NP: Eminem (was: Influenced by GR?)

[Thomas Eckhardt]

A lot of people ask me.. stupid fuckin questions
A lot of people think that.. what I say on records
or what I talk about on a record, that I actually do in real life
or that I believe in it
Or if I say that, I wanna kill somebody, that.. 
I'm actually gonna do it
or that I believe in it
Well, shit.. if you believe that
then I'll kill you

"Criminal"

Well, there are many funny lyrics to be found here. Mostly, though, the
humour is directed against homosexuals and women, and some of the jokes -
for example about the murder of Gianni Versace or about Christopher Reeves -
are very sick and, even worse, not funny at all. One certainly has to take
into account the various characters Mathers invents and from whose pov he
raps, as well as the my-lyrics-are-more- shocking-than-your-lyrics-contest
which much west coast hip hop seems to be based upon. Generally, I guess
this is a good rap record and some of the tracks - especially "Stan" - are
better than good. Eminem also shows himself rather concerned, if this is the
right term, about the influence his lyrics can have on the listener's
thoughts and actions. Of course, he denies any responsibility on his part.
"Kim", though, is something completely different (I imagine the video as a
collaboration of Ingmar Bergman and Dario Argento).

Thomas