This was at the request of Emadyville though as explained, which I only repeat to emphasize - this wasn't some self-indulgent thing I went out and hounded for. But I thought it could at least provoke some more interesting discussion on events, in a more condensed manner.
Also, I use the term 'any significant Eminem-related news' somewhat loosely as, I'm not going to literally scour to find every story which made a headline. If it's obvious the story is just a publicity ploy for a trashy controversy hungry network or something which isn't too interesting to discuss anyway then I'm probably not going to write about it. But, it depends on the news.
So, this past week of news, that being Nov 28th to now: things have been a bit scarce. There was literally only a few noteworthy news bits of any kind...
Eminem Leads the Grammy Nominations - 10 in Total
Okay so this was the only truly significant Eminem news this week and it's decent enough to have a bit of a discussion on. Em actually garnered as many nominations as some people have or could wish for in an entire career... in a single year.
If nothing else, it's impressive. And it either speaks volumes for his talent or volumes for the dedication of the Grammy's in keeping their lips planted permanently on Shady's butt-cheeks. I think a little bit of both is probably the case.
Though, even if the Grammy's are sometimes a little blindsided and bias in their love for certain artists, in Em's case I think it's nearly always justified when you look at his content and execution. He may create often hugely commercially successful music but his artistic merit is second to none.
Here are the actual categories Em is nominated in...
1. Record of the Year - LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE FT. RIHANNA
2. Album of the Year - RECOVERY
3. Song of the Year - LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE
4. Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals - AIRPLANES, PART II
5. Best Solo Rap Performance - NOT AFRAID
6. Best Rap/Sung Collaboration - LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE
7. Best Rap Song - LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE / NOT AFRAID
8. Best Rap Album - RECOVERY
9. Best Short Form Music Video - LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE
Now, I haven't listed every single person involved with the creation of songs like the official nominations do as I don't think that's necessary for discussion. You can go check all that out if you're actually interested. Plus I'm kind of obsessive, and the listing going straight down with no gaps between created by too many lines is what I want. Looks neater!
So, he's actually up for ten Grammy's, in nine different categories.
One of particular note is of course the Album of the Year Grammy. Being that Em has never won this award and only two other hip-hop albums in history (Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill) have. So him winning it would be significant not only for his career but also for the career of hip-hop, so to speak.
What's very annoying about it though is the fact that none of his first three albums won it and any one of them is infinitely more deserving of the award than is Recovery. I'm thinking strongly of The Marshall Mathers LP when I say that...
I actually consider The Eminem Show a more consistent and better album overall; lyrically, musically and structurally. It's just a better piece of work.
But artistically, The Marshall Mathers LP remains his most powerful, important and noteworthy creation and towers above anything in hip-hop history. And it's by far the most deserving of an Album of the Year Grammy. The Marshall Mathers LP, is a masterpiece.
Now when I call it a masterpiece, I'm not calling it perfect. To me, a masterpiece is a piece of work / art that succeeds in areas so extreme, daring and expansive to such effect that any minor imperfections or faults instantly dissolve in the memory. Its achievement of existing alone is powerful enough to make it undeniable in a field's history.
It's nothing short of reactionary genius. And, think way back to 2000 - Can you honestly say any album that year was a bigger talking point? can you say any album that year provoked more thought? I doubt it. In fact, can you say any album in HISTORY created more... controversy lets say.
With that album, he was demonized as if he was a fucking serial killer. As if was the single biggest hand tearing apart the most valued and sacred elements of society as we knew it, it was unreal. And it was of course, nothing short of misunderstanding of art (from morons) and political scapegoating to the nth fucking degree. But the reason it's worth so much is the fact he actually wasn't any of the things he was being accused of and anybody 'in on the joke' knew that and laughed along. He created that reaction, through his reaction. And his reaction, was that album.
Now, I'm not sure what aspects the Grammy's take into account for Album of the Year but The Marshall Mathers LP dominated on EVERY front that year. So if you ask me, they got it totally wrong and he was totally robbed of that award in the year 2000. It sold 1.79 million in a week and became the world's water-cooler, coffee-table, pub and every other group collective's discussion point at that time. It flipped the world upside down, and it was just music...
I say it's his most important for many reasons, one of those being the fact he pushed free-speech to the limit and that album in itself was a huge public statement of free-speech. Many people don't realize how important an artist he is, and much of it is upshot. But he's done so fucking much for free-speech it's never worth stressing enough. And he doesn't get nearly enough, in fact barely any credit for it.
So, he may win Album of the Year, for Recovery. Which is all well and good. But, as a fan of Eminem and as a fan of good art appreciation - Recovery probably doesn't deserve it. But The Marshall Mathers LP couldn't of deserved it more.
If I'm not mistaken (and I rarely am
) - the actual ceremony takes place in the actual month of February of the actual year 2011. Sorry, got a little 50 Cent there. Though, that apology is in complete jest and parody as I purposely did it anyway... Which you obviously already knew. Which basically defeats the point of doing it, or explaining it. Okay now I'm confused, I need cake.
Charles Hamilton Freestyle Surfaces - Including Some Eminem DIss Lines
So in-case you didn't get a chance to hear it, here it is...
Click me, I'm the link (honest)
Now you may or may not be aware of who Charles Hamilton even is. If you're a part of the always nameless, faceless majority labelled 'most people', you're probably... unaware.
Charles Hamilton is an Internet bound rapper who, raps. He first surfaced a number of years ago when he put out approximately 50,000 mixtapes in a week, all relating to weed and his life philosophy involving Sonic the Hedgehog or something.
I think we can clearly see one of those has influenced the other. I'll leave you to decide which.
I am actually a fan of C. Hamilton in all seriousness though. I've only heard a few of his mixtapes, my favourite being The Pink Lavalamp which I believe is actually intended to be a proper album. That was only released digitally due to his lack of sign-age.
Really though, for anybody unfamiliar with him - You should check out the aforementioned album / mixtape / collection of Hamilton-isms laid bare to recording and see what you think. His sound, on that at least - is pretty well-rounded and unique, and he shows promise.
Anybody who is familiar with him will know that he's actually a huge Eminem fan, to the point of openly implying himself to be a Stan. Going as far as writing gigantic letters about / to Em, I forget - He's pretty long-winded and all over the place, often being called Bi-Polar which, is probably true. I empathize with him though and can see a lot of his issues like I'm looking in a mirror, you may notice I also write a book's worth of words in response to things and often appear to be very emotionally enraged at the flick of a switch.
Or not, I mean it's not that noticeable is it (COUGH).
So, given the context of his diss - the fact it's because Eminem wouldn't collaborate with him and due to him being an openly huge Eminem fan, it pretty much just makes the diss worthless in sting and embarrassing. And there's no way he can disguise it or make it be anything other than a bitchy annoyance of his hero not responding...
Okay so that's this week's round-up. Sounds a bit lame saying 'this week's round-up' not only in the context of me being some fucking reporter or something but also the fact there's only actually two items in this 'round-up'.
Can you imagine that on a real news programme?
"Okay so this week, this happened and so did this... Okay thanks, bye".
Who the fuck cares anyway, take what you're given. Tune the fuck in next week
PS. My Grammy predictions are that he'll win 6 out of 10, those being...
1. Record of the Year for "Love the Way You Lie"
2. Album of the Year for Recovery
3. Best Solo Rap Performance for "Not Afraid"
4. Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Love the Way You Lie"
5. Best Rap Song for "Love the Way You Lie"
6. Best Rap Album for Recovery
Although, I think the idea of him winning for Best Rap Album and Album of the Year may not happen. Even though logically you would think they compliment each other, part of me thinks the Grammy's also cloud their judgement by people's perceptions and wouldn't want to look bias... So to look fair would only have him win in one of those categories.
More likely for Album of the Year due to the fact they perceive Recovery as a huge comeback album (even though Relapse was), I get the feeling it'll win for that. And BP3 for Best Rap Album. Also, predications are spurious but, it seems to be developing as a small inner-discussion so thought I'd add mine in. Well, edit them in, so they can be seen first muhahahah.
I can't wait for next week's.
