1.1K opinions shared on Entertainment & Arts topic.
I go WAY back with Eminem. I’m the first person that I knew (do I “know” myself?🤔😝) who knew about him.
Credit for that goes to WERS 88.9 FM, the Emerson College student radio station, and the underground hip-hop show they had on during the 90s Monday through Thursday, 8-11 PM. I got put on to a lot of rappers through them that I never would have heard on mainstream radio.
It was the first place I heard Nas, or at least Nas off of Illmatic; I had unknowingly heard a verse of his on a song a year or two prior but didn’t take too much note of him, I was only like 13. El-P, then of Company Flow, now of Run The Jewels. BlackStar, aka Mos Def and Talib Kweli. Ya boy MC Solaar🇫🇷😎 Others you might be too young to know or they were never mainstream enough for you to know.
But anyway, Eminem: first time I heard him; I think it was over Christmas break from my freshman year of college, 1997. First song I heard was “I Just Don’t Give A Fuck”, which would be on his eventual Slim Shady LP. I was INSTANTLY a fan, from the first bars…
🎶Slim Shady
Braindead like Jim Brady
Reagan’s press secretary who got stray-shot in an assassination attempt
I’m a M-80 🧨
You little like that Kim lady
I’m buzzin’
Dirty Dozen
Naughty writin’ rhymer
Cursin’ at you players worse than Marty Schottenheimer 🎶
Former NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer 18 year old me was BLOWN AWAY
I had never heard anything even close to this before. The skill, the wordplay, the shock-inducing irreverence…. it was everything I had ever been looking for, at that point in my life, haha. Who rhymes anything with “Marty Schottenheimer?”
Shortly after that, I heard 3hree6ix5ive, with Old World Disorder, aka “the underground shit that you did with Skam” that’s referenced in the much more famous (and modern day slang-inspiring) “Stan” song. Em just had one verse on that one ( I didn’t even know he was called Eminem at that point, I’d keep missing the DJ announcing it or running down what they had recently played, so I thought he was just “Shady” at that point. I didn’t know he was white, either. I pictured him as a baldheaded Chris Tucker in my mind, just because of the “I just don’t give a fuck” line they had in common (and I think Em was directly referencing).
But yeah, the 3hree6ix5ive verse was NUTS. Again, bear in mind nothing like Eminem had ever been seen before, rap was just really starting to hit its stride in the mid-90s. I was used to people making single words rhyme, not entire sentence fragments, lmao.
You gettin’ spun backwards like every word of obscene cursin’
On the B-side of my first single with the clean version🎶
and….
🎶I’ll take it back before we knew each other’s name
Run up in the ultrasound and snatch you out your mother’s frame
I’ll take it further back than that, back to Lover’s Lane
To the night you was thought up, and cockblock your father’s game🎶
Again….
Stop it; Em. JUST STOP IT🔥🔥🔥
So I immediately put the Eminem hype train on the tracks. I eventually found out his actually rap name. It was hard to find anything by him in record stores, but one place had a cassette single with “I Just Don’t Give A Fuck” and the B-side was “Brain Damage”, another banger. With that, I could start playing him to other people.
Most people weren’t receptive. My own girlfriend and best friend laughed at him and made fun of his voice. The line in “IJDGAF” when he goes:
🎶I’m half animal, half man
Dumpin’ your dead body inside of a fuckin’ trash can
With more holes than an Afghan🎶
(🔥🔥🔥🔥 bar, my grandma used to knit me Afghan blankets, so that one really resonated with me🤣)
But my girlfriend and my buddy would just make fun of the tone of his voice and go “more holes than an Affff-ghaaaannnnn” to me, making their voices nasally😒😂
About a year later I was working at a supermarket, and this kid I worked with who was more into skater punk comes in with a Rolling Stone magazine showing me a picture of Em and Dr Dre dapping each other up in a studio, and an article about this rapper Dre had “discovered” and signed to Aftermath Records, because I had played the singles for him before and I probably couldn’t shut up about him😅. I felt so validated, lmfao.
So the following year, 1999, my phone starts ringing, and people (who had previously downplayed the singles I had played for them😒😒😒) are calling me asking me if I saw this new white rapper and his song “My Name Is” on MTV, and that I was going to love him…
🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
And look, I really like My Name Is, but some of his songs are a little silly, and this one is borderline. So coming from 3hree6ix5ive, I was like “Awesome, glad you’re on board, but this isn’t even close to his best stuff.” Honestly, many of his most popular songs aren’t his best work, in my opinion. All the “Without Me” or “The Real Slim Shady”…. I view those as mid as fuck, At least by Eminem standards.
First two albums were awesome. I bought the Marshall Mathers LP at midnight the day it dropped at a record store that stayed open late just for its release. That was really peak Eminem hype. And it didn’t disappoint. Eminem Show had some god stuff on there, but it signaled the beginning of a departure from the classic En I was used to. It was getting heavily produced, made-for-radio, and something about Em’s delivery was changing.
There are two Eminem voices to me: “drugged out, off the wall” Eminem, and what I call his “chainsaw voice”, the more angry and aggressive sounding Eminem. I MUCH prefer the former. 3hree6ix5ive is drugged out, off the wall Em.
So, I kind of fell of off him after like ‘02, ‘03. I moved on to Cam’ron and Dipset, haha. Different style but I liked the gangsta vibe. Em was old news to me, like 6 years at that point. I worked with a kid during all the Relapse-era stuff, and he played a few snippets for me, but I was just like “meh.” One thing with Eminem, I often don’t love his instrumentals he raps over. The lyrics are doing a lot of heavy lifting, I wouldn’t like the songs without him. Dipset, I loved their beats, even though none of them are as good as Em lyrically. Anyway…I just wasn’t feeling that mid-late 00s Eminem. I can’t even think of what it’s called, but I know some lady named Skylar Grey is the female vocalist…. i guess that’s a huge song of his but it’s not even part of his catalogue as far as I’m concerned.
Basically there’s underground Eminem through Eminem show, then a blank space until Rap God (🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥), and just lately I heard a couple songs with JID that were pretty impressive. He’s always “got it”, he might be the best ever, skill-wise. It’s just a matter of if the songs are catchy or corny.
I FINALLY saw him live in I think 2019. That was a real full-circle moment. And I was standing next to some recent high school graduates in the crowd, we got to talking, and I told them a lot of what I just told you, and how I was like 40 now, and I first heard him, before he was famous, when I was their age. And they seemed to appreciate that, so that was all really cool.
Thats a lot out of me, but hopefully you can appreciate the tale as a fellow fan, haha
Oh, one last thing: I used to play semipro football, and all the black dudes on the team decided my nickname was going to be Slim Shady from the first ten minutes of my first tryout. We won some championships, and we had rings made for one. There’s a space for your name on the ring, but I didn’t do Steve, or my last name…. I put “Shady” on there, because that’s how they all knew me😝
Definitely! “How I discovered Eminem before anyone else I knew” is one of my favorite stories to tell😝 FWIW, I was right about Drake too, to a lesser degree, as down bad as he might be right now🤣 He’s not like Em or even close, but just in terms of predicting a superstar, I was right on him too. I already knew him from DeGrassi, lmao, and I remember they had a “Meet The Actors” segment for Aubrey Graham. One of his hobbies was writing and rapping, and he performed a quick snippet, and I was like “OOF, don’t quit your day job, kid.” But then around 2010 I was just randomly searching the internet for underground music, and I heard Uptown and Ignant Shit off his mixtape and liked them, and remembered Aubrey Graham saying he called himself “Drake” on that DeGrassi piece. So I hyped him a little bit, to a few people, and they liked him. He blew up pretty quick after that though, I was going around for a year and a half, I just jumped it by like 6 months. And he ain’t Em, so I don’t brag on that as much, haha, but just sayin’, I have an ear for quality music😎
Not Alike was dope! Were those shots at Gunna and Juice WRLD? Heard a couple other shots fired too, haha. Love that he said he doesn’t do sneak disses and subliminal, haha
If I had discovered Eminem, I'd be bragging too 😂 but when I was old enough to understand Eminem , Eminem was already a big star , I was young when Eminem became extremely famous
Eminem should abandon the idea of producing his own sounds, it's a disaster. Only Dre can make him produce an album worthy of the name.
But yes, technique is crazy. Honestly, some people think Lamar is the goat. But for me, despite the respect I have for him, he's still a long way from Nas, 2pac and Eminem. The problem with today's generation is that they call any new superstar a goat.
2.7K opinions shared on Entertainment & Arts topic.
He sings about trauma and abuse and he almost caused his ex-wife to commit suicide with the horrible way he treated her. I do not have an interest in his music, his personality, or anything related to him.
Just like I refuse to listen to Ariana Grande because her ex-boyfriend committed suicide after she cheated on him.
Very talented song writer. One of the top rappers and worked hard to get his music out. Had a terrible childhood. A very kind hearted man and struggle a lot when you get. he made it. Happy for him. watch his movie 8 miles if you haven’t.
Eminem is undeniably a legendary figure in the world of hip-hop. 🎤 His lyrical prowess and ability to tell compelling stories are remarkable. From classics like "Lose Yourself" to recent hits, he continually pushes boundaries with his music. As a fan, you must appreciate his unique style and the way he addresses personal and societal issues through his songs.
Just a dumb thug, he was popular back in his day but people see though him and others like him now. The whole anti American, anti white bull shit was actually intended to hurt people and destroy our country. More and more people are waking up to that and seeing these people for what they really are now. He never had anything important to say, he just spread filth and degeneracy.
331 opinions shared on Entertainment & Arts topic.
O don't like Rap. But I will listen to Mm. I love his music and message. . and i also like a guy that. Mm produces his name is Tom McDonald' he is also really good
I like the beat the rhythm. And the sound, and he does have good messages. A lot of times..
I think what I really like in the messages is because with rap music, all other rappers are about killing people. Always something I can't understand why they want to promote something like that
I’ve heard a lot about Eminem, but I’m not really a big fan of rap music. I can appreciate his talent and impact, though! What kind of music do you usually listen to?
He spits good bars ig, no other opinions since not a fan. You do you though, don’t let me rain on your parade.
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0 Reply
Anonymous
(18-24)
9 mo
He's ok though he's like a 50 year old grandfather now so his target audience doesn't relate and fans are now in their 50s. Think about it a 50 year old white man rapping about hating his mom and ex wife.
608 opinions shared on Entertainment & Arts topic.
The are few voices I find more annoying. Michael Jackson as a kid or Getty Lee of Rush are also pretty annoying.
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Anonymous
(18-24)
9 mo
He’s a great musician but I’m not really a huge fan. I prefer pop and classic rock and some alternative.
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0 Reply
Anonymous
(45 Plus)
9 mo
😆😆😆 Eminem has been performing longer than you've been alive. It always makes me wonder how people are drawn to music that are not of thier generation.
Haha, I've been told that before. A lot of people think I'm going to listen to classical music 🤣
In reality I listen to all styles, classical music etc. except rock, and all its variants. With a few exceptions. But it's true that rap is the music I listen to the most. And therefore I couldn't miss Eminem.
I think all genres of music have their own value and have something to say.
I was trying to study music and the different genres all have their own value same basis elements just presented differently or with emphasis being put more in one thing or another.
For example rap and hip hop are strong on overt beat and rhythm but classical music has its own beat but it’s just more subtle.
I can enjoy different kinds of music in different moments.
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