READ THE 10/23/02 11:46am ENTRY FIRST
Hello Mark,

This morning's piece on Eminem was eloquent. Every point you made made this fan think about why I like his songs. And sorry to say, I still do.

What struck me the most were the points you made in the last 4 paragraphs. I agree, pop culture is dead. But I see it resurrected like a zombie of cookie cutter "artists" brainwashing the youth into being zombies themselves. The issue goes beyond someone like Eminem because he is one of "our otherwise excellent, sneeringly insubordinate artist [who]...care[s] about trying to reach out to the audience, to connect, expand on themes of love and loneliness and anger and rage and cool bitchin' cars" whereas "artists" who perform songs written by other people don't expand much on anything as much as he has.
You may think Eminem "string[s] together a list of violent invectives against [his] own mom and call it a song." It's more than that.

Eminem's lyrics tell stories about relationships gone wrong and the crap that goes down with it. He raps about the issues we swallow and ignore. He brings his own experiences to give it the rawness he felt and the grudges that resulted from it. And most importantly, he blatantly shows us what happens when all the angst is bottled up - it explodes, years later, in his 30s and maybe for the rest of his life. Perhaps he's continuing a verbally abusive cycle on a broadcast level, loud enough for people to listen to so they can resist or they can submit to it. That's the sad truth to child and adolescent psychology as we know thus far - sometimes people just can't get over it. Others manage to empower themselves and most passed it. His more fanatical fans love his songs 'cause they feel him. Eminem's more fanatical opponents hate him because he indulges in his violent and dark side and everyone doesn't want their own, the urban, or even this nation's dirty laundry or their struggles aired and applauded, glorified and perpetuated. And that is understandable - but it's not necessarily the fault of this rapper.

Now I am no supporter of domestic violence, bigotry nor racism, but I am aware that people who do exist and sometimes it's good to know how those kind of people really think. If we didn't, how would be even begin to dialogue, debate and reform as a society? In that sense, pop culture has played its role. Some artists aren't "artists" and are true to the craft. Hopefully they will be the ones that will persevere in the shark filled music industry. And maybe pop culture will die another death and come back as some higher being or something. There are enough disgusted people out there to kill this zombied version. And Eminem is contributing with songs like "White Amerikkka," "Stan," "The Way I am," and "Guilty Conscience" to let people think about how ludicrous people can be.

Eminem is a crazy genius. He's talented and he's disturbed. He's the Stephen King of hiphop. Songs like "Purple Hills," "Hallie's Song," and "My Dad's Gone Crazy" reveal his humorous side but there is still some darkness to them. Then again, that's the caveat of being famous and playing the same role - people expect it. The songs that get radio play typecast him. People expect the controversy. Hopefully, Em will take some Valium and Prozac, get passed it and the next album will riddle us with sunshine. Maybe then people will be proud of that.

- ASR