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The U.S.
Secret Service is apparently looking into Em on account of a
recent bootleg release "We are Americans" because of
a reference to dead presidents (Fuck money, I don't rap for dead
presidents, I'd rather see the president dead, it's never been
said but I set precedents and the standards and they can't stand
it . . ." My favorite line is the recurring theme "We
is Americans -- what did we get us in?"
Celebrities
vulnerable to false sex crime charges
Eminem's anticipated album, Encore,
contains at least one strong anti-Bush song, Mosh.
We are sorry that Michael
Jackson did not receive "Just Lose it" with a sense
of humour. Getting BET to pull the video was just sad.
He's starting a radio station.
We first posted this
page in 2000. Eminem is one of the most covered personages on
the internet so we have made no effort to provide comprehensive
coverage. Rather we wish to identify ourselves with those who
support his right to mouth off and encourage him to continue
to do so with such brilliance.
In the three years since I
sat up and took notice of Eminem, he has fulfilled every promise
he made. He remains one of the most publicized humans, most recently
successfully fighting off a lawsuit
from the bully he names in "Brain Damage." The judge
rapped part of her decision. His movie, 8 Mile, his acclaimed
concerts and his production/promotion efforts on behald of 50
Cent and Obie Trice have demonstrated that he brings intelligence,
good humour and talent to every project he touches.
Most recently he has taken
a strong stand for racial equality. The Source, an important
hip-hop magazine owned by white people launched a dirty campaign
against Eminem, who in turn publicly destroyed an award he had
previously received from them at a concert in New York. The magazine
is now trashing 50 Cent, accusing him of glamourizing "thug"
culture. However, a careful listening discloses that 50 Cent,
like Em before him, is simply describing his world as he knows
it and stating the truth as he sees it.
The Source magazine has has
tried to build a huge campaign around a promise to release a
track eminem made over ten years ago where he uses the "n"
word. Last month, em responded by acknowledging he was young,
foolish and had just broken up with an African American girl
friend. Today, as Source people refused to back down, he has
issued a longer, clearer statement:
"I did and said
a lot of stupid sh*t when I was a kid, but that's part of growing
up. The tape of me rapping 15 years ago as a teenager that was
recently put out by The Source in no way represents who I was
then or who I am today.
In becoming an adult,
I've seen what hip-hop and rap music can do to touch millions
of people. The music can be truly powerful, and it has helped
improve race relations in a very real way. I want to use this
negative attack on me as a positive opportunity to show that.
Dave Mays and Benzino
are spitting in the face of what hip-hop and rap music have done
to promote racial unity. Their attempt to use this old, foolish
recording to damage me and, in turn, the positivity that hip-hop
promotes is really nothing more than blatant self-promotion for
a failing magazine and one man's lifeless music career. They're
scared of what can happen if the hip-hop community shows it can
live without them.
The methods being
used and the poison being spread by The Source make it easier
for the enemies of hip-hop and rap culture to divide us. Hip-hop
has helped a generation deal with the poverty and prejudice that
affect all of us -- whether you come from the projects or from
a trailer park.
So while I think common
sense tells you not to judge a man by what he may have said when
he was a boy, I will say it straight up: I am sorry I said those
things when I was 16. And I don't want to let anybody turn this
into an opportunity to promote their own bullsh*t agenda."
As a show of solidarity
with young artists everywhere, injusticebusters publishes "Words
are weapons." Does it make you sick? Want to run to the
censorboard? Think again. If you don't like it, use words, not
the weapon of the state to express your dislike. That's what
we developed our cerebral cortexes for!. (From 2000)
Below this is a collection
of articles and comment arising from some Ontario do-gooders
attempts to keep him out of Canada . . .
- Artist: Funkmaster Flex f/
D-12 (+ Eminem)
Album: The Mix Tape Volume IV: 60 Minutes of Funk
Song: Words Are Weapons
Typed by: CTP0803@aol.com,
dj.flash@pobox.com
- (Some corrections by steele)
- Listen along in Quicktime
[Funk Flex]
Y'knahmean shout to Shady Records
My man Eminem, D-12, Paul Rosenberg
Shout to Jimmy Iovine, Steve Stoute
Funk Flex, 60 Minutes of fuckin Funk nigga, Volume FOUR! ONE!!
[Chorus: Eminem]
My words are weapons
I use 'em to crush my opponents
My words are weapons
I never show no emotion
My words are weapons
I use 'em to kill whoever's steppin to me
My words are like weaponry on a record
-----
My words are weapons
I use 'em to crush my opponents
These words are weapons
I never did show no emotion
My words are weapons
I use 'em to kill whoever's steppin to me
My words are like weaponry on a record
[Eminem]
Yo, the rage I release on a page
is like a demon unleashed in a cage
Lunatic, soon as I hit the stage
My mind is like a fuckin stick of dynamite
Once I get behind the mic
it's like the wick is lit you bitches die tonight
My nine is like a guidin light at night shinin bright
My fuckin grip is tighter than my wife's vagina, psych
These cock-suckin cops got my Smith-N-Wesson
I guess it's time to pick a different weapon, man the shit's
depressin
But Swift is getting me a new one for a Christmas present
(Swift: "Come on Slim, let's go and teach
this fuckin bitch a lesson")
They managed to confiscate the pistol that I brandish
But my plan is to use this bullshit to my advantage
Shady stay creative baby hold your head up, don't you let up
one bit on these motherfuckin suckers you're a soldier +GET UP+
STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN, LONG AS YOU BREATHIN
THEY JEALOUS OF YOU MAN THAT'S THE ONLY REASON THEY BEEFIN!
[Chorus]
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[Swifty McVeigh]
It's that Dirty Dozen renegade
You done pulled the pin out my grenade
.38'sll move your shit up out the way
You niggas wont forget about McVeigh; you got somethin to say?
Let it out today or watch these bullets spray
from these ten black fingers huggin these deadly millimeters
that'll make Jeff Dahmer's look like he caught a misdemeanor
See I'm +Dirty+, so I ain't gotta buy a pistol cleaner
An official beater, don't let me see you with yo' heater
You gets whipped with it, tell them motherfuckers Swift did it
You packin somethin special in your crib then bitch get it
I'm physically fitted to run yo' digits, I'm hostile (uh-huh)
with this Roscoe pointed up your nostrils
You get splitted and guess what, I'm blowin up the hospital
and wouldn't give a fuck if you a cop or a hoe
I'm Hannibal Lector, the spinal cord disconnector
Findin whores to lock 'em up in motels to inject 'em
[Chorus]
[Bizarre]
I'm eatin crews like I'm Hannibal
There's no way I can be the gay rapper
(Eminem: Why not?) I only fuck animals (Oh! Ha-ha)
Stupid trick got my dick startin to itch
Went to my mother's grave site, called her a stupid bitch
One on one in this bloodsport
I'm in divorce court, sold my bitch off a pack of Newports
(Your honor!) Six times I been arrested; how would you feel
if you was a Jehovah witness that always got molested?
(It happens) I'm smokin dank drikin drank
I can't have any kids cause I'm fuckin shootin blanks!
Don't you know Bizarre don't give a fuck?!
Nicole's a whore - I'm glad O.J. murdered the slut (uhh!)
Responsibility - I'm negligent
Bill Clinton's a fag, should be stabbed
Let Richard Simmons be the President (ohh HEYY!!)
Call me a weirdo, call me Bi-zarre
while I stick it up yo' ass while you shittin diarrhea
[Chorus]
[Eminem]
Yo!
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- Rapper
Eminem performs here despite protest : Misogynist lyrics not
covered in anti-hate law, police say
By Betsy Powell, Toronto
Star Entertainment Reporter, October 27, 2000
Detroit rap superstar Eminem
kept his concert date with 20,000 fans at the SkyDome last night,
despite an attempt by the province's top lawmaker to stop him
from performing.
Ontario Attorney-General Jim
Flaherty had asked the federal government to prevent the Grammy-winning
musician from crossing into Canada, saying his lyrics are misogynist
and advocate violence against women.
Eminem, whose real name is
Marshall Bruce Mathers III, flew into town yesterday afternoon
without incident, a spokesperson at his Michigan management company
said.
Right on schedule, the overall-clad
rapper popped up on stage, toting a chain-saw and wearing a hockey
mask and a sneer.
``I bet you all thought I wasn't
going to do that song tonight, did you?'' the 28-year-old yelled
in obscenity-laced comments to the crowd, who roared their approval.
He was referring to ``Kill
You,'' the song cited by anti-media-violence activist Valerie
Smith in her public complaint about the rapper's lyrics.
``I don't know if you know
what's going on in the news,'' he said later, ``but I dedicate
this song to that b---- Valerie Smith.''
He then launched into ``The
Way I Am,'' a song about the problems that have come with fame.
Toronto police said they reviewed
Eminem's material after receiving Smith's complaint but found
it did not meet their criteria to take any action against the
singer.
``Although (the lyrics) can
be viewed as offensive, certainly to women, they don't constitute
hate propaganda under the Criminal Code,'' said Detective Rob
Cooper of the force's hate crime unit.
No members of the unit attended
the show.
Cooper said police have four
basic categories for a hate crimes investigation: race, ethnic
origin, religion and sexual orientation.
Gender doesn't fall under the
legal criteria, so police cannot lay charges based on offensive
lyrics attacking either women or men, he said.
Others weren't happy that last
night's performance went ahead.
Mayor Mel Lastman said Eminem's
lyrics preach hatred against women, and that he wanted him ``the
hell out of Toronto.''
Eminem has performed in Toronto
on four occasions in the past 18 months, including a Molson Amphitheatre
concert that drew 16,000.
``This is no entertainment,''
Lastman said hours before the Anger Management Tour, with rappers
Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach, was to begin.
`People of Toronto,
be ashamed if you go'
``People of Toronto, be ashamed
if you go, and you should not go.''
Chief Julian Fantino said he's
disgusted by Eminem's music.
``If you think that glorifying
raping your mother or killing people is all right, then I need
a head check, because I don't ascribe to that.''
At a campaign stop in Ottawa,
Canadian Alliance Leader Stockwell Day said he would stand behind
any attempt to bar the rapper from Canada.
``I'm not strong on censorship,
but when it comes to somebody who, at least from what I hear,
promotes things such as domestic violence, I don't have a whole
lot of time for that,'' Day told reporters.
The controversy upset some
for another reason. Anne Marie Aikins, a self-described anti-violence
activist, said in an e-mail to The Star she was ``enraged'' after
reading about Flaherty's hypocritical approach.
``There is no one who advocates
violence against women more than the Harris government, with
their cuts to social services, especially women's services,''
she wrote.
``Music, even if it contains
sexist, homophobic, racist lyrics, does not incite violence or
any other hate crime.
``I resent Flaherty's self-serving,
dishonest attempt to appear as if he gives one hoot about protecting
women.''
Fans of the rapper were equally
dismayed by the controversy.
``I'm tired of all these politicians
trying to clean up rap music,'' Jeff Rochon wrote in a message
posted on The Star's Web site.
``There are much bigger problems
in Canada than an Eminem concert.''
Claudia Ferreira, 15, said
Flaherty and others opposed to Eminem ``should just relax.''
``Let the kids who like him,
watch his concert . . . their parents are the ones who should
be teaching them the difference between right and wrong.''
Some saw humour in the issue.
``If all people who made bad
music were kept out of Canada we could have stopped disco,''
immigration official Derik Hodgson told Canadian Press.
Taking
the rap for free speech
By CHRISTINA BLIZZARD --
Queen's Park Bureau, Toronto Star, October 27, 2000
Whatever possessed Ontario
Attorney General Jim Flaherty to play the heavy this week over
rapper Eminem?
Well, in two words: succession
planning.
The genial Flaherty has one
eye on Premier Mike Harris's job. Not that it's open. Not that
Harris has said he's moving over and out. Quite the opposite,
in fact. Harris has made it quite clear that he's in this for
the long haul.
So here's how it played this
week: Liberal justice critic Michael Bryant, a bright young whippersnapper
who no doubt has leadership aspirations of his own, sent out
a press release calling on Flaherty to prevent last night's Eminem's
concert from taking place.
"It's time for the Attorney
General to investigate and if necessary prevent Eminem's concert
on Thursday, or prosecute if any crimes take place," Bryant
said in the release.
Give him full marks for craftiness.
Flaherty was caught between
a rock and the SkyDome. He has recently been very vocal about
domestic abuse and, in the wake of several brutal murders this
last summer, introduced legislation to help protect women from
abusive partners. So Flaherty's stuck. If he'd said something
along the lines of this being an issue of freedom of speech,
artistic licence and blah blah blah, he'd have all the feminists
and the spousal abuse activists up in arms for only paying lip
service to domestic violence.
In fact, what the wily Bryant
was pushing for was much more than a ban on the concert. He called
for the Harris government to regulate the sales of CDs and suggested
Flaherty could bring an injunction to stop the rapper's show,
"on the basis that his performance would be violating the
Criminal Code and prosecuting the rapper under the hate crime,
indecency or obscenity provisions of the Criminal Code if necessary."
So Flaherty's caught - he doesn't
want to be labelled a hypocrite; then again, being a fairly right-wing
Tory, he doesn't necessarily want to be tarred with a bleeding
heart liberal brush either.
What to do, what to do? Bryant,
it should be noted, has been a very effective justice critic,
largely because he often manages to outdo the Tories on law-and-order
issues. And that's a tall order.
So far, the Tories have been
able to maintain their image as the party that's tough on crime.
If Bryant is able to convince the electorate that he is tougher,
the Tories may have problems in the next election. Then again,
Bryant's core supporters may not want more police on the street.
Bryant recently ran a successful
campaign to have replica handguns outlawed, since cops complained
they couldn't tell them from the real ones in crimes. Solicitor
General Dave Tsubouchi introduced legislation this week to outlaw
the fake guns.
Anyway, before we turn Eminem
into the poster boy for free speech, let us remember that this
cretinous rapper is facing weapons charges in the U.S., and it
is alleged he hit a man reportedly seen kissing his ex-wife.
Before you launch into praise
for his "art," take a look at some of the hate-filled
"lyrics" to his "songs." You can't even print
the worst in a family newspaper, but here's a sampling:
"Slut, you think I won't
choke no whore/til the vocal cords don't work in her throat no
more?...
"Put your hands down,
bitch, I ain't gon' shoot you/I'ma pull you to this bullet and
put it through you/Shut up slut, you're causin' too much chaos/Just
bend over and take it slut, okay Ma?"
Or this: "Bitch I'ma kill
you! You don't wanna f--- with me/Girls leave - you ain't nuttin
but a slut to me/Bitch I'ma kill you! You ain't got the balls
to beef..."
Yes, it's "art."
Of course, we have free speech in this country. But don't tell
me it's nothing worse than Elvis, the Beatles or the Rolling
Stones. They sang of peace, love and rock'n'roll. Okay, a little
illicit dope here and there.
Ask yourself: Is this the image
you want your teen sons to have of women?
Like --
duh? Remember Under my thumb? Could it maybe be that the image
we all have of each other is the same as the image we present
to each other . . . ?
Beneath
the violence in Eminem's songs, lies a hyper-inflated version
of adolescence
ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN MUSIC
CRITIC, October 27, 2000, Globe and Mail
All the king's horses and an
angry Attorney-General couldn't keep Eminem off the stage last
night at the SkyDome, where he delivered an hour's worth of the
music that has made him the Ontario government's least-wanted
rapper.
Two days after Attorney-General
Jim Flaherty called for the man also known as Marshall Mathers
III to be barred from entering Canada, Eminem did what he could
to justify -- and ridicule -- Flaherty's worst fears.
He rose out of the stage with
a whirring chainsaw in hand, ready to rip into the guardians
of our moral hygiene, or possibly just to pry the scab off his
own insecurities. Part of Eminem's appeal is his ability to submerge
a general critique of the status quo into a seething rhapsody
of personal phobias.
He's certainly one of the most
me-directed talents in a genre where obsessive self-reference
is the rule. He's also a satirist whose most violent and misogynistic
lyrics usually carry a whiff of comic grandiosity.
The show unfolded in front
of a ratty bungalow, the stage twin of the one pictured on the
front of The Marshall Mathers LP, which has sold more than seven
million copies since May. Eminem and rap crew D-12 hung out on
the porch, got into Mom's Bacardi, and introduced each song with
a smoothly rehearsed skit that sometimes made the performance
feel like episodes from a hip-hop sitcom. It was a most orderly
presentation from a man branded as a threat to public order.
He delivered his most apparently
aggressive number, Kill You,near the top of the show. The crowd
converted the chorus into a cozy sing-along, in spite of the
Flaherty hypothesis that stuff like this makes you want to hurt
people.
I hope that some representatives
from the provincial cabinet were there. If so, they might have
discovered just how complicated is the man they have attempted
to fit into a simple malodorous category. Eminem "keeps
it real" by keeping it fiercely personal, but also makes
himself a screen for the fears and desires of others: "I
am whatever you say I am." He works in a dynamic zone where
self-assertiveness and iconic pliancy co-exist.
At bottom, his attitude is
a hyper-inflated version of the truth of adolescence, and of
living in a society where image is power. Eminem's rap persona
suffers and also exploits that law of the media jungle.
And so the truth of this performer
is a matter of aggressive feints and self-deflating boasts, of
snotty jokes and remarkably astute reflections. Anyone who thinks
Eminem is just a fast-mouthed goon should listen closely to Stan,
in which the projections of the fans and the qualms of their
hero twine uneasily around a poignant tune sung by British pop
singer Dido (represented at yesterday's show by a tape recording,
and by an audience that sang all the words).
Eminem shared top billing on
the Anger Management Tour with Limp Bizkit, whose new rap-rock
album Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water has sold
more than one million copies since its release last week. Like
Eminem, they are near the top of the current bad-boy list, and
their show merged the grand manner of the stadium-rock extravaganza
with the imagery of giant transformable toys. Unfortunately I
had to leave after their first number, with Fred Durst's sobbing
tenor ringing in my ears.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
