January 18, 2020

"That Simon & Garfunkel-referencing track is drawing a lot of attention for the video, which depicts a fictionalized account of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting from the perspective of the shooter."

I'm reading "Eminem’s Juvenile Shock Tactics Ruin Surprise New Album ‘Music To Be Murdered By’" (Daily Beast) and the part that interests me is "Simon & Garfunkel-referencing." The track is called "Darkness," so I'm thinking "Hello, Darkness, my old friend...." Rather than read on about how "Em can’t seem to resist his own adolescent tendencies—and it can make for a muddied listening experience, even on his stronger works," I'm just going to embed the video:

145 comments:

Dave Begley said...

I could only take it for 1:15.

Pathetic. Not art. Not music. Not interesting.

Dave Begley said...

All rap sounds the same to me.

Ann Althouse said...

For those who won't watch the whole thing, it ends with a call for more gun regulation.

It shows sympathy for the murderer... he's just a sad loser without the guns... which is consistent with a belief in the value of gun regulation. (Even gun rights proponents should and often do support keeping guns away from people who are mentally ill with a compulsion toward violence.)

holdfast said...

First, his ability to rhyme and flow has gone down hill massively over the last decade or so. He might’ve been an obnoxious little jerk previously, but he did have some extraordinary skills. Those are either gone or atrophied

Second, apparently someone on the Left is holding all his past homophobic and misogynistic statements hostage and will release them unless he does daily obeisance to the Left’s agenda. Hence crap like this.

Ann Althouse said...

"All rap sounds the same to me."

I was interested because I saw that it "referenced" Simon & Garfunkel, and I guessed that the song title referred to the line in "Hello, Darkness, my old friend." In fact, it did, and the melody for that line (in "Sounds of Silence") is repeated throughout the who song, in a slow, mournful way (in a tone that's like the sound an elevator makes when it's at your floor).

This didn't sound like any other rap I've heard, because "Sounds of Silence" is so clearly gettable to me. It was accessible through a door of familiarity. Also, the real world event was familiar, and that also drew me in. Even though the murderer is repellent, I did accept the artist's effort to imagine the disordered mental state — to empathize without in any way inviting us to approve. I think we tend, usually, to distance ourselves from the murder, to see him as a monster, an alien, who has nothing in him to identify with, but it is more human to empathize. This was someone who should have been noticed and a lot could have been done before he came to the place where he caused so much harm.

holdfast said...

It is really hard to believe that the same person who created Lose Yourself and Cleaning Out My made this.

holdfast said...

Cleaning Out My Closet.

Sorry

Ann Althouse said...

"First, his ability to rhyme and flow has gone down hill massively over the last decade or so. He might’ve been an obnoxious little jerk previously, but he did have some extraordinary skills. Those are either gone or atrophied."

That sounds a bit like the story of everyone getting old.

Maybe different skills come forward. Some people like to think that with age comes depth or wisdom or empathy or something that is also good, even as youthful strengths recede.

Ann Althouse said...

"the who song"

The whole song.

But I like a good Who song.

narciso said...

it reminds me of that snl sketch was it 86, when it's suggested that simon and Garfunkel, sold their soul for success, and at the end, they are confronted by 'the sound of silence' on an elevator,

Enlighten-NewJersey said...

I only lasted 1 minute. Monotonous even with the “Sounds of Silence ” underneath the rap.

Fernandinande said...

A Good Who Song

Heartless Aztec said...

Well at least he's cognizant of the S&G song in the first place - used or misused. So props there.

madAsHell said...

I hate sampling. Music becomes a computer video game.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

(Even gun rights proponents should and often do support keeping guns away from people who are mentally ill with a compulsion toward violence.)

Yes. But without steamrolling over the rights of law abiding citizens and their rights.
Not an easy task.

holdfast said...

"But I like a good Who song."

Me too.

But here we're talking about MY generation, not yours. : )

But anyway, Eminem's success was rooted in his ability to think and talk quickly, and to reach into his amazingly broad (for a trailer trash kid) lexicography to find rhymes that nobody else would think of. He just saw lyrical connections that nobody else did.

This is just maudlin pap. But it's approved by our official cultural overlords.

The Crack Emcee said...

The power went out in my house, a few days ago, for 19 hours.

Sitting in the dark was FUN.

richlb said...

"it reminds me of that snl sketch was it 86, when it's suggested that simon and Garfunkel, sold their soul for success, and at the end, they are confronted by 'the sound of silence' on an elevator"

That was during that weird year where Robert Downey Jr was a cast member. I think he was in that skit, though I cant recall who he portrayed.

daskol said...

It is really hard to believe that the same person who created Lose Yourself and Cleaning Out My made this.

Really? Like Cleaning Out My Closet, there is deep insight into psychology and mental illness. His flow is not the same, and neither is his mood. A little preachy, but still Lovecraftian in its motifs and mood and deep familiarity with our dark places. Horror-core without the annoying noise.

richlb said...

Printers mark on campaign flyer equals "incitement". This? This is nothing.

daskol said...

He's still potent, and he's been creating and inhabiting characters like this since he got his start. See Stan.

daskol said...

This is an easily accessible, similarly dark one from his first record, with a tuneful bit from folk-pop singer Dido, which was his first "crossover" hit. Same character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOMhN-hfMtY

daskol said...

The dark recesses of his own mind, and our collective hive mind, has always been his milieu.

The Crack Emcee said...

His art has left him. He's now more interested in stringing together braids words and trying to make them coherent rather than making incoherent thoughts into nice braids of words.

Levi Starks said...

I’m going to give today’s Althouse blog the the tag
“You can’t handle the truth”

daskol said...

A much better song than the other two:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ9_TKayu9s

Jupiter said...

You know, I have never intentionally listened to a microsecond of M&M, and I'm not likely to start now, but isn't he some bullshit "white rapper"? God, the black ones are bad enough. What possible relevance does he have to any even occasionally serious person?

Temujin said...

All my cheap little thoughts have already been expressed here. I made it about a minute, and that was pushing it. No one is for handing out guns to people who have mental or emotional issues. However, I don't want to allow just anybody on the street to red flag me for my comments on a blog. Or because I went to a protest they did not agree with. Or voted for a person they did not agree with.

As for hip hop- I still don't get it. There's no tune to hang your hat onto. No one is going to be walking down the street in 10 years whistling an Eminem tune. But I don't begrudge it. It's just not something that catches me. That...and Mexican music. It amazes me that Brazilian music (latin jazz) is perhaps the best music in the world to my ears. Then moving up South and Central America, the music gets steadily worse until it goes over the cliff in Mexico. Great people. Great food. Horrible music.

Wait...did I just go off topic?

daskol said...

“You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese..."

Ah, the late 90s/early oughts.

Brian said...

I like the song. It's well produced. The backing melody with Hello Darkness my old friend is haunting. It's definitely Eminem. It's a controversial subject for sure.

I don't like the politics, but I get it.

It's funny in a way because until the last 30 seconds when the text calling for more gun regulations came on screen I saw the whole video as a problem of mental illness and self medicating.

madAsHell said...

....and speaking of the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock.

Has anyone ever understood his background story? His motivations? Why did the FBI become involved?

Oso Negro said...

@ madAsHell - Nope, nope, and nope. Plus, an incurious media.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Rap never appealed to me. Still doesn't. Do I need to apologize?

David Begley said...

Advertising tag line for Bride of Frankenstein.

Frankenstein is not the monster. Her husband is. A love story.

Iman said...

“Rap is crap.”

—- Gregg Allman

The Crack Emcee said...

Jupiter said...

"You know, I have never intentionally listened to a microsecond of M&M, and I'm not likely to start now, but isn't he some bullshit "white rapper"? God, the black ones are bad enough. What possible relevance does he have to any even occasionally serious person?"

I hate when you guys remind me 1) whites used to hold protests saying rap's "not music" 2) your ignorance can be so obvious, and you're not even a little ashamed, since he's a white guy and probably white's only claim to artistic fame in the coming century 3) rap is a TOTALLY AMERICAN ART FORM - like Jazz - yet you "patriotic" racists still can't get your heads out of your asses long enough to support it to maintain our country's creative dominance. I could go on.

Eminem held the top spots in music - overall - for almost a DECADE. He's made other artists look TINY by comparison.

Elvis isn't even as musically important as Em is anymore.

Definitely, none of you are.

The Crack Emcee said...

Temujin said...

"No one is going to be walking down the street in 10 years whistling an Elvis Presley/Beatles tune."

FIFY.

The Crack Emcee said...

Iman said...

“Rap is crap.”

—- Gregg Allman

That's why all the great Jazz men - who can play circles around Greg Allman - enjoy the Hell out of it.

The Crack Emcee said...

Quincy Jones: 'The Beatles were the worst musicians in the world'

Keep up the racism, you guys:

I'll make you ashamed you ever heard of music.

narciso said...

Much of modern version, is poison, like a toxic feedback loop, kanye is probably the exception.

narciso said...

Its true dave.

It was the good doctor that created the homunculus intentionally, have you read or scene frankemstein unbound.

Levi Starks said...

Crack,
I’m not sure why people even hang out on the Althouse blog if they’re so closed as to considering things outside their own preconceived norms.

Iman said...

I don’t know enough about rap or hip hop to opine. But I do like me some “White Lines” and “Bitch Betta Have My Money”...

WK said...

A Simon and Garfunkel reference for the second day in a row. Watched “Baby Driver” last night and had not realized it was also a Simon and Garfunkel song. It is interesting now many important and meaningful (at the time) songs/lyrics end up as product commercials 40 years later completely devoid of the original context.

rcocean said...

I tried to listen to it, but couldn't get through 2 minutes without skipping to the end. I think you need to be either half-drunk or stoned or doing something else - like exercising or driving to truly enjoy Rap.

Just sitting and trying to watch/listen to it - its too boring. The same beat, the rhyming words of a moron, expressing standard thoughts. And I hate S&G, those two effeminate poseurs.

Sorry.

rcocean said...

I have a hard time listening to Rock and Roll songs too. I have about 10 Beatles songs on my exercise MP3 player, and I find myself skipping to the next song after about 1 Minute.

Jupiter said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Iman said...

“ And I hate S&G, those two effeminate poseurs. ”

Too rough on Simon. But Garfunkel, yes. The guy went so far as to make a little mini-me out of his son. Who does that?!?!?!

The Crack Emcee said...

WK said...

"Watched “Baby Driver” last night and had not realized it was also a Simon and Garfunkel song."

I can't believe they made a movie around Carla Thomas' "B-A-B-Y" - the first song to ever catch my attention as a child.

From the day I heard that song - and I was still in the crib - I knew what I wanted to do with my life.

Wince said...

I am alone
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow
I am a rock
I am an island

I've built walls
A fortress deep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain

I am a rock
I am an island

Don't talk of love
But I've heard the words before
It's sleeping in my memory
I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died
If I never loved I never would have cried

I am a rock
I am an island

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me

I am a rock
I am an island

And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries

The Crack Emcee said...

Levi Starks said...

"Crack,
I’m not sure why people even hang out on the Althouse blog if they’re so closed as to considering things outside their own preconceived norms."

Big Thumbs Up, Levi.

The Crack Emcee said...

Jupiter said...

"Just for the record, Crack, I was living in NYC when Grandmaster Flash produced Close To The Edge, and I enjoyed listening to it. But ghetto scum braying their tattoo-covered hatred of a world they can't comprehend from the car next to me at the light is not the same thing. It should be legal to shoot those people. It should be mandatory. There should be a bounty, a reward."

I don't know why, but that cracked me up - carry on, Sailor.

Iman said...

And I just remembered... Del the Funky Homosapien cracks me up. That’s good stuff!

narciso said...

Yes thats one of my recent favorite films. Theres a strong tonal ship, when paul williams?? Entersthe picture.

Iman said...

https://youtu.be/9Bku7gXlkoo

The Crack Emcee said...

"Ghetto scum braying their tattoo-covered hatred of a world they can't comprehend"

Thats the Way its Gonna Be

Iman said...

Mistadobalina

wild chicken said...

mental illness and self medicating.


Mmm yeah, maybe if they didn't start out their lives on ritalin and ssri's. All downhill from there.

Anyway, I like rap, though I rarely know who I'm hearing and can only barely keep up with the words, like hearing French or Spanish a not quite getting it. Tho eminem is easy enough.

But I've heard some outstanding examples of the elements of poetry like internal rhyme that my poor senior English teacher tried to teach us..maybe some day this will be part of our canon, who knows.

Iman said...

I can't believe they made a movie around Carla Thomas' "B-A-B-Y"

THAT is a great song! And so’s “Walkin’ the Dog” by her daddy.

WK said...

I was staying at the Luxor and my company had a conference at the Mandalay Bay when the Vegas shooting occurred. Because I was there, I followed the coverage afterwards. I was never comfortable with the lack of background information on Paddock that came out of the investigation. Compared, for example, to the info on the Boston bombers, Sandy Hook shooter and others. Just seemed like “move along, nothing to see here”.

The Crack Emcee said...

Louis Armstrong taught us we can play anything as instruments - including words and the voice.

Delusions Of Grandeur have led Rock fans to doubt A) blacks not only invented this shit but that we even know what it is and where it's going, because THEY don't comprehend it, but B) we're still honing it, away from everyone's prying eyes, until - like BeBop before it - it's practically unrecognizable to the novices and casual listeners.

rcocean said...

"I’m not sure why people even hang out on the Althouse blog if they’re so closed as to considering things outside their own preconceived norms."

Translation: Anyone who doesn't like the crap I like is a closed-minded old fogey.
Sorry. Just because its "New" (isn't rap like 20-30 years old?) doesn't make it good.

Disco Fan in 1977: Why can't you closed minded old fogeys like Disco?
Big Band Fan in 1940: Why can't you closed minded old fogeys like Glenn Miller?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Compare and contrast.
I like both.
F U
&
This

That guy can sing.

narciso said...

Why so many shootings, its about programming a certain type of valueless behavior, like malware through programs designed to root out 'bullying' you note the last 10 incidents and you find a common pattern.

rcocean said...

Be-bop fans were telling everyone they were "old fogeys" back in 1947 for not liking it. And every Jazz variation that came after that, claimed to be the greatest new thing, and anyone who didn't like it was an old stick in the mud. Miles Davis was sneering at everyone who didn't like his Jazz-Rock fusion crap of the 1970s. It was crap -but it was NEW crap - so everyone had to like it.

narciso said...

There is such a thing as talent, and much of these offerings black or white are jusr devoid.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

WK - 10:34 - indeed.
The media were not at all interested in the Las Vegas shooter. Everyone has a story.

Mark O said...

Not music. It is only percussion.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Crack - that Louis Armstrong song is great. Thanks.

Iman said...

Great music is timeless and covers all genres.

Same holds true for the bad stuff.

The Crack Emcee said...

BleachBit-and-Hammers said...

"Compare and contrast."

Yeah, he cashed in, but by the time Cee-Lo got around to those he'd ran out of steam artistically - considerably.

Iman said...

And now that I’ve once again listened to Mistadobalina, it will take me days if not weeks, to get that song outta my melon...

Tank said...

That was pretty interesting. But I don’t know why anyone would watch that or listen to it more than once. To me, the only musical parts were the Simon and Garfunkel inserts.

As for the political message, it seems to make the point that mental illness is the real problem before turning into a hackneyed virtue signaling public relations commercial.

narciso said...

Getting back to mrashall, with his record, would he allowed to purchase, just going by a few years recollection.

Btw the black israelites were going for columbine type pyrotechnics, yawn

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Rap is rape without the “e”. I like it sometimes, if I’m in the mood.

narciso said...

What would really be creative would be a song about the need for responsible gun ownership, but that probably couldnt get made.

Masscon said...

I’m a bookkeepers son, I don’t want to hurt no one, well I crossed my old man up in Oregon, don’t take me alive. Done earlier done better by real musicians.

narciso said...

Or maybe it could be, but not coming from marshall.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Louis Armstrong could rap. Now that was good.

The Crack Emcee said...

rcocean said...

"Be-bop fans were telling everyone they were "old fogeys" back in 1947 for not liking it."

They were.

"And every Jazz variation that came after that, claimed to be the greatest new thing, and anyone who didn't like it was an old stick in the mud."

They were.

"Miles Davis was sneering at everyone who didn't like his Jazz-Rock fusion crap of the 1970s."

Miles sneered at everybody, period.

"It was crap -but it was NEW crap - so everyone had to like it."

Bullshit - it was the logical next-step in the evolution of this music - even Zappa heard that, coming at it from the other side.

If the general public can't keep up, that's their problem - not the music's.

The Crack Emcee said...

Iman said...

"Great music is timeless and covers all genres.

Same holds true for the bad stuff."

That's Louis Armstrong's Rule.

The Crack Emcee said...

narciso said...

"What would really be creative would be a song about the need for responsible gun ownership, but that probably couldnt get made."

Does this count?

The Crack Emcee said...

An example of Early Rap in traditional Jazz.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

hey Enima M, did Rachel Chandler hook you up?

Birkel said...

I found the song dull. It was more akin to a PSA to my mind. I like a lot of old school rap up to about the early 2000s but this was not quality. I much prefer the early 80s to late 90s for the genre.

That said, I do not buy the Vegas shooter official story. I suppose it could be an accurate telling. But I find it utterly too narrative-friendly. And the FBI has blown any goodwill it had. From Waco, to Ruby Ridge, to the Buddy Ranch, to an attempted coup against a sitting president -- The FBI has not been trustworthy.

P.S. I always think threats like the above from The Crack Emcee "I'll make you ashamed you ever heard of music." or Chuck's "...shove it up/down/into some bodily orifice..." are beyond juvenile. It's the fucking internet. People disagree.

traditionalguy said...

We older guys can hate Rap, but Rap remains powerful stuff. Rap is Power Proclamations made with bad background music. The power of proclaiming words out loud has a lasting effect on the zeitgeist around us. Meaning we will need to do more than hate it. We will need to make counter proclamations of the truth or we will have lost our culture by default.

The Crack Emcee said...

One more from the master.

Yancey Ward said...

I thought it would have been a braver choice for Eminem to be shooter himself, not another actor.

The Crack Emcee said...

Birkel said...

"It's the fucking internet. People disagree."

No, that "Rap's Not Music" bullshit is racism by another name. I'm almost 60 years old. I've lived through all the permutations of it, through blacks playing Rock, to Funk, Disco and beyond. It's just whites thinking there's "too many notes" (as the famous phrase from the movie "Amadeus" put it) and that's unAmerican, what's really juvenile, and should stop.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

"talking blues"

The Crack Emcee said...

traditionalguy said...

"Rap is Power Proclamations made with bad background music."

That's nonsense - rap is art.

narciso said...

No thats not the problem, its just lazy regurgitation of narrative, cheap rhythms and hack neyed messages like most everything else in media, im not that keen of reggaeton which is the latin counterpart.

The Crack Emcee said...

Y'all should be glad rap producers love all music.

Sound is wide-open now.

The Crack Emcee said...

narciso said...

"its just lazy regurgitation of narrative, cheap rhythms and hack neyed messages like most everything else in media, im not that keen of reggaeton which is the latin counterpart."

Bullshit. The internet offers us the chance to find any level of creativity, in any genre, if we're willing to put in the time to find it. I was looking for new Rock music last year and discovered The Hu - this year's (completely-unexpected) most-celebrated band.

You gotta be willing to go to art - it ain't coming to you.

traditionalguy said...

@Crack... OK, Rap is the art of power proclamations.

narciso said...

Theres nothing substandard in urban music today, thats what you're telling me?

The Crack Emcee said...

traditionalguy said...

"@Crack... OK, Rap is the art of power proclamations."

It has nothing to do with power-anything. It's like stand-up comedy: a man and a microphone - but, in this case, with an artist to back him. Here's a classic example:

Follow me into a solo, get in the flow
And you can picture like a photo
Music mix, mellow maintains to make
Melodies for emcees, motivates the breaks
I'm everlasting, I can go on for days and days
With rhyme displays that engrave deep as x-rays
I can take a phrase that's rarely heard
Flip it - now it's a daily word
I can get iller than 'Nam, I kill and bomb
But no alarm - Rakim'll remain calm
Self-esteem makes me super, superb and supreme
But for a microphone, still I fiend
This was a tape, I wasn't supposed to break
I was supposed to wait, but let's motivate
I want to see you keep following and swallowing
Taking and making, biting and borrowing
Brothers tried and others died to get the formula
But I'mma let you sweat, you still ain't warm, you a
Step away from frozen, stiff as if you're posing
Dig into my brain as the rhyme gets chosen
So follow me and while you're thinking you were first
Let's travel at magnificent speeds around the universe
What could you say as the Earth gets further and further away
Planets as small as balls of clay
Astray into the Milky Way, worlds out of sight
Far as the eye can see not even a satellite
Now stop and turn around and look
As you stare in the darkness, your knowledge is took
So keep staring, soon you suddenly see a star
You better follow it, 'cause it's the R
This is a lesson if you're guessing and if you're borrowing
Hurry hurry step right up and keep following the leader

The Crack Emcee said...

"I can get iller than 'Nam, I kill and bomb"

- Rakim

Taking over the world's culture.

alanc709 said...

I'll take a listen when it's on the rap oldies station.

Marc in Eugene said...

La Traviata at the Met is about to begin. I think I'll skip Eminem.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

White guy in a hoodie
Take away my woody
I don't pay no heed
to the rapper with the screed
I'm dancin' my own tune
Turn off the evening news

I got the
I got the
The social justice blues

Known Unknown said...

I was hoping this video would call attention to the completely dropped Vegas shooting storyline. There is so much to unpack in the Paddock story and yet we know so little. No wonder conspiracy theories run wild. Sadly, the same gun control refrain.

Marshall Mathers III may be a lot of things to a lot of people, but he's become a decent father over time, adopting 2 girls of which neither are his biological children but are members of his family (Hallie's cousin and the daughter of his ex-wife with another man)- providing them a stable home.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The News media only care about mass shootings when those shootings tell the story they want to tell.
All mass shootings are horrific. NO matter who and why. But we don't get to know about the shootings if those shooters don't fit the narrative.

Bill Peschel said...

Yeah, Known Unknown, there's a ton of stuff to unpack, and the lack of information about the Las Vegas shooter being a big piece of the puzzle. Reminds me of the Oklahoma City bombing and the sighting of a second man helping the bomber, but it's been awhile since I read about it. Maybe more info's come out.

Anyway, I sat through the video, and it's really clever, both the song and the images. it's the same kind of story MM has told before, like "Stan" and "Bonnie and Clyde," in which you're inside the mind of a mentally ill man. Reminds me of Poe's "Cask of Amontillado," where your empathizing with the narrator at the same time you're horrified by what he's doing.

There's some clever wordplay going on as well, with shots standing for drink and bullets, and scope for the rifle accessory and the mouthwash. You ever laugh at a joke and recoil at the same time? Like that.

There's also the duality he plays with in the opening half of the song. The lyrics can be read in two way: as the shooter preparing to commit his crime, and the rapper preparing to challenge his audience and his rivals and crush them.

But this is a propaganda video, and the art has to bend to that. It has to portray the killer as mentally ill, intoxicated, and not one of us. He has to be othered. He's a monster, and we have to register to vote and protect ourselves against the monsters (although what he has in mind is not specified.)

So MM is participating in a power grab. He's joined the Stasi and is a willing tool on their behalf.

Isn't it funny, all these people trying to crush us, the people who voted in a reformer? And they think they're the good guys, and they'll depict us in awful ways to make them feel better about themselves when they pull the trigger. Like the Las Vegas shooter.

The Crack Emcee said...

Marc said...

"La Traviata at the Met is about to begin. I think I'll skip Eminem."

When even Jessye Norman and others believed in this music your attempt at condescension to it is not only worthless but reveals you as too ignorant to really appreciate Opera, even, probably.

I picture fans of this music all over the world, I picture fans of this music all over the world, trying to appreciate other cultures, while you assholes build bricks in the wall, as Pink Floyd said.

You're sad, Man. Especially for people who claim to care for your country so damn much. We - Americans - did this. We took over the entire world culturally and all you do is scoff.

It's shameful.

narciso said...

in the soviet union, some artists silenced themselves, or spoke propaganda, because they were pressured, in this country, they betray willingly, this isn't the first time he's been a zampolit,

narciso said...

all we get is thought control, crack, this is why people have gone bezerk, because all sense of standards has been thrown out the window,

Jupiter said...

"A) blacks not only invented this shit but that we even know what it is and where it's going, because THEY don't comprehend it,"

Crack, that could be me talking. Except the first word would be "whites", and I'd be talking about Western Civilization. Eveahbuddy rayciss. Now you rayciss too!

ALP said...

I watched the entire thing. Say what you want about Eminem - he does a dark mood very well. Not a huge fan of rap since 2000 or so, preferring some of the instrumental offshoots inspired by it. But I do remember when Eminem first got popular - he wasn't a musician I "should" like - suburban white girl and all that. But I do like dark movies and story lines. For this reason I was quite taken with the dark in his voice and his lyrics from the start. If his music was a type of visual art it would be black india ink drawings with some gray wash - one of my favorite things.

RE: the choice of the S&G song "Silence". Using Ye Olde Wikipedia:

Garfunkel once summed up the song's meaning as "the inability of people to communicate with each other, not particularly internationally but especially emotionally, so what you see around you are people unable to love each other."

And not much has changed since the lyrics were written. I always thought the song was an anti-war song.

Thanks Ann - I enjoyed that bit of Eminem. The most confusing part for me was the dark hair - I still think of him as a bleached blonde.

narciso said...

that's interesting, I never got that vibe,

yes we need more depressing agitprop in this world,

Achilles said...

Eminem is a giant douchebag.

That was a compelling song. Some of what people see in music is relating to the music.

Some of you have lived very cossetted lives.

The last 30 seconds was stupid.

frenchy said...

madAsHell@9:47 said:
....and speaking of the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock.

Has anyone ever understood his background story? His motivations? Why did the FBI become involved?


The back story as far as is known is that Paddock's room was one among a whole floor reserved exclusively for use by the Saudi royal family, which caused the feds to descend and put an airtight lid on all that post haste, which obviously they effectively did.

And, not coincidentally, it was very soon after the event that Saudi Crown Prince Salman began hanging some of cousins upside down by their toes. So they say.

Jim at said...

A bunch of country music fans - most likely Republican voters - got gunned down and people are surprised the media wasn't much interested?

Freeman Hunt said...

Ha! It started and I thought, "Who is this dad-looking actor?" Then I realized it was Eminem. How strange to see a middle-aged Eminem. He looks like someone I'd see a picture of on Facebook because we went to the same high school. Meaning I am now middle-aged too.

Will Cate said...

When I reach the end of it I thought "Well... I've just watched a 6-minute gun control commercial."

Bill Peschel said...

Freeman said: " He looks like someone I'd see a picture of on Facebook because we went to the same high school. Meaning I am now middle-aged too."

Ha indeed. Three of my friends from high school got together, and one of them emailed me their photo. Grey hair, fleshed-out faces.

I freaked. I hadn't seen some of them in nearly 30 years. Where the hell did the time go?*

(* I know, I know. One second at a time. I expected this, but still, the shock ...)

Guildofcannonballs said...

I call Mathers "Tony Whistlefarts" and it makes me feel good.

LA_Bob said...

"...it can make for a muddied listening experience, even on his stronger works,"

Eminem has stronger works?

Especially when it comes to popular music, anyone who says, "OK, Boomer" to me pays me a compliment.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
narciso said...

ot, the prog pornography watchmen, will not be renewed, the film was almost impossible to sit through,

narciso said...


fighting the 'proper mindset'

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/01/17/laurence-fox-question-time-perfectly-captured-backlash-against/

Iman said...

I watched it for two minutes. My appreciation for rap/hip-hop is gated by how much humor will be found therein. And the beat.

The more serious-minded stuff, not so much. But I do remember an SNL appearance by what must’ve been NWA, who had some guys in green fatigues doing a slow Military formation dance during the song that was very creative as well as looking very cool.

Iman said...

Naw, it was Public Enemy

narciso said...

and before that public enemy in the late 80s, it's not necessarily about the message, but the diligence in crafting a lyric,

Birkel said...

The Crack Emcee,
You see racism everywhere. I'm sure that comforting to you.

Tastes and preferences vary. I don't like bodice rippers. That doesn't make me anti-woman.

Personally, I am a big fan of early rap. The newer commercialized rap is mainly garbage. That doesn't make me anything. Well, it probably made me a little hard of hearing when I was pumping DJ Magic Mike way too loud.

But you go on tilting at windmills. It's entertaining.

Big Mike said...

I could only take it for 1:15.

Better than I did.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Ray Stevens started Rap.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Suicidal Millionaires got nothin to live for. Reduced to a small burnt out cinder.

n.n said...

A double-edged scalpel, certainly. Knives, more so. Scalpels, more so. Also, the character (e.g. self-abortion, criminal, gang, government) of the perpetrators matters. #HateLovesAbortion

Big Mike said...

(Even gun rights proponents should and often do support keeping guns away from people who are mentally ill with a compulsion toward violence.)

The question is how to do that successfully and without endangering law-abiding citizens. Remember that Nikolas Cruz was twice evaluated by psychologists and deemed not to be a threat to himself or to others. Turns out he really was a threat to high school students in Parkland. Red flag laws are a step forward, but it’s easy to foresee a scenario where gangs such as MS-13 exploit the anonymity involved to have law enforcement remove a person’s firearms, then the gang breaks in, kills the homeowner and family, and steals everything of value not nailed down.

Not at all easy, Althouse.

Rabel said...

Dylan raps.

Briefly. He probably had his shirt off and was throwin' signs.

Birkel said...

BUMBLE BEE:
Blonde had the first #1 rap hit.
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/blondie/rapture

BUMBLE BEE said...

Song From the Bottom of A Well - Kevin Ayers 1971. "Whatever She Brings We Sing" EMI

BUMBLE BEE said...

Oh Here! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cClW0HcvfcA. Darker than M&M peanut.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Blondie has always been more interested in rap than is good for them.

You could make cases for Phil Harris or Lambert, Hendricks & Ross..

effinayright said...

At crack mc:

Let's boil your "argument" down, shall we?

"You don''t like my music?

RACISSSSS......!

Blow it out your ass.

narciso said...

'The question is moot'

cbuds said...

I'm pro-2nd Amendment. Wildly so. It's second because it's the most important after the first. With that preface:

Watched the video. Was disgusted for the first four minutes. Couldn't fathom why Eminem or his label or whoever was involved in the video could stoop so low. But I watched until the end, and it makes sense. It's intentionally provocative, and not just to drum up attention for Eminem. I don't agree with his politics but it was effective.

The Crack Emcee said...

wholelottasplainin' said...

"You don''t like my music?

RACISSSSS......!

Blow it out your ass."

You guys interpret everything that way - racistly - though I never said anything of the kind. I said I've lived to see every permutation whites have delivered, to signal their discomfort with new forms of music, and it always comes down to "_____________ is not music" even though that shit is blowing up the entire world without most white people's esteemed participation in it.

It's not like you guys try to hide it. Whites always want to make sure everyone else registers their discomfort.

Got it. You don't like rap.

It's still the biggest thing in the history of the fucking world and, if there's any justice - for the discomfort you always want to bring to others for simply finding some joy in art - they'll probably play it at your funerals.



Ann Althouse said...

Thanks to Crack for balancing the discussion here!

And thanks to all for talking.

stlcdr said...

Rap (with a capital C) isn’t my cup of tea, and this is a staple of that. Painful to listen to, just like all rap, like nails down a chalk board. However, I did sit through it. This is, at least, the best way for such artists to make their sociopolitical points, rather than making twitter statements or some such, as if their opinion is more valid than others.

The point I eventually got from it is that people can be truly fucked up in the head, and society isn’t doing anything to prevent such people who have the drive to do harm from getting weapons.

stlcdr said...

Oh, and the ending part I basically ignored - typical liberal mindset where they present a problem, but take an easy way out without addressing the real issue.

stlcdr said...

Blogger Big Mike said...
[AA] (Even gun rights proponents should and often do support keeping guns away from people who are mentally ill with a compulsion toward violence.)

The question is how to do that successfully and without endangering law-abiding citizens...

Not at all easy, Althouse.

1/18/20, 5:13 PM

Agreed, but it still needs to be done. By not facing the fact that people grow up with, or develop, mental deficiencies that ultimately result in such tragedies demonstrates how little society has progressed. I don’t have an answer, but I do know that taking an easy ‘do something’ approach still leaves these harmful people in society.

Rusty said...

Crack said,"You guys"
You're point being?

John Holland said...

Late for the show, but:

Crack Emcee @ 10:25

Thats the Way its Gonna Be

What a fine remix. And that footage from "Fort Apache the Bronx," what a great, under-rated movie.