WRITTEN BY ME LAST NIGHT:
(Was a simple freewrite, had no idea where I was going. If you wanna get down w/ me hit me up at this address jamie.shaleuly@yahoo.com-- I miss the old HITEMUP Tupacboard from 6 years ago)
The way rappers spit their verse depicts their view of themselves interacting with the world around them. At least that is the case with Eminem and Tupac especially, whose first person truth spewing is enough to make hundreds of thousands of people infinitely loyal and millions more hateful to the core.
The Tupac song “words to my firstborn” is case and point. Here, Tupac spits “we need more abortion” in a gloomy paranoid fashion. Here he displays not only a negative attitude, but more importantly a state of mind deeply lacking in hopefulness to the future. This hopeless attitude depicted very linguistically in his songs; is like a magnet that attracts others of similar orientation. On the other hand, it seems likely that this very mantra conjures up despise among the more priveledged and well adjusted who have been exposed to the music.
“I don’t give a fuck” is the attitude that Eminem milked to rap superstardom with the help of mega-producer Doctor Dre and MTV backing popularity never before seen in the technological age. What made this memorable from a marketing stance, was his crossover ability. “Half of my fans are black, just like half of your fans are white (referencing Dre)” he rapped in the song “White America.”
Make no mistake about it, Eminem borrowed his key element of style from Tupac Shakur. It is no secret that Em is a huge Pac fan, one that goes a lot further than simple admirer or fanboy. “White Pac ” he declares himself in the song “Soldier.”
This key element that transformed Em’s rap style just in the nick of time to sew up the rap game and make his music respected in the streets?
“I just don’t give a fuck.”
“I’m fucking crazy”
Like Tupac, Eminem now has a slew of fans that feel unique to be able to relate to his words. Like Pac, this has created a kind of vaccum of communication that is actually therepeutic to both the listener and perhaps the speaker as well. Eminem even made a song called “Stan” warning crazed fans of getting too detatched from their own lives as they dive into his emotional rhetoric. The very notion of the popular song lets on that Em is all too greatly aware of the enormous power and influence he has over a very secluded portion of youth america.
Isolated children who never found a comfortable and proper way to deal with broken homes, single parents, death, or just plain heartbreak. The rebel without a cause mantra is nothing new to America. Between Tupac and Eminem’s fans, though, you have cataclysm of both white and black fans that is as specific to the individuals as it is large in population.
The overall endgame to this line of dialogue, with hip-hop roots and especially nurtured by Pac and Em is unclear. It is yet to be known what kind of impact that this ongoing communication between the “hopeless” is going to have on events in the near future. Will it even be noteworthy? Will the historical record books look back at this conundrum as desperate human lives that were thrown away to child-hood angst and desperation? Is their enough stars in the night sky to allow for a real revolutionary social movement?
Most ambitiously, will those that despise the work of these artists and the people who take their words to heart, ever have a flash of compassion for these people they don’t get, if even for single moment. Will their ever be a shared moment of understanding between the downtrodden and well-to-do’s?
If Eminem or Tupac ever toyed with the notion, then contrary to their surface actions and words, there is a hint of a profoundly deep hopefullness and faith in the human condition after all.
Is it possible they care?
(Was a simple freewrite, had no idea where I was going. If you wanna get down w/ me hit me up at this address jamie.shaleuly@yahoo.com-- I miss the old HITEMUP Tupacboard from 6 years ago)
The way rappers spit their verse depicts their view of themselves interacting with the world around them. At least that is the case with Eminem and Tupac especially, whose first person truth spewing is enough to make hundreds of thousands of people infinitely loyal and millions more hateful to the core.
The Tupac song “words to my firstborn” is case and point. Here, Tupac spits “we need more abortion” in a gloomy paranoid fashion. Here he displays not only a negative attitude, but more importantly a state of mind deeply lacking in hopefulness to the future. This hopeless attitude depicted very linguistically in his songs; is like a magnet that attracts others of similar orientation. On the other hand, it seems likely that this very mantra conjures up despise among the more priveledged and well adjusted who have been exposed to the music.
“I don’t give a fuck” is the attitude that Eminem milked to rap superstardom with the help of mega-producer Doctor Dre and MTV backing popularity never before seen in the technological age. What made this memorable from a marketing stance, was his crossover ability. “Half of my fans are black, just like half of your fans are white (referencing Dre)” he rapped in the song “White America.”
Make no mistake about it, Eminem borrowed his key element of style from Tupac Shakur. It is no secret that Em is a huge Pac fan, one that goes a lot further than simple admirer or fanboy. “White Pac ” he declares himself in the song “Soldier.”
This key element that transformed Em’s rap style just in the nick of time to sew up the rap game and make his music respected in the streets?
“I just don’t give a fuck.”
“I’m fucking crazy”
Like Tupac, Eminem now has a slew of fans that feel unique to be able to relate to his words. Like Pac, this has created a kind of vaccum of communication that is actually therepeutic to both the listener and perhaps the speaker as well. Eminem even made a song called “Stan” warning crazed fans of getting too detatched from their own lives as they dive into his emotional rhetoric. The very notion of the popular song lets on that Em is all too greatly aware of the enormous power and influence he has over a very secluded portion of youth america.
Isolated children who never found a comfortable and proper way to deal with broken homes, single parents, death, or just plain heartbreak. The rebel without a cause mantra is nothing new to America. Between Tupac and Eminem’s fans, though, you have cataclysm of both white and black fans that is as specific to the individuals as it is large in population.
The overall endgame to this line of dialogue, with hip-hop roots and especially nurtured by Pac and Em is unclear. It is yet to be known what kind of impact that this ongoing communication between the “hopeless” is going to have on events in the near future. Will it even be noteworthy? Will the historical record books look back at this conundrum as desperate human lives that were thrown away to child-hood angst and desperation? Is their enough stars in the night sky to allow for a real revolutionary social movement?
Most ambitiously, will those that despise the work of these artists and the people who take their words to heart, ever have a flash of compassion for these people they don’t get, if even for single moment. Will their ever be a shared moment of understanding between the downtrodden and well-to-do’s?
If Eminem or Tupac ever toyed with the notion, then contrary to their surface actions and words, there is a hint of a profoundly deep hopefullness and faith in the human condition after all.
Is it possible they care?
