eminem (was Re: hiphop discourse

[Phil Wise]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Eckhardt" <thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de>
To: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
Cc: "lorentzen-nicklaus" <lorentzen-nicklaus at t-online.de>;
<pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 10:20 AM
Subject: Re: eminem (was Re: hiphop discourse


> jbor wrote (about Eminem):
>
> > A local radio station did a phone interview with him the other day where
he
> > stated that his lyrics are "parody" and that his teenage fans know that
they
> > are parody. I'm not so certain about the second part of that, but I
thought
> > the first admission was an interesting one.
>
> I am not so certain about the first part either. Parody just like satire
needs a
> target, something that is being parodied. Certainly, his music is not a
parody of
> gangsta rap. Eminem, I would tentatively like to suggest, is referring to
the irony
> in his lyrics. The interesting question is what kind of irony he uses.
Using irony,
> of course, is the easiest way of saying "Hey, I probably didn't mean what
I said. It
> probably was an ironic statement." Often, you find out that people who are
> permanently being ironical actually mean exactly what they are saying.
They just
> want to sound cool or don't wish to offend the other person's perhaps more
pc
> sensibilities. These people welcomed the attacks on the idea of talking
respectfully
> to and about one another also known as pc (yes, I am aware of the
shortcomings of PC
> with capital letters) in recent years. I think that Eminem, despite the
masks and
> the irony, expresses contempt for women (which has a long history in rock,
see e.g.
> "Yesterday's Papers" and "Under my Thumb") and homosexuals. I have
listened closely
> to the lyrics, and I don't like this part of it. It is interesting in the
context of
> bashing women, gays and Christopher Reeve, though, that Eminem never says
anything
> offensive about Afro-Americans. He could, couldn't he, if it was all about
parody?
>
> As to how the teenagers think about this, I wouldn't know.
>
> This said, about his lyrics, Eminem can be a very exciting rapper. And I'd
prefer
> "Stan" or "The Real Slim Shady" to the latest crap from Bon Jovi or Celine
Dion
> every day. And yes, he is a story-teller, and "Kim" indeed is a
murder-ballad - that
> it is the most disturbing example of its kind for me is a definite sign of
his
> artistry. The song, by the way, is not ironic or parodic in the least. It
certainly
> is dramatic, though...
>
> Thomas
>
>
I suppose we may be wandering too far from the topic of Pynchon here, but I
am confused enough about my own reaction to eminem's songs (I'm one of those
snaggish pinko PC dudes) to pursue this thread one more once.  I thought
Robert Christgau from the Village Voice was right on the money (as he often
is) when he suggested that Marshall Mathers has begun the job of unpacking
the assressivity against others that's displayed but not explored in much of
the contemporary "hardcore" music (rap, punk, metal et al).  He makes it
clear, however, that this doesn't mean he thinks em's some PC crusader (in
real life he seems to me to be a talented guy with real problems that aren't
unrelated to his background).

This made perfect sense in the context of the lyrics, which are largely
about music (even "Kim" wouldn't exist without its sequel on the (previous)
Slim Shady LP, which itself is a Will Smith parody that seems to sieze on
Smith's silence over exactly why "things didn't work out between me and your
mom", i.e. it unpacks the erasure of a female voice)  And I have to say that
the only threats he makes that seem real to me on MM are against other pop
stars, in other words a group of which he's a certified member.  Which got
me thinking again about "Kim", which I couldn't even listen to for some
time.  Eminem plays both the male and female parts on the song (it's an
extraordinary piece of acting, which is why it's so scary), just as he plays
both Stan and himself on "Stan".  Of course the fact he's created these
particular characters and then given them his own and his real wife's name
adds to the confusion, but is really the most compelling reason why we
shouldn't take the violence literally (she's still alive and well, although
unless she was a full and willing partner in its creation, I'd have divorced
him over it as well).

Yes, it is interesting that he doesn't attack African Americans in the same
way.  It has to be noted that he claims to have killed Dr Dre a couple of
times on the album, and also disses him out big time on "Guilty Conscience"
from the previous one (seems fair enough to me in that Dre's personal
misogyny is easier to identify, whereas you're always hearing from women who
work with eminem describing him as charming in person, oh, and Elton John
too).  I suppose the next one could prove me wrong, but it may be that em
actually allows himself to be "feminised" (as "Kim" suggests) (and in
heterosexist discourse, gays are feminised to masculine men), whereas
because he's more specifically traversing onto African American turf he
somehow remains more separate from it (his voice, which has nonetheless
turned into quite an instrument, remains "white" all the same, if there's
such a thing, and his raps are different in character from those of his
guests.  In addition, his musical strategy is very much more pop than most
rap, which tends to be more deeply grounded in tradition (for instance
Stankonia by Outkast).  This line of thought may be a little hard to
justify, and I'm not sure where to go with it from here, but what I think
I'm saying is that his subjective musical position seems to be from a white,
male, disempowered, feminised pop singer, who has no particular tradition or
community to belong to except that of late capitalism and the highly diffuse
world of commodity relations.

Not sure if I can tie all that together, but thanks for bearing with me.
There are issues of power (preterite/elect if you like) that are relatable
to Pynchon here - if you take P to be among other things a philosophical
writer on the contemporary condition, in many ways all of contemporary
culture's fair game.  But I can certainly understand the need to keep things
reasonably well on topic...

Phil