself as an "Extraterrestrial, killin' pedestrians, rap...
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This lady is one of many of those stuck in the hell hole that is the Detroit ghetto. Our generation was supposed to protect them from this. We have failed them. Damn. I don't want this to happen to my Mom too!
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No Bruce Springsteen songs, I promise. But we do start out with another artist with the initials "B.S." … 1. Britney Spears, "… Baby One More Time." Finished in the Top 20 in the Pazz & Jop poll. You could say that people like Britney bring scorn upon themselves … you could say she's too reliant on her production team. What you can't say is that this is a bad track. 2. TLC, "No Scrubs." This
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Hey kiddies! It's time for the obligatory tri-monthly "Eminem is working on a new album" post.This story surfaces at least three or four times a year but it's supposed to be especially true this time, because Interscope Records co-signed the report. The news came from Dr. Dre's protege Bishop Lamont, who said "Em is excited. He's been quiet too long, and he's got a lot to get off his chest."W...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Public Service Announcement |
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| 2 My Name Is |
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| 3 Guilty Conscience |
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| 4 Brain Damage |
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| 5 Paul |
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| 6 If I Had |
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| 7 97' Bonnie & Clyde |
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| 8 Bitch |
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| 9 Role Model |
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| 10 Lounge |
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| 11 My Fault |
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| 12 Ken Kaniff |
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| 13 Cum on Everybody |
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| 14 Rock Bottom |
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| 15 Just Don't Give a Fuck |
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| 16 Soap |
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| 17 As the World Turns |
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| 18 I'm Shady |
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| 19 Bad Meets Evil |
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| 20 Still Don't Give a Fuck |
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Click to purchase…
© 2006-2009 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved
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 "The Slim Shady LP")
