B A C K

Marshall Mathers III aka "Eminem"

There might be a hundred reasons to be admire and idolize Marshall Mathers III (Eminem) but perhaps over a million not to. We have all heard his songs and most of the time we are enjoying it, unaware of the white rappers inspiration for each song that even makes it to Grammy’s. It is hard not to notice the catchy rhymes and upbeat tunes, even my young niece would sing and dance to Eminem’s song “Without Me.” Little did she know that the song is all about dissing other people, disrespect for her own mother, alcoholism, and even sex. Hmm, quite complicated for a ten-year old listening to his music.

Whatever Eminem is now in the music scene, he owes it to his fans. But whatever Eminem’s attitude now is, he has his early childhood perhaps to blame. Isn’t this familiar? Freud talking bout how our early life experiences can affect the way we are now? Here is a brief account of Eminem’s early experiences:

Growing up without a father might be difficult, but learning that the father who left you is a gay and stripper might be traumatic. This might be the reason for Em’s homophobia and his rage for his father. It’s quite a surprise Em was a quiet boy back in his childhood. Had he kept it all inside of him all those time and now he’s exploding like mad? Eminem also has serious issues with his mom. There are reasons for Em to get mad at his mom, but I’m surprised that his hatred would be brought open internationally through his songs. His mother Debbie, sued his own son for more than $10 million for punitive damages. But Em continues to diss her even his latest album, The Eminem Show, as vulgarly as before. A line in “Without Me” goes ‘...fuck you Debbie!’ In an earlier single, he raps about raping his mother in a doggie-style sexual position. “Shut up, slut, you’re causing too much chaos,” he sings, “Just bend over and take it like a slut, ok ma?” Tsk tsk tsk.

It’s not just his mom that pisses him big time. There are a whole bunch of people too, including his ex-wife Kim. Again, he dissed her through hidden (more often vulgar and explicit) messages in his songs. Kim filed a defamation suit against him after that. He hates homosexuals. He threatens them in his songs like “Criminal.” Eminem continues his anti-gay crusade. “My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge. And I’ll stab you in the head, whether you’re a fag or les. A homosex, hermaph, or a transeves. Homophobic? Hey fags, the answer’s yes. Nah, you’re just heterophobic.” Pretty scary. Such violence is present in all of his songs, including how he murdered somebody. Is this not enough evidence to arrest him?

He has said more than enough about other artists. Some of them were smart enough to shut up, others are stupid enough to dare speak out their mind. Among them is Chris Kirkpatrick of Nsync. He dared to comment on Em’s attack on boy bands. And what response do you get from Em? Of course he is furious that somebody is trying to oppose him! Now Chris got a whole line of dissing all to himself in “Without Me.” He raps “Chris Kirkpatrick, you could get your ass kicked / worse than them little Limp Bizkit bastards.” Among the others who remained silent are Britney Spears. Christina said such nice things to Eminem, saying that she found Eminem cute but married. In turn, she got a cruel rhyme from Em, saying how she fooled around with Carson Daly and Fred Durst, in the single “The Real Slim Shady.” “I don’t know what I said to make him mad but I’d say it again. It’s disgusting and it’s not true.” said the young diva.

Another artist that had controversial conflict with Eminem is Moby. Moby criticized his violent lyrics. Eminem retorted that Moby is too old at 36 to get people’s taste in music and that “nobody listens to techno!” Moby’s cool and calm response has been famous. He wrote “I actually do think that Eminem has skills as an MC, but it disturbs me that he glorifies homophobia and misogyny in his songs, specially seeing as his listeners are, for the most part, very impressionable 10-year-old boys.. If you’re reading this, Eminem, thanks for the dis. No hard feelings from me.”

Eminem said in response to controversies that his lyrics should not be taken very seriously. His lyrics are just a joke, he said. He said his music helps him express certain things he feels. He writes these lyrics to release what he feels for people, most often, rage. Wow, what a form of defense mechanism! Is this sublimation or displacement? Cause I can’t decide whether the outcome is good or bad, it remains subjective.

It’s kinda bothering all these violence and issues are being aired worldwide in the guise of music. We are singing to it, enjoying the tune, and not knowing we are chanting bout homophobia, incest, murder, defamation, alcoholism and drugs. Do these things enter us unconsciously? It’s quite scary to think such. Specially with his very young and promising audience. It wouldn’t come as a surprise when these little boys would soon enough learn their idols doings and put the words into actions. As Kevin Choi commented “It’s very dangerous if teens and young children think Eminem’s music is cool. The minds of kids are like sponges. If they like his music, how long will it take before they take his lyrics to heart and follow the path of his violent characters? While we can never get into the minds of teenagers who commit violence, research has shown that violence in music does register in the minds of children who listen to them.”

I am not trying to say that Eminem is not worthy of our praise, approval and applause. I just think that we should be intelligent enough not to take his lyrics as it is. After all, he is still an artist worthy to be attracted to, though not in a good way all the time.

The following is Marshall Mather’s 2nd single from his latest album, The Eminem Show, entitled “Cleaning Out My Closet.” Along with it is a psychologist’s interpretation of the song. I would like to cite MTV Ink as the source of this cool interpretation.

Cleanin Out My Closet
Have you ever been hated, or discriminated against?
I have, I’ve been protested and demostrated against
Picket signs for my wickid rhymes, look at the times

(The advent of Marshall Mather’s disturbing behavior all started when his
mother went against the obscene posters and quotes that he stuck behind the doors of his closet)
Sick as the mind of the mother fucking kid that’s behind...
All this commotion, emotions run deep as oceans exploding
Tempers flaring from parents just blow em off and keep going
Not taking nothing from no one, give em hell long as I’m breathing
Keep kicking ass in the morning, and taking names in the evening
Leaving with the taste of sour with viniger in they mouth
See they can trigger me, but they’ll never figure me out
Look at me now, I betcha prolly sick of me now
Ain’t you mama, I’ma make you look so ridiculous now
(Reflects how his emotions grew and how his temper flared. I mean, it’s just posters man.. give your old woman a break!)

I’m sorry mama
I never meant to hurt you
I never meant make you cry
But tonight, I’m cleaning out my closet
One More Time
I’m sorry mama
I never meant to hurt you
I never meant make you cry
But tonight, I’m cleaning out my closet
Ha!
(Show’s Eminem’s growing schizophrenic tendencies [maybe multiple personality].
Moments after throwing fits, he transmutes into this soft-ass momma’s boy,
pleading forgiveness for not cleaning up his act, err, closet.)

I got some skeletons in my closet
And I dont know if no one knows it
(...Oh, and he also hides other weird objects like frog skeletons from fourth grade biology class)
So before they throw me inside my coffin and close it
I’ma expose it,
(Must be a real science wiz! But since it stank too badly... well, he threw it.)
I’ll take you back to ’73
Before I ever had a multi-platinum selling CD
(Reverting back to his enraged personality, he quickly reacts when scolded about listening to his music too loud...)

I was a baby maybe I was just a couple of months
(...saying that he is no longer a kid and deserves the right to do whatever he wants in his room.)
My faggot father must’ve had his panties up in a bunch
‘Cause he split, I wonder if he even kissed me goodbye
(The cause of all his psychological problems: a father who was later exposed as a gay stripper and child molester.)
No I don’t, on second thought I just fucking wished he would die
(Which pissed the homophobic Eminem a whole lot.)

I look at Hailey, and I couldn’t picture leaving her side
Even if I hated Kim, I grin my teeth and I try to make it work
With her at least for Hailie’s sake I maybe made some mistakes
But I’m only human but I’m man enough to face them today
What I did was stupid, no doubt it was dumb
(Hailey and Kim were his two favorite playboy models, serving as his, uhm “inspiration”
for some years before finally outgrowing them and giving his copies away to
his younger cousin.. which he later regretted.)
But the smartest shit I did was take the bullets outta that gun
Cause I’d of killed em, shit I would’ve shot Kim and them both
It’s my life, I’d like to welcome ya’ll to the Eminem show
(“Take the bullets outta that gun” - Eminem’s term for jerking off)
Now I would never diss my own mama just to get recognition
Take a second to listen for who you think this record is dissing
(Again, switching personalities. He returns to his calmer, more civilized state.)

But put yourself in my position, just try to invision
Witnessing your mama popping prescription pills in the kitchen
bitching that someone’s always going through her purse when shit’s missing
Going through public housing systems, victim of munchasen syndrome
(Another probable cause for his psychological dilemma is the fact that his mom took drugs while she was
pregnant with him, affecting his growth and development during the earliest stages of his life.)

My whole life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn’t
‘Til I grew up, now I blew up it makes you sick to your stomach, doesn’t it?
Wasn’t it the reason you made a CD for me, ma?
So you could try to justify the way you treated me, ma?
(This part shows us how the more cynical side of Eminem begins to dominate his way of thinking.
The softer personality he once had has slowly disappeared and replaced completely with his evil side.)

But guess what, your getting older now and it’s cold when your lonely
And Nathan’s growing up so quick he’s gonna know that your phoney
And Hailie’s getting so big now, you should see her, she’s beautiful
But you’ll never see her, she wont even be at your funeral *hahaha*
See what hurts me the most, is you wont admit you was wrong
Bitch, do your song, keep telling yourself that you was a mum
But how dare you try to take what you didn’t help me to get
You selfish bitch, I hope you fucking burn in hell for this shit!
Remember when Ronnie died and you said you wished it was me?
Well guess what, I am dead, dead to you as can be
(More days pass by as Eminem turns more and more into his evil side.
His hatred for his mother for making him throw away his porn collection and all
his posters has elevated to a level where he is almost completely uncontrollable.)