My introduction to rap music was sometime in the early to mid-80s. I don't know what song it was, but it was during the big breakdancing craze. At the time, I didn't call it rap music, I called it "breakdance music." I liked some of the "breakdance music" that was out at the time, but I wasn't nuts about it. Some of it was okay, but I was far from fanatical. I thought that Run DMC was cool, I liked The Beastie Boys, and locally, 2 Live Crew was starting to make it big, I liked their stuff. But it wasn't until 1988, when I bought a cassette (this was before CDs) from a rap group called Public Enemy. The album was called "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back," and I was hooked. Not long after that, the only kinda music I listened to was rap, and I loved it. This was the era from the late 80s to the early 90s, the era of The Geto Boys, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, A Tribe Called Quest, Del tha Funky Homosapien, Kool Moe Dee, Ice-T, MC Lyte, Erik B. and Rakim, De La Soul, NWA (as well as the ones who left and had successful solo careers, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre), Boogie Down Productions, Digital Underground, K-Solo, and many, many others.
At the time, white rappers were few and far between, but they were out there. The Beastie Boys were huge with their "License to Ill" album, but with the albums that followed, the hip-hop crowd seemed to abandon them while the alternative music crowd embraced them. The Beastie Boys were (and are) a very talented group, but their music leans more towards rock than rap (and for better or worse, they inspired a shitload of imitators, and today, just about all rock music is a rap/rock fusion). The Beastie Boys kick ass, but I wouldn't call them rappers. At least, not hip-hop rappers. Anyone remember 3rd Bass? They were a pretty good white rap group, but I was always annoyed with the way they pandered to black audiences. In their song "Gas Face," they have this line: "A black cat is bad luck, bad guys wear black, it musta been a white guy who started all that." To me, 3rd Bass was a group of white dudes who tried a little too hard to be accepted by their black audience. If you have the talent, you get the respect, regardless of your race. Don't pander to your audience, ya know? "We're not like those white oppressors, we understand your plight!" Uh-huh. There was another white rap group who had the same problem, but they went even further by naming their group Young Black Teenagers. The theory there was "black isn't a color, it's a state of mind." The group had a minor hit ("Tap the Bottle"), but they faded into oblivion shortly thereafter (though DJ Skribble, who was a member of the group, is doing pretty good for himself right now). And finally, there's the one and only Vanilla Ice. The guy was a disaster. I remember the first time I saw him, it was during "Yo! MTV Raps!" No one heard of him at the time, and I thought MTV was playing a joke! I couldn't believe what I was watching. Did he really say "word to your mother"??? No, really, did he say that? In case you don't know, at the time, it was big for rappers to say "word to the mother," as in the motherland, as in Africa. What the hell was Vanilla Ice talking about with "word to your mother"? And did he REALLY say he was raised in the streets? To me, he had about as much street credibility as Pee-Wee Herman. I was shocked when he made it big. He was a disgrace to rap music as well as the music industry in general. I'm NOT a Vanilla Ice fan.
Despite "Ice Ice Baby" and Vanilla Ice, rap music was excellent during this time. The lyrics were insightful (Ice Cube was, without a doubt, the best lyricist at the time), the beats were inventive (Dr. Dre was the best producer in hip-hop, and he probably still is... The Bomb Squad was great, too, but I don't know what happened to them), and everyone had their own style. Public Enemy was political, The Geto Boys were horrifying, A Tribe Called Quest was jazzy, Big Daddy Kane was the rhyme king and lady killer, NWA was gangsta, Boogie Down Productions was all about education, Kool Moe Dee was all about positivity, De La Soul were hip-hop hippies... they were all different, they were all unique.
But then something happened. Dr. Dre left NWA and released a solo CD (this was 1992, and by then, I was finally buying CDs instead of tapes) called "The Chronic." It was a masterpiece, as was the Dr. Dre produced solo debut CD for Snoop Dogg (though he was Snoop Doggy Dogg at the time), "Doggy Style." Dr. Dre introduced a new sound to rap music, a mellow sound that was heavily influenced by Parliament (and lotsa weed). The problem was, everyone copied the style. Eventually, rap all started sounding the same. I lost interest, and I started getting into rock/alternative. Over the years, rap has gotten worse. It's all the same shit; "I'm flossin' in my phat ass ride," "bling bling," "lemmie see that ass," etc. Obviously, it's not all like that, but the vast majority is... and MTV sure as hell isn't doing anything to prove me wrong. They love exploiting it, and some rap fans know exactly what's going on (watch Spike Lee's brilliant film, "Bamboozled" to get a taste of how Spike feels about it). Fortunately, all is not lost for rap and hip-hop. There are a couple of rappers out there who actually set themselves apart from the rest, like Nas, Mos Def, and a few others, but my personal favorite, by far, has to be Eminem. A white rapper. Who'da thunk it?
I never thought I'd buy a CD from a white rapper. After the Vanilla Ice fiasco, why would I? But Eminem was introduced to us by Dr. Dre, and that was enough for me to be curious, so I took a chance and bought Eminem's first major label CD, "The Slim Shady LP." Wow. I was completely blown away. His lyrics were unlike anything I'd ever heard before. Rather than portraying a badass image of himself, his lyrics portrayed a vulnerable guy with a junkie mother, a girlfriend he had serious problems with, and most importantly, a daughter he would die for. His life was an open book, and his wounds were all over that CD. Listening to it, it was obvious that Eminem was a guy with issues, a troubled person who bears his soul through his lyrics. Not just that, he would make obscure references that very few people would understand. I remember listening to his song "As the World Turns," when he talks about what he was like in high school and he says, "class clown freshman, dressed like Les Nessman"... he actually made a reference to "WKRP in Cincinnati." Who the hell would get that?!?! "The Slim Shady LP" is a masterpiece, with my favorite song being "'97 Bonnie and Clyde" (Tori Amos did a brilliant cover to that song, by the way). He followed that with "The Marshall Mathers LP," and I was shocked to discover that he actually topped himself. That CD is probably one of the best examples of recorded music ever. It was the source of a lotta controversy, but it can't be denied that it's brilliant. It's also much darker than "The Slim Shady LP." The song "Stan" is amazing, "The Real Slim Shady" is great, and "The Way I Am" is also really good... but nothing comes close to "Kim." "Kim" is an intense, shocking look into Eminem's rage at his ex-wife. He seems to be going crazy in that song, and he lets you right in. I get chills listening to it. That song is my favorite Eminem song ever. It's awesome, and terrifying. Eminem recently released "The Eminem Show," his third major label release, and though it's not as good as "The Marshall Mathers LP" (it woulda been impossible to improve on that one, though), it's another masterpiece nevertheless. It's filled with great songs, such as "White America," "Cleaning Out My Closet," and "Hailie's Song."
*** Random Thought***
Former NBA star/future Hall of Famer Charles Barkley was once quoted as saying "You know it's going to hell when the best rapper out there is white and the best golfer is black." I really like that quote a lot. It makes me smile.
*** End of Random Thought***
There are plenty of people out there who hate Eminem, but his talent can't be denied. Anyone who thinks he's talentless hasn't really listened to his music, or maybe they have, but they only listen to what's on the surface.
Wait a minute. I've written all this stuff, and I've yet to get into the movie. I just spent six paragraphs writing about how I started to like rap music, how I lost interest, and how much I like Eminem's music. I mean, this is ridiculous, isn't it? No more. Starting with the next paragraph, I'm gonna start talking about the movie, okay? Sorry about wasting your time with all that other stuff I wrote.
So yeah, Eminem has a movie out. When I first heard that a movie was being made that was (very) loosely based on Eminem's life, I was shocked to find out that it was to be directed by a really good director, Curtis Hanson, the director of "L.A. Confidential" and "Wonder Boys." I was pretty excited. The movie was gonna actually be good! While it was being made, it was tentatively titled "Untitled Detroit Project." After a while, as strange as it may seem, I started liking that title. When they finally gave the movie a real title, "8 Mile," I was wishing they stuck with "Untitled Detroit Project." Oh well.
Needless to say, this was a movie I was really looking forward to seeing. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. I had my hopes up really high, but at the end, when the credits rolled at the end, all I felt was disappointment. It has some great moments, but all in all, it isn't nearly as good as I hoped it would be. The main problem is that after the first scene in the movie, you know exactly how it's gonna end, so you spend the whole time waiting for the inevitable showdown. That would be fine if all the stuff in the between was really good, but it wasn't. The story isn't compelling at all. It's a ridiculously simple story that has no surprises, and characters that are completely pointless.
I guess what most people wanna know is how good an actor Eminem is. Well, he's pretty good. He won't blow anyone away, but it's a decent, charismatic performance. This film wasn't a real test for him, he basically played himself, and he didn't have to show too many emotions. All he had to do was look angry, depressed, and a couple of times, mildly amused, but that was it. It's strange to me that a guy who shows such vulnerability in his music totally keeps his guard up as an actor. He's probably not at fault, though. The script didn't do much to make his character very multi-dimensional. He didn't do badly, he did what was required of him, and he did a pretty good job of it. By the way, I should point out that although the story may be similar to Eminem's real life, it's far from being 100% accurate
The rest of the cast was really good. I liked Kim Basinger (she worked with Curtis Hanson in "LA Confidential," a movie that earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress... she was also "Vicki Vale" in "Batman"). She played the mom in the movie, though despite what some people may assume, she doesn't play Eminem's real-life mom. Basinger's character, though flawed, is a saint by comparison. I also liked Mekhi Phifer a lot (he starred in "O" with Julia Stiles... he's currently on the TV show "ER" as "Dr. Gregory Pratt"). He's really good as Eminem's best friend in the movie. Brittany Murphy (she played an insane person in "Girl, Interrupted," and another one in "Don't Say a Word"... I liked her a lot in "Sidewalks of New York") is an actress I like, but she's completely wasted in this movie. Her character is pointless, and there's no reason for her to be in the movie other than to give Eminem a sex scene.
Like I mentioned earlier, "8 Mile' was directed by Curtis Hanson, who's certainly no hack. He's a great director, and he probably saved this movie from being a disaster. Unfortunately, the script was weak. It was written by Scott Silver (he wrote and directed the 1999 feature film version of "The Mod Squad," which sucked), and I've yet to be really impressed with his work. He may impress me in the future, but I really wish that this was the film to do that.
"8 Mile" isn't a piece of shit, but it isn't nearly as good as it shoulda or coulda been. It has good acting and a great director, but the script wasn't up to snuff. Too bad. But hey, at least it isn't "Cool as Ice."
Scale of 1-10: 6