The Fall of Eminem

[mecuryball]

Kinda Long But Interesting

Eminem is one of the most polarizing artists hip-hop has ever seen. I remember first finding out about him when The Slim Shady EP was making its way around the internet. I became an instant fan and loved his first three full length albums. Then he started to slide. It's a slide that's been constant, and, in my opinion, may have bottomed out with his most recent work, and the Super Bowl commercial for iced tea that turned him into nothing more than a caricature of himself.

Em was actually featured in two Super Bowl commercials. There was the one for Chrysler, which was also essentially an ad for Detroit, that was classic Eminem. He was reppin his hometown. I thought it was great. Then there was the one for Lipton's Brisk iced tea that featured a claymation Eminem ranting about how he didn't do commercials and was angry that Lipton wouldn't rename the tea after him. This, my friends, is rock bottom for Eminem.

I have no problem with rappers making money doing commercials. Common's Gap ad - fine. I'm sure he wears Gap clothing. The classic Sprite ad from the 90s with Pete Rock & CL Smooth - brilliant. They actually found a way to rep hip-hop in it. Eminem taking the character he used to use to subtly hide his messages, and stripping it of its meaning to sell iced tea? Sorry, but I'm not cool with that at all.

Some people would argue that he was just being funny, like he's always been, but his humor used to have a point to it. The people who argue that he was just funny have completely missed the point of his music. Yes, he had his one song on each of his first three albums that was made solely to appease the label and get radio airplay, but even those songs had a political and societal lilt to them. There's a reason "My Name Is" starts with the line "Hi kids, do you like violence." He's telling the world not just who he's addressing, but what he's addressing them with. He's saying if you aren't teaching your kids, there are a host of other people, people who may not have strong morals, that will. This is all wrapped around a humorous song to help the medicine go down, because if he said it straight up he'd be an annoying preachy rapper that no one would want to listen to.

Need another example of this? Listen to "My Fault" and really pay attention to the lyrics. Em managed to be humorous, at some points downright hilarious, while talking about an ex-heroin addict, who was sexually abused by her father, overdosing on mushrooms. Turning that situation into something humorous takes a lot of talent, and to say it's just a funny song is to miss the point of it entirely. The easy way to tell this kind of a story would be to make a depressing song, but Em didn't take the easy route. Now he is.

Eminem used to destroy pop culture. The great poetry of his most pop songs was that they were anti-pop culture. He made pop music that criticized pop music. It was really genius. Knowing he was getting played alongside the likes of Christina Aguilera what did he do? He tore her a new one in his music. He knew radio would play them in the same set of songs. Pure brilliance.

Unfortunately, Eminem has gone from ripping the pop world to working with it. A decade ago Eminem would have made an artist like Rihanna a punch line (no pun intended). Now he's getting her to sing the chorus on a song. The same goes for Pink. These are artists that should be subjects of Eminem songs, not part of the liner notes.

People, unfortunately, have reacted well to it. Em was nominated for album of the year at the Grammys. You just won't see me spinning it. At this point I think Marshall Mathers is alive and well, but Eminem is dead.

Getting back to Eminem's iced tea commercial (that phrase alone has to grate on you if you're an Eminem fan), I also have an issue with the anger displayed in it. Em used to be angry about society. He used to be angry about the way he had been treated growing up, both by his mother and his peers. He used to be angry at a world that relied on entertainers to raise their kids. Now he's angry about not having iced tea named after him? Really? I'm supposed to believe that the same Eminem that wrote "Just Don't Give a Fuck" suddenly gives a fuck about, of all things, his name being on an iced tea bottle?

Excuse makers will say he's grown out of that phase of his life. I have no problem with emcees growing. What I have a problem with is emcees selling their soul, and it really feels like Em has wiped himself clean of the essence of who he was in an effort to prolong his career. His botox infused face that's so line-free it's downright scary is yet another indication that the man who once ripped everything Hollywood related has become pure Hollywood.

I still hold out hope that Eminem can be resurrected. I view him in the same way I view Andre3000. Andre3000, in my opinion, has made some horrible missteps in his career - the terrible Prince wanna-be experiment, and meaningless "Hey Ya," being two of the worst offenders. That being said, verses like the ones he laid down on the remix to UNK's "Walk it Out," and the remix to Ke$ha's "Sleazy," prove that he's still one of the greatest emcees of all-time. I'm waiting for Eminem to have that kind of a moment. He came close with the "Airplanes" remix, but I'm still waiting to hear Eminem, the REAL Eminem. The Eminem I haven't heard since The Eminem Show. I'm hoping Marshall Mathers still has it in him to be that creative and witty, although I'm afraid we're more likely to see him battling an Old Navy mannequin over a pair of cargo shorts.

We can only imagine what the old Eminem would say about an artist making a move like that.

http://www.rapreviews.com/special/adamb-mar11.html

[5lim5hady]

All i have to say is that people grow and mature. I used to hate gays and lesbians but after working with them in a restaurant I hang out with them and I think they are wonderful people and I don't use the word "faggot" as loosely anymore. Doesn't mean I'm a hypocrite. It just means that I've matured. The change in his tone and his lyrics reflect his maturity. If he stuck to the same "gimmick" of raising controversy and talking shit just to make headlines then some could argue that that's all it ever was - a gimmick.

[Fa-Q]

I hate people that don't expect people to evolve. I don't act the same as I did in '99, neither does the author of this article and neither does Eminem. If the writer of this article really expects the gritty, poor, and angry Eminem to stay the same throughout his career and act the same way for 12 years, then he's insane. About the Lipton's Tea commercial, I applaud Eminem for making a buck outside of his music, God knows he has NOT done it through out his entire career. I bet every year they ask him to do the Superbowl halftime show, but he turns it down. And in his 12 year career span he's done a total of two commercials. Eminem is definitely the most hated and scrutinized artist since Michael Jackson. I'm sick of fans that don't stick it out through thick and thin. That stays with him through Touchdown and Peepshow until 25 To Life and Music Box. Fuck this author.

[Evan C.]

The writer makes some very good points and observations, but others, not so much. I really don't give a shit if Eminem does an Iced Tea commercial...I mean, the commercial sucked, but whatever.

Also, "botox infused face"...lol, what? Do people know what botox actually looks like in a person's face?







Eminem scowling is so out of character...he must have had botox injectionz yo...

[AnalKiddo]

Perfect for this thread

Bitch, Keep Talkin'
Keep on poppin off, flip them jaws because
We ain't stoppin'
We ain't got to prove shit to yall
So all yall can lick the balls and
Keep Walkin'!
Keep on poppin' that shit you poppin'
Cause we ain't stoppin' cause
You ain't stoppin' us!
We ain't got to prove shit to yall
So all yall can lick the balls and
Keep Walkin'!

[AnalKiddo]

Good article. The iced tea thing was just fucking weird. I have no idea why Eminem did it.

Strongly disagree with his praise of Airplanes. He needs to get his cranium checked.

Really?

I thought his Airplanes verse was one of the best collab verses of the year - It seemed a little simple to be honest but the songs theme goes so well with his past and the verse fit in perfectly, memorized that first the second it came out lol

[j04370859]

Good article. The iced tea thing was just fucking weird. I have no idea why Eminem did it.

Strongly disagree with his praise of Airplanes. He needs to get his cranium checked.

I think you need to get your cranium checked.

[Fa-Q]

Good article. The iced tea thing was just fucking weird. I have no idea why Eminem did it.

Strongly disagree with his praise of Airplanes. He needs to get his cranium checked.

I think you need to get your cranium checked.

I think you need to change your name

[Trimss]

Yeah right, he's 40 now. He was mocking old people who acted like they were gangsta in his past, like benzino. He can't be what he use to despise.
Eminem is a sellout, yeah right we all know it. some featurings and an ice tea ad just to catch the attention..

The old eminem is dead. Fuck yeah he's dead and i'm happy, picture eminem on pills now, he could make us a classic album and then make another Encore, or King Mathers (Goat? Ballin' uncontrollably? O rly?) and that would be the rock bottom of his career.
He had to catch the attention back, because it's Eminem. Everybody has high expectations when it comes to him, he can't make a "good" album. People want more from him, and that's what he's trying to do.

Just look at Relapse, it was a perfect album production, concept and lyrically wise. But his accent "ruined" (i did like it) everything. not for us stans, but for a lot of casual listeners. And those who hated relapse came back and liked recovery.

So that's the point of Recovery, he wanted to catch the attention back and say he didn't lose his serious and shit like that.

I kinda agree that the Brisk commercial wasn't useful but hey, the man does whatever he wants and he always did it. He wrote his own script for that ad! Y'all want em to act like he wants, and when he does it, people aren't happy. But I do agree, he did that for the money. (and to promote Slaughterhouse and Yela, but still.)

[TommiTMX]

I read that as:


*moaning about an advert pointlessly*...

same nonsensical rants about Eminem selling out because he used Pink and Rihanna on songs...seriously, just because you do a song with a pop artist people instantly assume you've sold out? I thought it was blatantly fucking obvious why he chose Rihanna for that damned song...

*more endless whining with attempts and justification of whining*

[katha]

Some good points in the article. The iced tea thing was awful, no doubt about it. I like most of Recovery, but some of it IS more commercial (I disagree on LTWYL, but that particular discussion has been going in circles forever, so I won't get into it again) and Not Afraid is embarassing.

But then I don't know if it isn't somewhat illusory to expect him to be like ten years ago. IMO that's just over. He's older, he's been rich for a decade, the drugs screwed up his abilities to a significant degree. He'll probably never have that sort of hunger and anger again.

I guess I just don't see things as so grim. He's capable of making good songs again, that's something. Yeah, the shouting and punch lines need to go, hopefully that shit won't dominate should he decide to do another album. But IMO when Encore came out it looked like he would never do anything decent again. It's not like that now.

[Sam.]

the only point in the whole thing that was worth is the mention of the fact that his collab with pop stars ,rest was

[Devil'sAdvocate]

Who Gives a flying fuck abt a dumb reporter.

[Sam.]

Who Gives a flying fuck abt a dumb reporter.

lol some of the points were valid son

[Guess_Who]

the only point in the whole thing that was worth is the mention of the fact that his collab with pop stars ,rest was

right, and not even this. I mean the fact that he use rihanna on a song doesn´t mean he is a sell out..

the rest of this article is ridiculous to me, maybe the ice tea thing was weird ,ok, but it was funny,I guess that´s why he did it..we can´t compare this to have his own perfume for example,like many artists do...

and "botox infused face"??? I´m tired of this..but anyway,In any close-up picture of him you can see some little wrinkles and definitely he can gesticulate..so where is the botox? take a look of any picture of nicole kidman to see how botox really looks..

he is 38 right now (not 40 btw) he can´t be the old eminem with dyed hair and full of pills.People grow.

everybody has high expectations when it comes to him,but I think he is doing really well..