A modern day Kaufman??

Ok, not really...but there are some similarities...but we will get to that.

Generally I stay away from music reviews...because music is a very personal thing. This may sound melodramatic, but the music you listen to defines a lot of your personality. So there is no one way to review music in my opinion. People define lyrics as they want to, they pull significance from words that would otherwise mean nothing to another person.

However this review I have to write, its on Eminem’s third album obviously. Or at least I would like to hope that it was obvious. So...anyway. This review was actually spurred by a show I watched on MTV a few nights ago it was called “When Lyrics Attack” The show revolved around Eminem and his less than PC lyrics. Perhaps the most frustrating thing to me is if I had never listened to his album the show would have made a lot of sense

Eminem’s work is Satirical

Main Entry: sa·tir·ic
Pronunciation: s&-'tir-ik
Variant(s): or sa·tir·i·cal /-i-k&l/
Function: adjective
Date: 1509
1 : of, relating to, or constituting satire <satiric writers>
2 : manifesting or given to satire
synonym see Sarcastic
- sa·tir·i·cal·ly /-i-k(&-)lE/ adverb

Main Entry: sat·ire
Pronunciation: 'sa-"tIr
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin satura, satira, perhaps from (lanx) satura dish of mixed ingredients, from feminine of satur well-fed; akin to Latin satis enough.
Date: 1501
1 : a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn
2 : trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly
synonym see Wit

Related Words bantering, chaffing; caustic, ironic; mocking, ridiculing; parodying, spoofing; farcical; Rabelaisian

His work is Ironic (and not in the Alanis Morrissette way)...

Main Entry: iron·ic
Pronunciation: "I-'rä-nik also i-'rä-
Variant(s): or iron·i·cal /-ni-k&l/
Function: adjective
Date: 1576
1 : relating to, containing, or constituting irony
2 : given to irony
synonym see "dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=sarcastic"
- iron·i·cal·ness /-ni-k&l-n&s/ noun

Main Entry: iro·ny
Pronunciation: 'I-r&-nE also 'I(-&)r-nE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -nies
Etymology: Latin ironia, from Greek eirOnia, from eirOn dissembler
Date: 1502
1 : a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning -- called also Socratic irony
2 a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning b : a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony c : an ironic expression or utterance
3 a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity b : incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play -- called also dramatic irony, tragic irony
synonym see Wit

Related Words biting, cutting, incisive, trenchant; caustic, mordant, scathing


It might seem a bit to define the words...but it seems to me some people need it. He is brilliant in the sense that he has his listeners perpetually wondering if what he is saying is truth or not. Andy Kaufman became loved and hated for pulling many of the same antics. Andy spent much of his time inter-gender wrestling, which lead to an uproar among women who took him all to seriously. Eminem has women in an uproar because of lyrics like My life's like, kinda what my wife's like (what?) F***ed up after I beat her f***ing ass every night (Ike)

Sure Eminem is a sure more crude, but the times have changed too. Most of society is a bit more crude. But either way when you watched Kaufman your first thought had to be “Is he for real?” and the same goes for Marshall Mathers you listen to his music and have to think “Is he for real?”

Is he for real???

That is the number one thing on my mind when I first listened to him. I actually got a lot of grief from friends after I bought the new CD, added to the grief was the fact that I owned other ones. I hang out with the holier-than-now...no-one-understands-the-depths- that-is-me...I-need-my-espresso type artists. Okay not all rolled up into one person of course...Jack is holier than now, no one understands the depths that is Jason (I don't know if I do :-) and Meg...well...lets just say Meg isn’t Meg without her coffee. So needless to say these aren’t the people who advocate Eminem...but I go against the grain, so I bought the CD. And I loved it. I still do.

Public Service Announcement
This is the opening track and sets the mood for the entire album...and in a humorous way.

Kill You
This is one of his violent tracks...oh wait they are all pretty much violent...Opps. Oh well. The song revolves around his lack of need for woman and his want to kill them.

And just to disturb you:
Put your hands down, b***h, I ain't gonna shoot you
I'm gonna pull YOU to this bullet and put it thru you!

Just incase you need to feel warm and fuzzy inside:
I'm just playin', ladies. You know I love you

Stan
This is one of the most moving tracks on the entire albums, it is a fan gone bad, you know the type...the ones who take everything all too seriously. The song is a course of three letters from a fan each one more and more violent. The last letter from the fan, is a tape of him recording his own death. Obviously the tape never reaches Eminem...and all too late in the last verse you hear Eminem writing his response to the fan, the response is a letter telling the fan to chill out before something bad happens.

Creepy:
(Last letter from the fan that never reached Em.)
Hey Slim, that's my girlfriend screaming in the trunk.
But I didn't slit her throat, I just tied her up, see I ain't like you.
'Cause if she suffocates, she'll suffer more, and then she'll die too.
Well, gotta go, I'm almost at the bridge now.

Even Creepier:
(Letter from Eminem to the Fan unaware of anything that has gone down)
I really think you and your girlfriend need each other.
Or maybe you just need to treat her better.

Paul
This is just a skit between tracks

Who Knew
This is an entire track dedicated to the issue of censoring his music. It is brilliant if you listen to it.

Here’s the song....well, some of it:
You want me to fixup lyrics while our president gets his d**k sucked?
F**k that. Take drugs. Rape sluts.
Make fun of gay clubs. Men who wear makeup.
Get it aware. Wake up. Get a sense of humor.
Quit tryin' to censor music. This is for your kids amusement. (the kids!)
But don't blame me when little Eric jumps off of the terrace.
You should've been watching him. Apparently you ain't parents

How many retards will listen to me
And run in the school shootin' when they're p*ssed at the teach-
-er, her, or him, is it you? Is it him?
Wasn't me. Slim Shady said to do it again.
D**n! How much damage can you do with a pen?

Rough song right...I know, but at least we have the option of listening to it if we want to. Everyone has the ultimate censorship key...it’s called the stop button.

Steve Berman
Another Skit

The Way I Am
This is as of right now his latest single. The song explores the opposite side to fame...the side where there is no salvage from fans. The side where saying what he wants to holds more consequences just because he has a larger soap box than the rest of the population.

I suppose you want to see some of the lyrics:
It's constant and "Oh, it's his lyrical content." The song "Guilty Conscience" has gotten such rotten responses. And all of this controversy circles me and it seems like the media immediately points a finger at me...

The Real Slim Shady
This was the first song released off the new album. It is cute, the most bublegummy song off the new album, It attacks many of the people that share the billboard lists with him...but in a hilarious way. The only unfortunate thing about this song is that it and the video appeal to a much younger age group. I am not saying that the record shouldn’t be out there but I do think it is a bit strong for kids.

Lyrics.......
You think I give a d**n about a Grammy? Half of you critics can't even stomach me, let alone stand me. "But Slim what if u win wouldn't it be weird?" Why? So you guys can just lie to get me here? So you can sit me here next to Britney Spears. S**t, Christina Aguilera better switch me chairs So I can sit next to Carson Daly and Fred Durst And hear 'em argue over who she gave h**d to first.
All the above mentioned people are the latest and greatest on MTV.

Well that is just about half the album...wait you didn’t think I was going to ruin the whole thing did you??? *tisk*tisk* If you want to know anymore you have to buy it yourself.

Beware however that when you listen to Eminem...everything has to be taken with a grain of salt. everything And if you aren’t prepared for his “lyrical genius” then don’t listen because chances are you will walk away with a sour taste in your mouth. Honestly, I feel like I shouldn’t like the CD...but I do, so go figure. Anyway, if you do get it the same always stands true...If you loved it I was right...if you hated it, it wasn’t me who recommended it.

Censorship
I am a huge advocate for free speech. See, the funny thing is I like my freedom...but apparently there are those people who think freedom is a bit too much to handle. Look up censorship in the thesaurus and you get the following, Restriction Suppression Control Cutting Editing Bowdlerization Expurgation Freedom (Antonym)

It clearly lists freedom as an antonym...I think you get the point. If you feel like compromising anything I suggest it isn’t your freedom.

However, on the issue of censorship there are two places on the album that are censored weather or not you have the actual or edited version. One has to do with Mrs. Briggs-Mathers New husband, I suspect that it has to with the pending lawsuit. There is no where I have been able to find what it says. The other though I found it depicts the killers at Columbine as tragic pseudo-hero's. They are as follows...

I take seven kids from Columbine and stand 'em all in line Add an AK-47, a revolver, a nine A Mac-11 and this oughtta solve this problem of mine And that's a whole school of bullies shot up all of the time, Of course the entire lyric isn’t cut but most of it is.

And that is what I have to say about that, I’m LaurenMarie signing off and a how-do-you-do to you.