The 500 - #244 - The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #244
Album Title: The Marshall Mathers LP
Artist: Eminem
Genre: Horrorcore, Hardcore Hip Hop
Recorded: Six Studios: Los Angeles (4), New York (1) and Detroit (1)
Released: May, 2000
My age at release: 34
How familiar was I with it before this week: A couple songs

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #145, climbing 99 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Stan

Although recently updated, the Ontario Language Curriculum (2006), contained the following expectation in the Grade 7 writing section during the past 12 years.

"By the end of Grade 7, students will identify the topic, purpose and audience for more complex writing forms including a rap or jingle to express a personal view to the class."

As a suburban-raised, middle-class, life-long rocker, I was at a disadvantage. How could I teach students (in an effective and culturally respectful way) this important, contemporary lyrical art form? After all, it was one that developed almost exclusively in under-advantaged, urban communities predominantly populated by African and Caribbean Americans. I was out of my element.

Rapping gained in popularity in the late 70s early 80s.

I pride myself on being a "life-long learner" and began my research in earnest when I returned to a Grade 7 classroom in 2019 -- after a decade-long absence. Three resources were particularly valuable.

• The Juno award winning Canadian music documentary series, Hip-Hop Evolution (2016).
• Nas Teaches Hip-Hop Storytelling, which was part of the Masterclass series to which my wife and I subscribed for two years.
• The Vox Media video Rapping Deconstructive: The Best Rappers of All Time which is available here on YouTube.
  

  

  Hip-Hop Evolution (top) and
  Nas Teaches Hip Hop Storytelling. 

A rudimentary background in music theory helped me understand the importance of "beats" and "bars" when writing a rap. Most rap songs, like most pop and rock songs, are written with four beats in each bar. The rapper or M.C. (mike controller), would then deliver the necessary words or syllables between those bars to create a rap that had rhythmic flow.

Two simple bars, with four beats in each bar.

One of the earliest raps to gain mainstream popularity was The Breaks by Kurtis Blow. Simplistic by today's standards, the beat is punctuated by nouns and verbs and each verse uses only "end rhyme", following a basic AABB pattern. The song relates a straightforward story about dealing with life's ups and downs.

car/star and lose/shoes AABB rhyming pattern in The Breaks.

Fast forward to 1986 and raps have become more complex. The duo Eric B. and Rakim release Paid In Full (#228 on The 500) and their songs feature numerous, multi-syllabic rhymes occurring at both the end and within phrases (end rhymes and internal rhymes).

Eric B and Rakim, Paid In Full album cover.

Additionally, the duo are among the first to begin "crossing the bar line". As you see in the example below, the clever, self-referential lyric, "The party is live, this rhyme can't be kept in/side", does not end with the bar, but "crosses over" to the next bar; a technique that improves the presentation and flow of the rap.

Example of "crossing the bar line" in Eric B Is President (1986)

Hip-hop and rapping continued to evolve over the next two decades. Other rappers on this list, including The Notorious B.I.G (#476) and OutKast (#500 and #361), have been recognized for their extraordinary ability to write rhythmically dense lyrics with complex multi-syllabic rhymes (both long and short) that can simultaneously surprise, challenge and satisfy a listener. See the example below from Hypnotize, by Notorious B.I.G., often considered one of the smoothest rap pieces in the genre and a game-changer in 1997.

Hypnotize rhymes and bar lines.

Which brings me to Eminem. Born Marshall Mathers and raised in Warren, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit), he has two records on The 500 list – The Slim Shady LP at #275 and this week's album, The Marshall Mathers LP, which lands at position #244. Eminem is considered one of the greatest rappers and, as a white entertainer, is credited with popularizing hip-hop in middle America. He tops the list as best-selling hip-hop artist of all time, with sales exceeding $220 million.

Eminem (Marshall Mathers) in 2001

I wrote about his sophomore album, The Slim Shady LP, in March, 2023. In that post, I discussed the controversy, and my discomfort, with his earliest style, a “sub-genre” of hip-hop called horrorcore or hardcore rap. On that record, Eminem embodies his alter-ego, Slim Shady, in order to vent about the injustices and problems the, then unknown, rapper had with the world. 

Eminem - 2000

The follow-up record, The Marshall Mathers LP, continues this theme of anger. This time, the singer rants about the challenges of fame, criticism of his music and his estrangement from his family and wife. Once again, the lyrics are vulgar, violent, misogynistic and homophobic. The lyrics were so offensive that they were criticized at a U.S. Senate hearing and the Canadian government briefly considered refusing Eminem entry into the country. Despite all of this, he received praise from many music critics who lauded the record's emotional depth and his lyrical ability. Journalist Estelle Caswell summarized his talent by saying:  "Eminem doesn't just pack in tremendously dense, multi-syllable rhymes, he is also able to tell a vivid story with them and, for many, that wins the day." This is something that Philadelphia-based music historian, teacher and writer Martin Connor called "Cinematic Rap".

Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Biggie Smalls - masters of Cinematic Rap.

The success of the record set the stage for the 2002 release of the semi-autobiographical film 8 Mile which starred Eminem as a fictional version of himself –a young, white rapper trying to break into the world of hip-hop in a predominantly black community in Detroit.

The soundtrack from the movie sold 10 million copies and the lead single, Lose Yourself, became Eminem's biggest hit. Connor, who wrote the book, The Artistry Of Rap Music, has annotated the words and syllables in the song with colour coding to illustrate the complexity of its dense and clever lyrical structure. See an example of Verse 1 below.

In 2002, Lose Yourself became the first rap song to win an Academy Award. It also marked a change in Eminem's lyrics and approach to hip-hop. Upon turning 30, he moved away from the horrorcore and hardcore approach to hip-hop that made him famous. His work became more self-reflective and even political.

Eminem at 50, 2023.

Although he is a bit of a dinosaur in the world of contemporary hip-hop, Eminem remains a legend. I'll admit, I have a tough time coping with the cleverness of his lyrics when they are so vile and offensive -- even if it's satire, even if it was a long time ago and even if he has apologized.

In an effort to rebrand himself, Eminem performed at the 2001 Grammy Awards with openly gay superstar Elton John. John, who has been sober since 1990, became Eminem's good friend and eventual sponsor in 2009, helping the rapper to get clean from drugs and alcohol.

I will admit, Lose Yourself (the clean version) is a terrific way to illustrate to students the complex possibilities that are available with rap writing. Over the past few years, my "life-long approach to learning" has paid off and my hip-hop unit is engaging, culturally respectful and effective. I have started presenting it in conjunction with Black History Month. Indeed, my Grade 7 students have penned some magnificent raps about Martin Luther King, Mary Ann Shadd Cary and Viola Desmond. Here are two samples from my former students Arshiaa and Anviksha.

Arshiaa

Anviksha

The 500 - #275 = The Slim Shady LP - Eminem

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #275

Album Title: The Slim Shady LP

Artist: Eminem

Genre: Hip Hop, Horrorcore

Recorded: Studio 8, Ferndale, Michigan

Released: February, 1999

My age at release: 33

How familiar was I with it before this week: A little

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #352 (dropping 77 places since 2012)

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Brain Damage

In my last post, I wrote about my first year of full-time employment as a teacher. I had been hired as a music educator for Grade 4 - 8 students. To connect with my young charges, I would play music as each class entered or exited my music room. Posters of musicians from different eras plastered the walls diverse genres (Mozart, Miles Davis, Pink Floyd, Dave Matthews Band and Run DMC, to name a few).

The Miles Davis Poster I had in the music room

Additionally, I invited students to bring in compact discs to be played during the next period. Many of them came from challenging socio-economic situations and others were "street-smart" beyond their years. This was 2000, just as Eminem exploded into popular hip-hop culture with the release of his second studio album, The Slim Shady LP. Among the different grade cohorts were fans of the hip-hop and rap genre, and some even sported Eminem's closely-cropped "Caesar haircut".

Eminem (Marshall Mathers)

As you might have guessed, it wasn't long before a student produced a compact disc copy of Eminem's album and asked if we could play it in class.

"It's got a couple bad words though." he said in earnest.

"Let me give it a listen tonight," I replied.

If you are familiar with The Slim Shady LP, you already know where this story is going.  If you don't, check out  the lyrics to the first two tracks – My Name Is or Guilty Conscience – for a dose of anger, violence and misogyny. However, neither prepares you for the song '97 Bonnie & Clyde -- a fantasy scenario, complete with sound effects, where Eminem disposes of the corpse of his ex-wife, Kim Mathers, in a lake while their infant daughter is strapped into the car seat. He speaks as one might talk to a toddler:

Needless to say, I was aghast. However, I reminded myself that "every generation is shocked by the music of the next". 

After all, my mom wouldn't let me purchase KISS or Meat Loaf records because of the album covers, and I distinctly remember how horrified my grandfather was when the Sex Pistols and punk rock hit the scene while I was visiting England in 1977.

Article on Sex Pistols in U.K.'s Daily Mirror

Still, I determined this wasn't going to be played in music class and I returned the CD the next day with a few cautionary words.

"It's not the swear words," I said. "It's more the violence toward women that concerns me."

"He's just kidding about that, he doesn't mean it," came the reply.

I have since learned that this student wasn't entirely wrong with his assessment. The "Slim Shady character" is an alter-ego that represents Eminem's hyper-masculine, dark, troubled and evil side. The character is used within the confines of a sub-genre of hip-hop called “horrorcore”, which intentionally leverages dark, violent and transgressive lyrical content to court controversy. It is to music what slasher-flicks are to film and, much like the aggressive, over-the-top violence in Friday The 13th or Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It is not meant to be taken seriously.

A collection of horrorcore hip-hop artists including Eminem (top left)

There is good reason that Eminem, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, has a dark, troubled persona lurking within him. Like many students I have worked with over the years, his early life was shaped by abandonment, poverty, physical and mental abuse, as well as frequent housing insecurity.

Born in 1972 in St. Joseph, Missouri, to Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. and Deborah Rae "Debbie" Nelson, Eminem’s father, soon abandoned the family in order to return to California and his other two children. Debbie, shuttled her son between Missouri and Detroit, Michigan, trailer parks and low-income homes for most of his childhood. Among the places they lived was the Continental Mobile Village near 8 Mile Road in Warren, Michigan -- the setting for his 2002 semi-autobiographical film.

Growing up in predominantly black communities he was treated as an outsider and badly bullied including an assault in elementary school that hospitalized him. He recounts the events in the song Brain Damage from The Slim Shady LP.

Social service investigators were regularly involved in his unstable and traumatic life, with one social worker describing his mother, Debbie, as having addiction issues and a "suspicious, almost paranoid personality". In his song, Cleaning Out My Closet, Eminem reveals that his mother put prescription medications in his food to make him feel ill, ostensibly to keep him home where she could protect him. Often dubbed Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy -- this condition is a mental illness and form of child abuse where a care-giver causes symptoms that make a child feel unwell, often to isolate the victim from the outside world.

As Oscar Wilde famously said: "There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and this is not being talked about." The polarizing Eminem has certainly been talked about over his 25-year career. He is loved and loathed by many.

Eminem has courted controversy for decades while simultaneously rising to fame as one of the greatest rappers of all-time. Sometimes dubbed "The King Of Hip-Hop", he is the best-selling solo-rapper ever. His 2002 record, The Marshall Mathers LP (#244 on The 500) sold 11 million copies in the U.S. alone.

I'm at a bit of a crossroads here.

• My exploration into the world of hip-hop has led me to recognize that Eminem is a gifted wordsmith who deeply understands the interplay between beats and bars. I intend to explore his clever use of multi-syllabic, internal rhyme in a future blog.
• I also understand that, like a blood-soaked gun battle in a Tarantino film, his horrorcore lyrics are not to be taken seriously.
• I also know he suffered mightily in his childhood, which led to addiction issues and mental health struggles, exacerbated by an autism diagnosis that was missed until adulthood..

However, I continue to think back to that 12-year-old in my Grade 8 music class who first brought me The Slim Shady LP. He was a bright chap and, clearly, he could separate the messages on this record from reality. Is that the case for the millions of young boys, with their Caesar haircuts, who worshipped and emulated either Eminem or the Slim Shady character who has...

• Elevated verbal abuse and degradation, particularly of women, to an art form?
• Amplified and glorified the image of a hyper-masculine male, who casually drops homophobic slurs, while perpetuating the notion that women are attracted to insensitive men who do not respect them?
• Portrayed a semi-fictional version of themselves as a sympathetic underdog who rebelled against impossible odds? One who not only should be forgiven, but lionized for offensive and warped utterances?

Which takes me back to the same spot I was at when I first listened to this record in 2000. With one exception (I’ve put a track on my Spotify 500 Playlist) I've heard enough to know I’m not going to play it anymore.

This week I talked to several twenty and thirty-somethings who reported that they liked or even loved this record – some admitting they memorized every word while in elementary school.

I thought back to my teenage fascination with Black Sabbath, Dio or the aforementioned Sex Pistols. The music did not make me a satanist or an anarchist. I too understood that "they didn't mean it". So, in the words of The Who: “The Kids Are All Right”.

As my friend’s 30-year-old son put it: “I don’t listen to the Slim Shady LP often, although revisiting it is a guilty pleasure – his later material is far superior, after he got off the drugs”.

We’ll find out soon enough, I get to The Marshall Mathers album in 30 weeks.