![]() To paraphrase a review from Allmusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Eminem creates narratives with a very blurry line between reality and dark fantasy and he isn’t particularly interested in pointing out to you where the line between fantasy and reality is. Is it a fictional alter ego representing a darkly humorous, fun house mirror version of Eminem himself? Or is it simply another pseudonym for Marshall Mathers himself?I think the answer lies somewhere in between. ![]() Who is Slim Shady exactly? That’s an incredibly complicated question. But if there’s one thing that makes me most inclined to give him a pass, it’s Slim Shady. Furthermore, I think he’s grown from his early years and, while he still might let a homophobic slur slip out from time to time, I always get the impression that he doesn’t mean it. Part of this is because his early material is littered with warnings to not take him seriously. Eminem is one of the most notoriously offensive artists in all of music, but for reasons that may or may not be justified, I tend to give Eminem a pass on a lot of things, especially when it comes to his early work. People who read my reviews are, by now, used to see me calling out bands for problematic and offensive lyrics.There are also certain artists that I’m willing to give passes to, particularly early punk artists as they come from a very different time and because shock value was a staple of early punk.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |