Review of If I Had, by James McLean
What is If I Had? If I Had is one of Eminem's best songs of all time, a favorite of mine.
What is dope? Dope is this song. And saying it isn't dope is wrong.
What is stupidity? Stupidity is the point of view that this song has no validity.
I'm tired of people saying that this song isn't classic
I'm tired of people saying that this isn't fantastic
I'm tired of the lack of If I Had YouTube views
I'm tired of people saying they're tired of my reviews
I'm tired of other rappers who ain't bringing half the skill as Em
Sayin' they wasn't feelin' Em yet nobody's as ill as Em
You know what I'm sayin'? I'm tired of all this bullshit. Tellin' me to be positive? How am I supposed to be positive when I don't see shit positive? Eminem raps about shit around him, shit he sees. And right now I'm tired of everything. I'm tired of all this SSLP-hating that's going on in my own city. Never gets no airplay, you know what I'm sayin'?
If I Had is the song where Eminem, who at the time was a cook for $5.50 an hour at Gilbert's Lodge, fantasizes about being rich. The chorus (which I think might be based on "If I Had A Million Dollars" by The Barenaked Ladies) is:
If I had a million dollars, I'd buy a damn brewery and turn the planet into alcoholics
If I had a magic wand, I'd make the world suck my dick with a condom on while I'm on the john
If I had a million bucks, it wouldn't be enough 'cause I'd still be out robbing armored trucks
If I had one wish, I'd ask for a big enough ass for the whole world to kiss
He did none of these things when he went on to earn his first million after this album came out.
This is one of those few Eminem songs that I'd call a poem first and foremost. I love the "I'm tired of" repetition throughout the verses. I also love the mini-essay he does at the beginning of this song on Life: "What is life? I'm tired of life."
In terms of subject matter, I guess what separates this song from Rock Bottom (which was about his poor working-class depression) is the bitterness he feels at not getting the respect he deserves and not getting his big break yet: "I'm tired of not performing in a packed colosseum...tired of not being on tour...tired of people saying they're tired of hearing me rap about drugs." Sure, it touches on being poor as well but it's not a repeat. This is just an angry young man, pissed off at the world. This song was before all the fame and all the money, when he genuinely thought he was going to be a nobody and fade into obscurity. You can really feel that pain and resignation.
But then again...he's tired of not being a millionaire...but there came a point in Eminem's life where got tired of BEING a millionaire. The overall cynical nature of this song comes through in the chorus: if he had a million dollars, he would still do the same old shit...he'd waste it. All Eminem ever really wanted was respect in the rap game and enough money to send his daughter to college. He never really placed a whole lot of importance on money. I recall him saying in a 1999 interview that "if I had a billion dollars and I fell off, I'd be the most miserable man in the world." And that's why I respect him as much as I do. He's always been about the craft.
The rhyming and flow is typically superb. Friendly grins/many sins/Henny wins/any ends/skinny friends/mini-thins/when he spins. I like the creative rhymes like sorrow/Monte Carlo and millionaire/silverware/builder's square.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Who Knew (The Marshall Mathers LP)
Now this is one of the funniest Eminem songs I've heard: dark, sarcastic and angry (like a lot of MMLP). The message of the song is that he never knew he would get so big and make such a splash. He never knew his music would make teenagers slit their wrists.
He quips: You want me to watch my mouth? How? Take my fucking eyeballs out and turn 'em around?
Eminem pins the blame on the way these teenagers and children are behaving on parents and the politicians: You want me to fix up lyrics while the President gets his dick sucked?
In the second verse:
Last week I seen this Schwarzenegger movie where he's shooting all sorts of these motherfuckers with an uzi. I see three little kids up in the front row screaming "go!" with a 17-year-old uncle. I'm like "guidance?" Ain't they got the same moms and dads who got mad when I asked if they liked violence? And told me that my tape taught 'em to swear, what about the make-up you allow your 12-year-old daughter to wear?
Here, Eminem's making the point that violence in his music is no different to violence in movies. Apparently Schwarzenegger killing people in his movies is more acceptable than Eminem doing it in his music. When he talks about him asking if they liked violence, that is a reference to the first line on My Name Is, Eminem's opening line to the world: "Hi kids, do you like violence?" So, to sum up the second verse...he's pretty much telling parents to take responsibility for their own children.
The third verse is pretty much the same idea bounced around.
Funny Lines
So tell me that your son doesn't know any cuss words when he's bus driver's fucking him up worse (sit the fuck down you little fucking prick!)
Eminem's voice for the bus driver...funny shit.
My life's like kinda what my wife's like (what?)/Fucked up after I beat her fucking ass every night, Ike
I remember falling out of my chair laughing when I first heard this. Such a shock to hear it. It also references Ike Turner beating up his own wife, Tina.
You want me to fix up lyrics while the President gets his dick sucked? (Ken Kaniff: erghghg)
Ken's voice in the background gets me every time.
Oh, you want me to watch my mouth? How? Take my fuckin' eyeballs out and turn 'em around?
I don't got that bad of a mouth, do I? Fuck, shit, ass, cunt, bitch, shibbidi do-op!
Some basic irony...but hilarious all the same.
Skibbidi bee-bop da Christopher Reeves, Sonny Bono skis, horses, and hittin' some trees!
He's just lost it by this point. Trying to offend as much as possible.
The beat for this song is produced by Dr Dre, and has about 5 keys just looped over and over again. It's dark, it's stripped down, and perfectly fits Eminem's lyrics.
Rhyming
In his prime (1997-2002), Eminem's rhyme schemes were so intricate/complex that I still discover new rhymes to this day. Here are some you may have missed:
White music/high school kids/drive like this
deck now/stretched out
circle around/furniture out
plastic/last week
Screaming "go!"/teen-year-old
movie/uzi
front row/uncle
cuss words/up worse
read up/free lunch/three months
He quips: You want me to watch my mouth? How? Take my fucking eyeballs out and turn 'em around?
Eminem pins the blame on the way these teenagers and children are behaving on parents and the politicians: You want me to fix up lyrics while the President gets his dick sucked?
In the second verse:
Last week I seen this Schwarzenegger movie where he's shooting all sorts of these motherfuckers with an uzi. I see three little kids up in the front row screaming "go!" with a 17-year-old uncle. I'm like "guidance?" Ain't they got the same moms and dads who got mad when I asked if they liked violence? And told me that my tape taught 'em to swear, what about the make-up you allow your 12-year-old daughter to wear?
Here, Eminem's making the point that violence in his music is no different to violence in movies. Apparently Schwarzenegger killing people in his movies is more acceptable than Eminem doing it in his music. When he talks about him asking if they liked violence, that is a reference to the first line on My Name Is, Eminem's opening line to the world: "Hi kids, do you like violence?" So, to sum up the second verse...he's pretty much telling parents to take responsibility for their own children.
The third verse is pretty much the same idea bounced around.
Funny Lines
So tell me that your son doesn't know any cuss words when he's bus driver's fucking him up worse (sit the fuck down you little fucking prick!)
Eminem's voice for the bus driver...funny shit.
My life's like kinda what my wife's like (what?)/Fucked up after I beat her fucking ass every night, Ike
I remember falling out of my chair laughing when I first heard this. Such a shock to hear it. It also references Ike Turner beating up his own wife, Tina.
You want me to fix up lyrics while the President gets his dick sucked? (Ken Kaniff: erghghg)
Ken's voice in the background gets me every time.
Oh, you want me to watch my mouth? How? Take my fuckin' eyeballs out and turn 'em around?
I don't got that bad of a mouth, do I? Fuck, shit, ass, cunt, bitch, shibbidi do-op!
Some basic irony...but hilarious all the same.
Skibbidi bee-bop da Christopher Reeves, Sonny Bono skis, horses, and hittin' some trees!
He's just lost it by this point. Trying to offend as much as possible.
The beat for this song is produced by Dr Dre, and has about 5 keys just looped over and over again. It's dark, it's stripped down, and perfectly fits Eminem's lyrics.
Rhyming
In his prime (1997-2002), Eminem's rhyme schemes were so intricate/complex that I still discover new rhymes to this day. Here are some you may have missed:
White music/high school kids/drive like this
deck now/stretched out
circle around/furniture out
plastic/last week
Screaming "go!"/teen-year-old
movie/uzi
front row/uncle
cuss words/up worse
read up/free lunch/three months
Stan (The Marshall Mathers LP)
Stan...a song people will remember for years to come. Probably the only song (along with Lose Yourself) that the general public will still remember in about 30 years' time, and that Eminem can perform in 30 years' time (assuming he hasn't died from a drug overdose by then...but that's being pessimistic).
Stan...a song that created a new term in the English language: "Stan." The term "Stan" seems to have many meanings: the most popular meaning is obsessed fan. A Lil Wayne Stan is an obsessive Lil Wayne fan...a Kanye Stan, an obsessive Kanye fan. And so on. The narrower definition is an obsessive Eminem fan. I am a gigantic fucking Stan, and there's no escaping it.
Stans drive themselves and their pregnant girlfriends off a bridge if Eminem doesn't answer their fan mail. Stans write blogs where they give in-depth reviews of Eminem songs. Stans have homosexual fantasies of being with Eminem ("we should be together too"). Female Stans (or Stanettes) have heterosexual fantasies of being with Eminem. Taylor Swift, the talentless hack who performed a cover song of Lose Yourself and verbally tongue-bathes Eminem whenever she gets the chance, is a classic Stanette.
Hell, even Eminem himself started using the term, in the clean version of Without Me: And Moby? You can get stomped by Obie, you thirty six year old bald-headed Stan, blow me. Another famous earlier use of the word "Stan" (probably what popularized the term the MOST) was Nas in Ether, when he dissed Jay-Z: You a fan, a phony, a fake, a pussy, a Stan. But I digress. The point is the song spawned a new word and that speaks volumes about its cultural influence.
First off, get this out of the way: wow. A concept song where each verse is a letter...this is the first of its kind. Ever heard of a concept song where someone raps in letter form? If so, you heard it after Stan, and it's probably influenced by Stan. This concept was so out of left-field and genius.
The song Stan is significant to me as being the first Eminem song I ever heard. I was in the car listening to the radio and this song came on...I liked Dido's chorus and thought it was haunting (this song pretty much resuscitated her career BTW). Even as 10-year-old I knew there was something different/unique to Stan. From the sound of Eminem's voice, I thought he was black. I also thought there were TWO people rapping: one guy who did Stan's voice and Eminem...but it was just Eminem changing his voice a bit and putting a bit of reverb on Stan's verses. I remember hearing the last two lines, when Eminem drops the bombshell: "And in the car they found a tape, but didn't say who it was to...come to think about it, his name was...it was you" and I remember being blown away by how brilliantly executed it was.
Background to Stan
Eminem is on tour in 1999. He is cycling through a bunch of beats given to him from producer The 45 King when suddenly he hears a heavy bassline with Dido's voice sampled from "Thank You" over it. Eminem has said that as soon as he heard her say the words "your picture on my wall" he thought "this is about an obsessed fan." So it was Dido's voice that inspired this famous story.
At the time, there was a lot of controversy surrounding Eminem's lyrics. Eminem was being blamed for all sorts of atrocities, like fans committing suicide and murder. Eminem figured he'd use the story of a crazed fan to make the point that fans/critics should not take his lyrics at face value. The song serves as a cautionary tale to warn against literal interpretation. Stan actually believes Eminem slits his wrists because he rapped about it on The Slim Shady LP: And what's this shit about you like to cut your wrists too? I say that shit just clowning. He thinks Eminem encourages his listeners to drink-drive on the album ("I just drank a fifth of vodka, dare me to drive?" - My Name Is), so Stan drink-drives. Stan also thinks Eminem is being serious when he talks about slitting his girlfriend's throat and dumping her in the trunk in '97 Bonnie & Clyde: Hey Slim, that's my girlfriend screaming in the trunk but I didn't slit her throat, see...I ain't like you. I just tied her up.
In a broader sense, the song comments on the phenomenon of para-social relationships: the celebrity doesn't even know the fan exists, but the fan acts like they're best buds: I loved you Slim...we could've been together, think about it. And even if a celebrity does NOTHING in response to the fan's action, the fan perceives it as a reaction. Stan thinks Eminem "just said no" directly to Stan and his brother while he was waiting out "in the blistering cold." Stan is so blinded by his love for Eminem he can't even fathom that Eminem is a busy star and can't respond to every letter straight away.
One great thing about Stan are the effects added to the song: the thunder claps build tension (they grow louder and louder as Stan gets angrier and angrier), and the sounds of the pen scratching the pad are a nice touch. Everything about this song builds: Stan's voice is calm and casual in the first verse. In the second verse...there's a hint of anger/impatience. His anger finally explodes in the third verse.
Stan is a very well-linked and detailed song. Everything Stan says either foreshadows something that is said later, or it is linked later. For example, Stan doesn't say he's going to name his daughter Bonnie for no reason...because Eminem later links back to it: I'm really flattered you'd call your daughter that. He doesn't say his girlfriend is pregnant for no reason, it is linked: You said your girlfriend's pregnant now/He has his girlfriend in the back, and she was pregnant with his kid. He doesn't say "We should be together too" for no reason, as that is later linked: and what's this shit about us meant to be together? That type of shit will make us not wanna meet each other.
Stan mentions his girlfriend's irritability with Stan's obsessive behavior, misinterpreting it as jealousy: My girlfriend's jealous because I talk about you 24/7. But she don't know you like I know you. Eminem later addresses Stan neglecting his girlfriend: I really think you and your girlfriend need each other, or maybe you just need to treat her better. Stan's self-mutilating confession ("sometimes I even cut myself") is also linked to Eminem's response: And what's this shit you said about you like to cut your wrists too? ... I hope [this letter] reaches you in time before you hurt yourself. Stan's brother wanting a signed autograph from Eminem in verse 2 ("you didn't sign an autograph for Matthew") is also linked: And here's an autograph for your brother, I wrote it on the starter cap., along with linking the concert anecdote Stan mentions.
And then of course, the genius link: Stan's third verse where he drives off a bridge is linked with Eminem's anecdote about watching the news: I saw this one shit on the news a couple of weeks ago and it made me sick.
Rhyming
Okay, so a lot of the rhyming in this song seems to sail over people's heads. Let's not forget that Eminem has poetic license to NOT rhyme in this song, since it's in a letter form. He can afford to sacrifice some rhymes so it's more realistic. I mean...in a song where he raps the words of a letter, you shouldn't even be worrying about multi-syllabic rhymes, you should be worrying about whether it sounds like a letter, and what you're saying follows a story and what you're saying sounds like something an obsessed fan would say. But he managed fine:
at the bottom/back in Autumn
probably a problem/sloppy when I jot 'em
Biggest fan/did with Skam/get this, man/this is Stan
Reaches you in time/be doin' just fine
inspire you but Stan/why are you so mad/try to understand
father neither/mom and beat her
sayin' in your songs/'way and put 'em on
much it bleeds/rush for me
Have a chance/answer fans
no one does/growin' up
daughter that/Autograph/starter cap
musta missed you/just to diss you/cut your wrists too/fucked up is you
treat her better/read this letter
crazy shit/made me sick
ever lose/'gether too
Stan...a song that created a new term in the English language: "Stan." The term "Stan" seems to have many meanings: the most popular meaning is obsessed fan. A Lil Wayne Stan is an obsessive Lil Wayne fan...a Kanye Stan, an obsessive Kanye fan. And so on. The narrower definition is an obsessive Eminem fan. I am a gigantic fucking Stan, and there's no escaping it.
Stans drive themselves and their pregnant girlfriends off a bridge if Eminem doesn't answer their fan mail. Stans write blogs where they give in-depth reviews of Eminem songs. Stans have homosexual fantasies of being with Eminem ("we should be together too"). Female Stans (or Stanettes) have heterosexual fantasies of being with Eminem. Taylor Swift, the talentless hack who performed a cover song of Lose Yourself and verbally tongue-bathes Eminem whenever she gets the chance, is a classic Stanette.
Hell, even Eminem himself started using the term, in the clean version of Without Me: And Moby? You can get stomped by Obie, you thirty six year old bald-headed Stan, blow me. Another famous earlier use of the word "Stan" (probably what popularized the term the MOST) was Nas in Ether, when he dissed Jay-Z: You a fan, a phony, a fake, a pussy, a Stan. But I digress. The point is the song spawned a new word and that speaks volumes about its cultural influence.
First off, get this out of the way: wow. A concept song where each verse is a letter...this is the first of its kind. Ever heard of a concept song where someone raps in letter form? If so, you heard it after Stan, and it's probably influenced by Stan. This concept was so out of left-field and genius.
The song Stan is significant to me as being the first Eminem song I ever heard. I was in the car listening to the radio and this song came on...I liked Dido's chorus and thought it was haunting (this song pretty much resuscitated her career BTW). Even as 10-year-old I knew there was something different/unique to Stan. From the sound of Eminem's voice, I thought he was black. I also thought there were TWO people rapping: one guy who did Stan's voice and Eminem...but it was just Eminem changing his voice a bit and putting a bit of reverb on Stan's verses. I remember hearing the last two lines, when Eminem drops the bombshell: "And in the car they found a tape, but didn't say who it was to...come to think about it, his name was...it was you" and I remember being blown away by how brilliantly executed it was.
Background to Stan
Eminem is on tour in 1999. He is cycling through a bunch of beats given to him from producer The 45 King when suddenly he hears a heavy bassline with Dido's voice sampled from "Thank You" over it. Eminem has said that as soon as he heard her say the words "your picture on my wall" he thought "this is about an obsessed fan." So it was Dido's voice that inspired this famous story.
At the time, there was a lot of controversy surrounding Eminem's lyrics. Eminem was being blamed for all sorts of atrocities, like fans committing suicide and murder. Eminem figured he'd use the story of a crazed fan to make the point that fans/critics should not take his lyrics at face value. The song serves as a cautionary tale to warn against literal interpretation. Stan actually believes Eminem slits his wrists because he rapped about it on The Slim Shady LP: And what's this shit about you like to cut your wrists too? I say that shit just clowning. He thinks Eminem encourages his listeners to drink-drive on the album ("I just drank a fifth of vodka, dare me to drive?" - My Name Is), so Stan drink-drives. Stan also thinks Eminem is being serious when he talks about slitting his girlfriend's throat and dumping her in the trunk in '97 Bonnie & Clyde: Hey Slim, that's my girlfriend screaming in the trunk but I didn't slit her throat, see...I ain't like you. I just tied her up.
In a broader sense, the song comments on the phenomenon of para-social relationships: the celebrity doesn't even know the fan exists, but the fan acts like they're best buds: I loved you Slim...we could've been together, think about it. And even if a celebrity does NOTHING in response to the fan's action, the fan perceives it as a reaction. Stan thinks Eminem "just said no" directly to Stan and his brother while he was waiting out "in the blistering cold." Stan is so blinded by his love for Eminem he can't even fathom that Eminem is a busy star and can't respond to every letter straight away.
One great thing about Stan are the effects added to the song: the thunder claps build tension (they grow louder and louder as Stan gets angrier and angrier), and the sounds of the pen scratching the pad are a nice touch. Everything about this song builds: Stan's voice is calm and casual in the first verse. In the second verse...there's a hint of anger/impatience. His anger finally explodes in the third verse.
Stan is a very well-linked and detailed song. Everything Stan says either foreshadows something that is said later, or it is linked later. For example, Stan doesn't say he's going to name his daughter Bonnie for no reason...because Eminem later links back to it: I'm really flattered you'd call your daughter that. He doesn't say his girlfriend is pregnant for no reason, it is linked: You said your girlfriend's pregnant now/He has his girlfriend in the back, and she was pregnant with his kid. He doesn't say "We should be together too" for no reason, as that is later linked: and what's this shit about us meant to be together? That type of shit will make us not wanna meet each other.
Stan mentions his girlfriend's irritability with Stan's obsessive behavior, misinterpreting it as jealousy: My girlfriend's jealous because I talk about you 24/7. But she don't know you like I know you. Eminem later addresses Stan neglecting his girlfriend: I really think you and your girlfriend need each other, or maybe you just need to treat her better. Stan's self-mutilating confession ("sometimes I even cut myself") is also linked to Eminem's response: And what's this shit you said about you like to cut your wrists too? ... I hope [this letter] reaches you in time before you hurt yourself. Stan's brother wanting a signed autograph from Eminem in verse 2 ("you didn't sign an autograph for Matthew") is also linked: And here's an autograph for your brother, I wrote it on the starter cap., along with linking the concert anecdote Stan mentions.
And then of course, the genius link: Stan's third verse where he drives off a bridge is linked with Eminem's anecdote about watching the news: I saw this one shit on the news a couple of weeks ago and it made me sick.
Rhyming
Okay, so a lot of the rhyming in this song seems to sail over people's heads. Let's not forget that Eminem has poetic license to NOT rhyme in this song, since it's in a letter form. He can afford to sacrifice some rhymes so it's more realistic. I mean...in a song where he raps the words of a letter, you shouldn't even be worrying about multi-syllabic rhymes, you should be worrying about whether it sounds like a letter, and what you're saying follows a story and what you're saying sounds like something an obsessed fan would say. But he managed fine:
at the bottom/back in Autumn
probably a problem/sloppy when I jot 'em
Biggest fan/did with Skam/get this, man/this is Stan
Reaches you in time/be doin' just fine
inspire you but Stan/why are you so mad/try to understand
father neither/mom and beat her
sayin' in your songs/'way and put 'em on
much it bleeds/rush for me
Have a chance/answer fans
no one does/growin' up
daughter that/Autograph/starter cap
musta missed you/just to diss you/cut your wrists too/fucked up is you
treat her better/read this letter
crazy shit/made me sick
ever lose/'gether too
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Kim (The Marshall Mathers LP)
Here comes another behemoth of a post as I review, for my money, one of the greatest songs of all time.
I can't even begin to describe how out-of-the-box this song was...how original. I've never heard another song so daring and so bizarre. But it's a good bizarre. I'm confident in saying nobody else has made a rap song quite like it...it's amazing how he makes the dialogue sound so realistic yet it rhymes at the same time.
It's like a movie/rap musical...where instead of acting out a violent domestic scene between husband and wife, the two characters rap it. The song is an Eminem puppet show, with Eminem playing his own wife and doing all the sound effects himself. Apparently he made the sound of the leaves rustling in the woods in the third verse by getting some leaves from outside the studio and stomping on them.
But the thing about this song is that I rarely play it. And that's not because it's bad...it's just too intense. I normally want to play something easy to digest. This is far from it...it's a song that demands your full attention. You can't have it playing in the background while you watch TV. It's too good for that. So let's go through it:
So here's some background for this song (some of this might be inaccurate but fuck it):
Around about 1996, Eminem had just released an album called Infinite which didn't do too well and didn't make much money. So he went back to being a cook at Gilbert's Lodge, earning $5.50 an hour at his dead-end job, barely able to provide for his daughter. I think at this point, Kim was getting sick of it all. So in 1997, she cheated on Eminem and married another guy. Now obviously they weren't married so it wasn't adultery but still pretty bad, since Hailie was only 1.
So this other guy Kim married, already had a son. This enraged Eminem, who was doing everything he could to make Kim/Hailie's life better. So he went and wrote two songs. The first one was Kim.
At the beginning of the song, Eminem babytalks to his daughter Hailie. Then he takes his wife Kim out to the car and drives her to the woods. During the drive he reveals he's already killed her new husband and step-son (who is a 4-year-old boy). He reveals he slit the boy's throat in the living room (and presumably did the same thing to Kim's new husband). So they're laying dead in his house while he takes his wife out to the woods to kill her. In the third verse he reveals his plans to frame Kim for the murder of the husband and step-son, and for taking her own life afterwards ("so now it's double homicide and suicide with no note"). He slits Kim's throat and the song ends when he dumps her in the trunk.
Now, the sequel, '97 Bonnie & Clyde, begins, chronologically, a little later. Because between the events of the two songs, Eminem needs to drive back home with Kim in his car, get the husband and step-son's bodies from the living room, and dump THEM in the trunk too. Then, he says to his daughter, who is still in her cot, "C'mon, hey hey, we goin' to the beach."
So yeah...he wrote Kim and '97 Bonnie & Clyde in probably the same time period (1997). He put '97 Bonnie & Clyde on his Slim Shady EP, but kept Kim locked away from the world until his second album (I don't know why he did this but it was a good decision).
The song has a very dark, gothic instrumental from the Bass Brothers/Eminem production team...and a great chorus from Eminem. It's just the one voice...no digital alteration of his voice (he doesn't hit the notes properly...but I like that sort of imperfection...lends well to the emotional feel of the track).
Highlights of Kim, for me:
SIT DOWN BITCH YOU MOVE AGAIN I'LL BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU
A hilarious shock. Was NOT expecting this when I first heard Eminem sweet-talking his daughter.
Aw, what's the matter Kim, AM I TOO LOUD FOR YOU?!
Laughed at this irony as well...just sick.
What are you doing? CHANGE THE STATION! I hate this song!
He's talking about the quality of songs on the radio during an obvious mental breakdown where he's about to kill his wife. Guy had a warped sense of humor. This is some Tarantino shit...except Tarantino didn't make his characters rhyme. Eminem: 1, Quentin: 0.
What the fuck's this guy's problem on the side of me? Fuck you asshole, yeah, bite me!
I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard this. A hysterical reminder that he's in a car with Kim...referencing the traffic outside.
Kim, KIM! Why don't you like me? You think I'm ugly, don't you? No, you think I'm ugly
Get the fuck away from me! Don't touch me!
I just love this kind of childish response, amidst all the chaos/turmoil. Made me laugh.
That was funny, wasn't it? "Yes." THAT WAS FUNNY, WASN'T IT? "YES!!!"
Kim is forced to reminisce about Brian's party at what I assume is knife point.
Go ahead, yell! I'll scream with you: AHHHH SOMEBODY HELP!
Wow. Just...amazing piece of voice-acting. He actually makes you feel like you're in the woods with them, and this is happening. And just really perverted humor from Eminem when he's about to commit the unthinkable.
BLEED, BITCH, BLEED
Hands down one of the most brilliant pieces of voice-acting Eminem's ever done. Apparently he made this song while he was on ecstasy, so that would have aided/facilitated his emotional delivery since it gets you all lovey-dovey.
Well, that concludes the review to Kim.
I can't even begin to describe how out-of-the-box this song was...how original. I've never heard another song so daring and so bizarre. But it's a good bizarre. I'm confident in saying nobody else has made a rap song quite like it...it's amazing how he makes the dialogue sound so realistic yet it rhymes at the same time.
It's like a movie/rap musical...where instead of acting out a violent domestic scene between husband and wife, the two characters rap it. The song is an Eminem puppet show, with Eminem playing his own wife and doing all the sound effects himself. Apparently he made the sound of the leaves rustling in the woods in the third verse by getting some leaves from outside the studio and stomping on them.
But the thing about this song is that I rarely play it. And that's not because it's bad...it's just too intense. I normally want to play something easy to digest. This is far from it...it's a song that demands your full attention. You can't have it playing in the background while you watch TV. It's too good for that. So let's go through it:
So here's some background for this song (some of this might be inaccurate but fuck it):
Around about 1996, Eminem had just released an album called Infinite which didn't do too well and didn't make much money. So he went back to being a cook at Gilbert's Lodge, earning $5.50 an hour at his dead-end job, barely able to provide for his daughter. I think at this point, Kim was getting sick of it all. So in 1997, she cheated on Eminem and married another guy. Now obviously they weren't married so it wasn't adultery but still pretty bad, since Hailie was only 1.
So this other guy Kim married, already had a son. This enraged Eminem, who was doing everything he could to make Kim/Hailie's life better. So he went and wrote two songs. The first one was Kim.
At the beginning of the song, Eminem babytalks to his daughter Hailie. Then he takes his wife Kim out to the car and drives her to the woods. During the drive he reveals he's already killed her new husband and step-son (who is a 4-year-old boy). He reveals he slit the boy's throat in the living room (and presumably did the same thing to Kim's new husband). So they're laying dead in his house while he takes his wife out to the woods to kill her. In the third verse he reveals his plans to frame Kim for the murder of the husband and step-son, and for taking her own life afterwards ("so now it's double homicide and suicide with no note"). He slits Kim's throat and the song ends when he dumps her in the trunk.
Now, the sequel, '97 Bonnie & Clyde, begins, chronologically, a little later. Because between the events of the two songs, Eminem needs to drive back home with Kim in his car, get the husband and step-son's bodies from the living room, and dump THEM in the trunk too. Then, he says to his daughter, who is still in her cot, "C'mon, hey hey, we goin' to the beach."
So yeah...he wrote Kim and '97 Bonnie & Clyde in probably the same time period (1997). He put '97 Bonnie & Clyde on his Slim Shady EP, but kept Kim locked away from the world until his second album (I don't know why he did this but it was a good decision).
The song has a very dark, gothic instrumental from the Bass Brothers/Eminem production team...and a great chorus from Eminem. It's just the one voice...no digital alteration of his voice (he doesn't hit the notes properly...but I like that sort of imperfection...lends well to the emotional feel of the track).
Highlights of Kim, for me:
SIT DOWN BITCH YOU MOVE AGAIN I'LL BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU
A hilarious shock. Was NOT expecting this when I first heard Eminem sweet-talking his daughter.
Aw, what's the matter Kim, AM I TOO LOUD FOR YOU?!
Laughed at this irony as well...just sick.
What are you doing? CHANGE THE STATION! I hate this song!
He's talking about the quality of songs on the radio during an obvious mental breakdown where he's about to kill his wife. Guy had a warped sense of humor. This is some Tarantino shit...except Tarantino didn't make his characters rhyme. Eminem: 1, Quentin: 0.
What the fuck's this guy's problem on the side of me? Fuck you asshole, yeah, bite me!
I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard this. A hysterical reminder that he's in a car with Kim...referencing the traffic outside.
Kim, KIM! Why don't you like me? You think I'm ugly, don't you? No, you think I'm ugly
Get the fuck away from me! Don't touch me!
I just love this kind of childish response, amidst all the chaos/turmoil. Made me laugh.
That was funny, wasn't it? "Yes." THAT WAS FUNNY, WASN'T IT? "YES!!!"
Kim is forced to reminisce about Brian's party at what I assume is knife point.
Go ahead, yell! I'll scream with you: AHHHH SOMEBODY HELP!
Wow. Just...amazing piece of voice-acting. He actually makes you feel like you're in the woods with them, and this is happening. And just really perverted humor from Eminem when he's about to commit the unthinkable.
BLEED, BITCH, BLEED
Hands down one of the most brilliant pieces of voice-acting Eminem's ever done. Apparently he made this song while he was on ecstasy, so that would have aided/facilitated his emotional delivery since it gets you all lovey-dovey.
Well, that concludes the review to Kim.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
The Real Slim Shady (The Marshall Mathers LP)
Probably the best of all his lead singles.
While My Name Is is a funny song and Without Me is cool, The Real Slim Shady actually has a message in the lyrics (about the double standards when it comes to censorship) so it gets bonus points. He was actually using the poppy single to put out thinly veiled criticisms. He's pretty much saying what he says/does is no different to what anyone else says/does ("there's a Slim Shady in all of us") yet he gets censored and people like Tom Green don't. Somehow he managed to get these anti-censorship messages through the censors by making the song catchy/poppy. Genius, in a way.
Then there's the whole idea of...if he's so bad, why is everyone trying to be like him? He's kind of expressing disgust at his own celebrity...how he's become a fad/trend.
But even with all these serious messages, he still manages to be funny:
"Will Smith don't gotta cuss in his raps to sell records...well I do. So fuck him and fuck you too."
I love the way he annihilates people who were talking shit about him. He lets Christina have it on this song. Oh, and there are some nice, subtle rhymes you might not have picked up on: he rhymes "Burger King" with "circling," he says "you-know-what" and "you-know-who" because the "you know" part rhymes with "cute, though," he rhymes "return of the" with "furniture," he rhymes "course they" in "of course they gonna know what intercourse is" with "fourth grade."
And who could forget that chorus? Immortalized in rap history. Everybody knows the words...one more time...loud as you can...how does it go? He says in his autobiography he vocally tried to imitate a chainsaw sound at the beginning of the hook: "I'mmm Slim Shady!"
While My Name Is is a funny song and Without Me is cool, The Real Slim Shady actually has a message in the lyrics (about the double standards when it comes to censorship) so it gets bonus points. He was actually using the poppy single to put out thinly veiled criticisms. He's pretty much saying what he says/does is no different to what anyone else says/does ("there's a Slim Shady in all of us") yet he gets censored and people like Tom Green don't. Somehow he managed to get these anti-censorship messages through the censors by making the song catchy/poppy. Genius, in a way.
Then there's the whole idea of...if he's so bad, why is everyone trying to be like him? He's kind of expressing disgust at his own celebrity...how he's become a fad/trend.
But even with all these serious messages, he still manages to be funny:
"Will Smith don't gotta cuss in his raps to sell records...well I do. So fuck him and fuck you too."
I love the way he annihilates people who were talking shit about him. He lets Christina have it on this song. Oh, and there are some nice, subtle rhymes you might not have picked up on: he rhymes "Burger King" with "circling," he says "you-know-what" and "you-know-who" because the "you know" part rhymes with "cute, though," he rhymes "return of the" with "furniture," he rhymes "course they" in "of course they gonna know what intercourse is" with "fourth grade."
And who could forget that chorus? Immortalized in rap history. Everybody knows the words...one more time...loud as you can...how does it go? He says in his autobiography he vocally tried to imitate a chainsaw sound at the beginning of the hook: "I'mmm Slim Shady!"
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Criminal (The Marshall Mathers LP)
In the intro, Eminem maps out the concept for this song:
"A lot of people think that what I say on record, I actually do in real life, and 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. If you believe that, then I'll kill you."
He's basically saying: "if you paint me as a fag-bashing criminal, then I'll be one." For the rest of this song, he personifies this "menace" to society: "Hates fags? He answers 'yes'." But even though he's in-character, he plants clues that he's just joking and baiting people: "Relax guy, I like gay men! Right Ken? [Ken Kaniff is his gay alter-ego] Give me an amen!" He also says later in the song "Half the shit I say I just make it up to make you mad so kiss my white, naked ass!"
Yet most people still point to Criminal as an example of Eminem's homophobia. Idiots. Anyway, here are some great parts of Criminal:
"I drank malt liquor to fuck you up quicker than you'd wanna fuck me up for saying the word (nigger)." Thought this was clever. He doesn't say it.
The entire song, Eminem criticizes the hypocritical people who run this country: both the State (my morals went pfffft when the President (Clinton) got oral sex in the oval office" and the church ("please lord, this boy needs Jesus...heal this child, help us destroy these demons...oh and please send me a brand new car and a prostitute"). He's hinting that the church are all uppity and moral yet they take advantage of their faith for their own self-gain and they're hypocritical. The "preacher, preacher" Eminem addresses is telling him he shouldn't be bashing gays, even though the church is notoriously homophobic.
"A lot of people think that what I say on record, I actually do in real life, and 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. If you believe that, then I'll kill you."
He's basically saying: "if you paint me as a fag-bashing criminal, then I'll be one." For the rest of this song, he personifies this "menace" to society: "Hates fags? He answers 'yes'." But even though he's in-character, he plants clues that he's just joking and baiting people: "Relax guy, I like gay men! Right Ken? [Ken Kaniff is his gay alter-ego] Give me an amen!" He also says later in the song "Half the shit I say I just make it up to make you mad so kiss my white, naked ass!"
Yet most people still point to Criminal as an example of Eminem's homophobia. Idiots. Anyway, here are some great parts of Criminal:
"I drank malt liquor to fuck you up quicker than you'd wanna fuck me up for saying the word (nigger)." Thought this was clever. He doesn't say it.
The entire song, Eminem criticizes the hypocritical people who run this country: both the State (my morals went pfffft when the President (Clinton) got oral sex in the oval office" and the church ("please lord, this boy needs Jesus...heal this child, help us destroy these demons...oh and please send me a brand new car and a prostitute"). He's hinting that the church are all uppity and moral yet they take advantage of their faith for their own self-gain and they're hypocritical. The "preacher, preacher" Eminem addresses is telling him he shouldn't be bashing gays, even though the church is notoriously homophobic.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Kill You (The Marshall Mathers LP)
A dark, funny, sarcastic song...The Marshall Mathers LP in a nutshell.
This song is quintessential Eminem. A memorable chorus (it's amusing to see young girls sing along to it), a sparse-but-awesome beat from Dr Dre. Apparently Eminem heard this beat playing in Dre's studio while he was on the phone from Amsterdam, on tour.
It's this song which is used by most idiotic feminists as evidence for Eminem's misogyny.
One of the most stupid beliefs surrounding this song is that it is about raping his mother. You hear this all the time from the misinformed: "Kill You is the song about Eminem raping his mother." It's ONE line:
Shut up slut, you're causing too much chaos/Just bend over and take it like a slut, okay Ma?
Eminem even bothers to clarify in the next line that he's clearly trying to piss you off when he mimics a critic's response to that line: "Oh, now he's raping his own mother/abusing a whore, snorting coke and we gave him the Rolling Stone cover?" The abused whore he's referring to is the whore he mentions at the very beginning of the song: "Think I won't choke no whore, 'til her vocal chords don't work in her throat no more?" The "snorting coke" part refers to "they ain't say I can't rap about coke no more!"
Yet people STILL think the song is about him raping his mother? Holy shit...again, it is one line. Maybe they're confused because he mentions his mother in the singing intro.
As for the lyrics...some dope rhyming and the way he rides that beat is incredible. I feel like this was when his angry voice was at its best, as was his delivery.
I particularly like a part where he pretty much does 4 two-syllable rhymes, one after the other:
"I don't even believe in breathin' I'm leavin'..."
This song is quintessential Eminem. A memorable chorus (it's amusing to see young girls sing along to it), a sparse-but-awesome beat from Dr Dre. Apparently Eminem heard this beat playing in Dre's studio while he was on the phone from Amsterdam, on tour.
It's this song which is used by most idiotic feminists as evidence for Eminem's misogyny.
One of the most stupid beliefs surrounding this song is that it is about raping his mother. You hear this all the time from the misinformed: "Kill You is the song about Eminem raping his mother." It's ONE line:
Shut up slut, you're causing too much chaos/Just bend over and take it like a slut, okay Ma?
Eminem even bothers to clarify in the next line that he's clearly trying to piss you off when he mimics a critic's response to that line: "Oh, now he's raping his own mother/abusing a whore, snorting coke and we gave him the Rolling Stone cover?" The abused whore he's referring to is the whore he mentions at the very beginning of the song: "Think I won't choke no whore, 'til her vocal chords don't work in her throat no more?" The "snorting coke" part refers to "they ain't say I can't rap about coke no more!"
Yet people STILL think the song is about him raping his mother? Holy shit...again, it is one line. Maybe they're confused because he mentions his mother in the singing intro.
As for the lyrics...some dope rhyming and the way he rides that beat is incredible. I feel like this was when his angry voice was at its best, as was his delivery.
I particularly like a part where he pretty much does 4 two-syllable rhymes, one after the other:
"I don't even believe in breathin' I'm leavin'..."
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