"My Father Was a Gangsta"

I know some fellow conservatives who are appalled when I say this - but I love Eminem.

No, I won't let my kids buy the CD, and I'll wash my son's mouth out with Lysol if I catch him talking like that. But Marshall Mathers is the most riveting rap artist - yes, "artist" - since Public Enemy's Chuck D. But late at night, when I crank up my MP3s or dial up Microsoft Radio, I'm fascinated not only by his pure technical chops (he combines the speed of an auctioneer with the humor and articulation of a slam poet), but by the material. Some of the stuff on his new album, and the 8 Mile soundtract, is intensely, deeply gripping, sometimes moving - which is all I care about with music, whether it's classical, rock, bluegrass or gangsta rap.

But this part is new to me, and fascinates me - Chuck Eddy's Village Voice piece on Eminem as a single dad.

Eminem, of course, is Marshall's alter ego. And sometimes Eminem goes by the name Slim Shady. And sometimes he plays a movie character who shares a name with the protagonist of John Updike novels about suburban midlife crises. In 8 Mile, when Rabbit's buddies are doing their ceremonial Devil's Night-style arson on the eyesore shell of an abandoned Motor City crack house, he salvages a torn, burnt snapshot of a happy (black) nuclear family, gets all choked up, and says, "When I was little, I used to want to live in a house like this."

The piece is long, and chock full of contradictions, and absolutely fascinating.

Although Sam still isn't getting the CD.

Posted by Mitch at January 8, 2003 07:05 AM