Month: November 2003

In a word of fake desillusions where people are used to hide the truth and the facts at any price, Eminem appears to have started a real revolution. His lyrics as well as his story are based on real facts.
Eminem exposes truths and harsh things people often don’t want to hear about.
Like he expresses it so well in the song ‘ Square Dance ‘ from the ‘ Eminem Show ‘, he fights for ‘ the right to say something you might not like. ‘
Eminem exposes his own story as a poor white trash kid to the public. Many people in America, who live their comfortable lives don’t want to hear about poverty. Eminem understood it well and let his words explode at their faces in his song ‘ Rock Bottom ‘ from the Slim Shady Lp, that is certainly one of the realest and the more touching song of the whole album.
Yes, the facts are so real and do hurt : look at this father who’s unable to feed his daughter :
‘ My daughter’s feet ain’t got no shoes or sock on ’em’ ‘. Rich Americans, open your eyes !
They prefer to ignore some facts, particularly the existence of white trash and underground people. Eminem is deranging to them. They prefer not to look at what he has to say and criticize his lyrics as ‘ demeaning to the youth and to society ‘. Those people live in a closed world and are totally ignorant of the every day reality of the poor working classes.
To be well understood, young people need people who are really close to them and not the kind of psychologists who spend their time writing theories about them. Marshall stands very close to the youth. Not only that he dresses like them, but he experienced the same kind of problems teenagers usually do : broken families, drug addiction, misunderstandings’Marshall shows his concern for kids in his music. The sentence taken out of ‘ Stimulate ‘ from the bonus CD of the 8 Mile soundtrack ‘ Bless the children, nothing less than brilliant’ ‘ is touching. ‘ Sing For The Moment ‘ helps so many teenagers who experience harsh problems with their families.
Eminem cannot be held responsible for the society’s decay. The issues Eminem raises need to be exposed. Too often, people picture America as a wealthy paradise.
We also need to discover America’s ‘ other side ‘, a country where some people live in misery in the ghetto where drug dealers and murderers reign. Eminem has the courage to expose his vision of America that may be shocking and full of uglyness, but that is certainly closer to the every day reality.
‘ Guilty Conscience ‘ featuring Dr Dre from the Slim Shady LP is very representative of that reality. Dramas, robberies, murders also belong to the American reality and shouldn’t be ignored. ‘ Guilty Conscience ‘ may have shocked many politicians, but who could deny the existence of those events ?
Eminem has done a real good job as an engaged artist. He has certainly contributed for a large part to open people’s consciousness about the urban culture and ghetto reality. He is not afraid of a public exposure of the harsh reality. Violence exists, particularly in the ghetto. No doubt, it’s hard to live in the 313, but it’s worth discovering this world where murder is law and drugs deals , prostitution and poverty belong to the daily reality.

Most of us up grow up in a society that rarely allows us to show our true feelings. When we are angry or hurt we are supposed to hide it or to show it very little. I used to grow up in a particularly rigid parental environment and I didn’t dare expressing what I actually felt inside. This made a sick person of me.
I was also tought to care so much about people’s opinion. What people could think about me was supposed to be the most important, so if they thought I was a loser, it was supposed to be right and I just had to accept it. I spent years doubting my own qualities, torturing myself and my relationships with people have always been complicated at this time, because I was too shy to speak my mind. To all the people who are going through same situations than mine, no matter how old they are nor where they come from, I’d like to advice : ‘ Don’t ever say yes when you intend to say no to people ‘, because that’s the best way to get abused.
I discovered the Marshall Mathers LP first in 2001 and thinking of Eminem, I spoke to myself : ‘ See, here’s a guy, who’s been through harsh situations and who’s not afraid to speak his mind. If you acted like him, you’d certainly feel better. ‘
So i started applying to this, even in very conflictual situations and I started noticing that it actually helped me to feel better.
I began to realize that I had been the prisoner of other people’s opinion on me for too long. It was such a great feeling to be able to oppose my opinion to other people and ‘ not giving a fuck ‘ about their reaction. I began to regain some self confidence and to act the way I always wanted to.
For the first time in my life I felt like I was myself.
In fact, it is so much important to realize that we should never fake our feelings and to be real about everything.
Marshall has changed my perception of life, for sure. He has given me the greatest gift through his attitude and his music : being real. For that, he deserves so many thanks from me.
The biggest mistake is to try to please everybody by agreeing on things you innerly don’t agree with.
You cannot force the whole world to like you, but if you keep real, you will certainly feel in total harmony with yourself and gain genuine people’s sympathy.
And for those who don’t like me : remember that I just don’t give a fuck about it.

Most of us up grow up in a society that rarely allows us to show our true feelings. When we are angry or hurt we are supposed to hide it or to show it very little. I used to grow up in a particularly rigid parental environment and I didn’t dare expressing what I actually felt inside. This made a sick person of me.
I was also tought to care so much about people’s opinion. What people could think about me was supposed to be the most important, so if they thought I was a loser, it was supposed to be right and I just had to accept it. I spent years doubting my own qualities, torturing myself and my relationships with people have always been complicated at this time, because I was too shy to speak my mind. To all the people who are going through same situations than mine, no matter how old they are nor where they come from, I’d like to advice : ‘ Don’t ever say yes when you intend to say no to people ‘, because that’s the best way to get abused.
I discovered the Marshall Mathers LP first in 2001 and thinking of Eminem, I spoke to myself : ‘ See, here’s a guy, who’s been through harsh situations and who’s not afraid to speak his mind. If you acted like him, you’d certainly feel better. ‘
So i started applying to this, even in very conflictual situations and I started noticing that it actually helped me to feel better.
I began to realize that I had been the prisoner of other people’s opinion on me for too long. It was such a great feeling to be able to oppose my opinion to other people and ‘ not giving a fuck ‘ about their reaction. I began to regain some self confidence and to act the way I always wanted to.
For the first time in my life I felt like I was myself.
In fact, it is so much important to realize that we should never fake our feelings and to be real about everything.
Marshall has changed my perception of life, for sure. He has given me the greatest gift through his attitude and his music : being real. For that, he deserves so many thanks from me.
The biggest mistake is to try to please everybody by agreeing on things you innerly don’t agree with.
You cannot force the whole world to like you, but if you keep real, you will certainly feel in total harmony with yourself and gain genuine people’s sympathy.
And for those who don’t like me : remember that I just don’t give a fuck ab

The ‘ Marshall Mathers ‘ song from the Marshall Mathers LP
This song was supposed to be a ‘ Just Don’t Give A Fuck ‘, part III. About this song, Eminem says :
‘ I wanted to just spit fire in each verse and have that soft-ass innocent chorus.’
The song is hilarious from the beginning to the end.
Eminem targets his family members who are so eager to get some money out of his brandnew fortune. He makes fun of his own behavior, attacks a lot of pop icons like N’sync, Backstreet, Ricky Martin, Britney Spears his rival Vanilla Ice and finally spits verses about his old enemies , the ICP group in response to their diss track ‘ Slim Anus ‘. He makes fun of them, calling them two little flaming faggots (‘ I don’t get fucked in mine like you two little flaming faggots ! ‘)
Nobody seems to escape to his rage. Boy/girl groups are particularly targetted by Marshall, because he didn’t want to be classified as ‘ pop ‘ because of his blonde dyed hair. He wanted people to make a real difference :
‘ Now because of this blond mop that’s on top of
this fucked up head that I’ve got I’ve gone pop ? ‘
I particularly like the way chorus I gently starts in some kind of innocent way (“You see, I’m just Marshall Mathers/ I’m just a regular guy'”) followed by a second chorus that is much more offensive and violent ( ” ‘Cause I’m just Marshall Mathers/ I’m not a wrestler guy/ I’ll knock you out if you talk about me'”)
This song has also been written in reaction of people who started doubting facts about Marshall’s life story.
Eminem jokes about his mom’s behavior, about her 10 Million dollars lawsuit, her drug addiction.
At the same time, Eminem’s siblings from his father’s side Michael and Sarah wanted to get in touch with their famous brother after ignoring him for years.
So many relatives want to make easy money on Eminem’s back.
Eminem adds sarcastically in his song :
‘ All of a sudden, I got ninety some cousins’ ‘
He also exposes his beef with the XXL magazine that did an unauthorized cover story on him. The song ends in a hilarous way :
‘ Aah, fuck it, I’ll even buy a couple myself ! ‘
The ‘ Marshall Mathers ‘ song from the Marshall Mathers LP exposes Eminem speaking his mind, without caring about people’s opinions nor reactions.
The funny way in which he exposes his truths increases the pleasure of the listener who will probably laugh from the beginning to the end. If he’s got a sense of humor, of course !

Eminem’s life story can be read on his skin. He has ten tattoos :
– an Eminem tattoo on his right upper arm that represents his stage name. On his right shoulder Eminem has a Hailie tattoo that is his most recent tattoo. There is a picture of Hailie smiling and ‘ Bonnie and Clyde ‘ is written beneath. It reminds us of the great complicity between father and daughter. The roses are, of course, a symbol of his everlasting love for Hailie.
– on his right arm, you can read Hailie’s name vertically. Eminem got this tattoo to honor his daughter when she was born, in 1995. You can see this tattoo very clearly on the book cover of Martin Huxley’s book (Eminem : ‘ Crossing The Line ‘, St Martin’s Press)
– on his left arm, there is a Slim Shady tattoo that is surrounded by the Ronnie R.I.P tattoo. The ‘ Ronnie RIP tattoo ‘ has been made, of course, as a tribute to his deceased uncle. This tattoo is very artistic : it is related to the ghetto life in Detroit. You can see a huge mushroom along with buildings and the eye of a whore.
– the ‘ D ‘ on his right forearm stands for Marshall’s hometown, Detroit and also for the D12 group, representing ‘ Dirty ‘
– the 12 on his left forearm represents ‘ Dozen ‘. If you put both forearms together, in addition you have ‘ D12 ‘.
– the gothic bracelet on his left wrist has no particular meaning, because Eminem forgot about the original meaning of the bracelet.
– On his right wrist, you can read ‘ Slit Me ‘ (maybe a reference to his suicidal tendencies from the past.)
– ‘ RIP Kim ‘ is located on Marshall’s stomach : the ‘ Rot In Pieces ‘ tatoo is dedicated to Kim. It pictures all the troubles Marshall went through because of Kim, including their arguments. At this time, Marshall had broken up with Kim and he didn’t intend to get back to her. ‘ Rot in Pieces ‘ also represents a grave with Kim’s name. It had something definitive in the meaning, but it is also the expression of a great pain Eminem was unable to swallow.
So if you want to understand the man and his life story, read his tattoos first !

The ‘ 8 Mile ‘ movie makes us discover and understand the racial tension and the racial split that existed in Detroit. In fact, this appartheit has historical roots in Nothern America. In the 30’s and 40’s, southern Blacks moved to Nothern cities like Detroit. Many white people left the city to build their own communities. The racial tension that existed was so strong in Detroit that you could even find racial flags with sentences like ‘ We want white tenants in our white community. ‘
Continue reading “8 Mile helps people to understand the Detroit context better”

Eminem has been near to death several times in his life and he owes one of the scariest events that happened in his life to a man named D’Angelo Bailey.
Every Eminem listener knows the words of the song ‘ Brain Damage ‘ from the Slim Shady LP where Eminem relates the event, adding some sarcastic and imaginary verses (like his brain falling out of his head, for instance).
Debbie Mathers expressed about this tragic event on the Sally Jessy Raphael Show : ‘ He was found in the bathroom, in blood, on the floor. Twenty-one doctors in four days gave up on Marshall. ‘
We know that Debbie tried to sue Roseville Elementary School in 1982 and that Eminem’s school dismissed the lawsuit in 1983.
Eminem was attacked twice by D’Angelo.
‘ The first time was around Thanksgiving and the second time was around Christmas. Marshall had a slight concussion the first time. The second time he almost wasn’t too lucky. Marshall fell in and out of consciousness. ‘
The doctors wanted to institutionalize Marshall, but Debbie, for once showing true love to her son, refused the idea. She didn’t want to give up on her son. It is really hard for a mother to cope with such events.
Debbie stated : ‘ It was one of the hardests things for me to ever do. They gave me a choice- if Marshall’s hearing did not come back , his eyesight faded in and out- that I’d have to instutionalize him. ‘
But Debbie refuse to take this into account : ‘ I refused to do so. He was on seizure medication, he would black out and did not even realize what he was doing at the time.. It took a year for him to bounce back. ‘
The D’Angelo bully has influenced Eminem’s music for a large part- I mean not only the song ‘ Brain Damage ‘, but if you take a deeper look at Eminem’s videos, there are references to hospitals, to surgery and to mental institutions. In the Real Slim Shady video, you can see a lot of insane persons in an asylum. If we look at the ‘ Without Me ‘ video, Eminem is being operated in a crazy way.The 50 Cent video ‘ In Da Club ‘ pictures Slim Shady operating his mate.
This event has traumatized Marshall for a great part and he needs to exorcize this part of his life.
D’Angelo Bailey, who does not even feel guilty for acting this way in the past, remembers the first time he listened to ‘ Brain Damage ‘ : ‘ Damn, that must have been scared him for life. ‘. He has admitted the facts he denied later on Court in order to get some easy money ‘ the good old American way ‘ :
‘ Yeah, we flipped him right on his head at recess. When we didn’t see him moving, we took off running. We lied and said he slipped on the ice. He was a wild kid, but back then we thought it was stupid. Hey, you have his phone number? ‘
You will probably be amused if you get to know that D’angelo’s kids are Eminem fans who enjoy the song ‘ Brain Damage ‘ a lot.
D’Angelo filed several lawsuits against the famous rapper for defamation. He also held Eminem for responsible of the fact he was unable to lauch his career as a rapper.The most recent lawsuit has been dismissed by Judge Servitto a few weeks ago.
Eminem is a fighter who never gives up. Like his grandmother expressed it before, he is very lucky to be alive after all he went through in his life. The talented rapper deserves the deepest admiration for his ability to use even tragic events at his advantage and to increase his artistic creativity.

A lyrical salvo fired by Eminem, seemingly toward rapper and The Source magazine co-founder Benzino, leaked onto the Internet over the weekend.
The song, called “Bully,” would appear to be retaliation for Benzino’s public unveiling last week of a 15-year-old Eminem freestyle in which the white rapper used offensive lyrics in describing black women (see “The Source Digs Up Tape Of Eminem Using Racial Slurs”).
The song, however, is 6 months old, according to Eminem’s people, and was never released officially or otherwise. That would put the track’s production around the timeline of the last Benzino/Eminem mixtape flare-up when Benzino fired off tracks like “Pull Ya Skirt Up” and Eminem responded with cuts like “The Sauce” and “Nail in the Coffin.” Em’s spokespeople said the rapper and his camp had nothing to do with the leak.
The lyrics of “Bully” ‘ or at least the parts that were leaked ‘ aren’t particularly scathing, and Benzino is never called out by name. Em begins by speaking from the perspective of his target, saying, “It’s my right to insist that he acknowledges my existence, but he just displays complete lack of respect.” Then he adds, “That’s what he says to himself as he uses magazines to trash me/ As he sits with both his feet up at his desk/ Smokes a bag of his weed/ And starts imagining things/ And he just can’t see that he’s manically depressed.”
Over a simple keyboard and drum beat and with Eminem half-singing his lyrics, he continues elsewhere with the lines “And it’s destroying him slowly/ ‘Cause he does not even know me/ Even though he sees me everywhere he goes/ So he tortures himself/ He has no fortune and wealth/ So he extorts someone else to get his dough.”
Meanwhile, Benzino issued a statement on Monday (November 24) calling Russell Simmons’ defense of Eminem through his Hip-Hop Summit Action Network “irresponsible.” Last week, Simmons’ group called Eminem’s tape “regrettable” but accepted his “sincere and forthright” apology. Benzino’s statement implied that Simmons has a conflict of interest since both he and Eminem report to the same corporate parent, Vivendi Universal. He called Simmons’ opinion “not impartial.”
Benzino also used the occasion to resign from the board of directors of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.

Kim Mathers
It seems Kim Mathers has been enjoying a little CP time or avoiding inevitable disciplinary action.
Em’s ex-wife appeared in two Macomb County courts on bench warrants last week missing two earlier court hearings.
Kim Mathers stood before judges in Macomb County Circuit Court and a Warren district court on charges connected to the two missed dates, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Mathers, 28, posted a cool $50,000 cash bond in Macomb County court and was released. Macomb County Circuit Judge Edward Servitto ordered her to be placed on an electronic tether, which notifies authorities if she leaves her home but doesn’t track her whereabouts. He also ordered her to undergo drug and alcohol testing and attend weekly Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
Lawyer Michael Sinutko didn’t say where Mathers had been, but told Servitto that she is under “emotional as well as personal stress” and “is hoping to put this back on the right path.”
A pretrial hearing on cocaine possession charges is scheduled for Dec. 18 in Macomb County Circuit Court. Later Tuesday, Mathers appeared in district court in Warren, where she had missed a Nov. 6 arraignment on a separate charge of running a drug house. The charges stem from a Sept. 29 hotel party in the city
http://www.eurweb.com/articles/headlines/11242003/headlines1218511242003.cfm

Eminem and Kim’s twisted relationship has constantly been targetted by the media.
Debbie Mathers took Kim at her home where she grew up as Marshall’s foster sister since she was 12. “I took her in at 12, which I kick myself every day for”, declared Debbie to the Detroit Free Press. “She does not care about my son at all. She cares about the money.”
Marshall and Kim have known each other when they were teenagers. They have grown up at the same home , which created strong links between each other. But if they were unable to live without each other, they have also proven not to be able to live with each other either. The dramas Eminem has been through with Kim in his personal life have been a huge source of inspiration for him.
”
Bonnie and Clyde 97″ was a recociliation attempt, as Eminem explains it very well in his book ‘Angry Blonde’ and ‘Kim’ was a deep expression of his unhappy love for Kim. The chorus speaks for itself :

So long, bitch you give me so wrong/
I don’t wanna go on/
living in this world without you

Kim has often been playing with Marshall’s feelings, leaving him as soon as he was financially down and using their daughter Hailie as a weapon against him.
Despite the frequent arguments Marshall and Kim used to have in their on-and-off relationship, both got married in June 1999.
Their marriage was an unhappy union and Eminem decided to divorce when he caught Kim kissing John Guerra.
Eminem’s decision to divorce lead to a new drama in his life : Kim attempted suicide in front of her mom and of Marshall’s little brother Nate while he was touring for the ‘ Up In Smoke Tour ‘. She was hospitalized on July the 7 th 2000. Marshall talks about the tragic event in the song ‘ Don’t approach Me ‘ from Xzibit (featuring Eminem) :
‘ .. everyday I wake up, another drama
It’s a wonder I’m alive, survivin this karma
If I can hold on to my private life for five minutes longer
I might get my wife to let go of this knife and just calm her
Without these cameras in our faces like animals
For your channel 2 action news to follow our ambulence up the avenue
And catch a glimpse of all the suicide attempts
And what we do in private since they won’t let us put up a fence
And you wonder why I carry every gun under the sun
Whether it’s unloaded full or an un-registered one
No bullet, you’re so full of shit
This clip is so full it’ll spit if I don’t pull it
And don’t give me no bullshit I’m not in the mood
I just got in a feud in some parkin lot with a dude
Over kim and she just slit both of her wrists over the shit
Don’t tell me bout the show business shit
I know what this is, bitch ‘
Eminem doesn’t like the way the media expose his private life, which is understandable. He feels like he can’t hide his privacy for one minute. His life is hidden for no camera and this drama is a real private matter.
From Kim’s point of view, it was very difficult to face with her husband’s new celebrity and to suddenly share him with the whole world, with of course, unpleasant exposures of some intimate details of her private life.
Kim intented to sue Marshall in 2000 for defamation , because she constantly felt humiliated about the ‘ Kim doll ‘ her husband was ‘ beating ‘ on stage, but on August 24th 2000, both reached a settlement about that lawsuit and tried to reconcile, with no success.
The couple even tried to work out their problems and to live together for Hailie’s interest. They even tried to have another child. Despite their efforts of reconstructing their relationship, their divorce was finalized in March 2001.
Marshall’s advocate, Robert Z Feldstein stated : ‘ This is a marriage that appearently just isn’t going to work. Luckily, the parties seem to be communicating well with respect to their daughter and hopefully communication and co-operation is ongoing for the best interest of the child. ‘
We all know how much Eminem shows concern for Hailie’s interest. His daughter always comes first and his behavior towards her honors him.
In 2002, Kim got pregnant from another man, Eric Hartter, who is the father of her second child, Whitney.
Eminem disliked the fact that she went pregnant six months after their divorce. It was reported in the ‘ World Entertainment News ‘ from April the 30th 2002 that Eminem was ‘ shocked and upset ‘ when he discovered about Kim’s pregnancy. In fact, he was much more worried on the effect this pregnancy might have on Hailie.
All of a sudden, at the period ‘ 8 Mile ‘ was released, Kim broke up with the father of her second child and got back with Marshall, taking little Whitney with her to Marshall’s home in Clinton Township, Michigan.
Since he divorced from her, Eminem couldn’t really forget his ex wife. He still has strong feelings for her despite the fact she cheated on him so often and has proven to be so untrustworthy towards him.
The fact that little Whitney was living at the famous rapper’s home caused a lot of problems to Eminem. He was accused of trying to separate the baby from her dad.
Mary, Whitney’s grandmother complained about the situation. The trouble was, Eric Hartter’s name wasn’t n the birth certificate and since Eminem and Kim were back together, Eric’s family feared for the worst.
But Eminem ‘s intentions were not to create any problem. In fact Kim didn’t want the dad of her second child see their kid. When Eric requested to see his daughter on the phone, Kim said : ‘ Just take me to court if you want to see her. Take me to court. ‘
But she already knew it wasn’t that simple for him, because he already had a lot of trouble with justice, being charged for drug deals and other delicts.
Between 2001 and 2003, Kim has been arrested twice in possession of cocaine. She seems to have serious addiction problem.
Her recent behavior, disappearing without anybody knowing the place
where she was hiding before the police caught her, shows an irresponsible behavior.
Since the time Eminem has been back with Kim, their relation has been the same that it was in the past, always on and off.
Kim has always played on the fact her ex husband still had feelings for her, she’s been manipulating him, but the worst in the whole story is her irresponsible behavior, simply disappearing without caring about her daughter Hailie.
For once, we may not doubt Debbie’s words about Kim, who seems to be a dependant woman and certainly not the best mother in the world. But Hailie’s presence in Eminem’s life remains the mo