Month: June 2004

Two persons are really important in Eminem’s eyes: his little daughter Hailie and his little brother Nathan.
Marshall is a caring and protective brother towards Nate.He is also a good and sensitive person. When he knew a guy was picking on Nate at school when he was 17, he personnaly went to his brother’s school to tell him to stop.
He took time to tell the other kids that violence didn’t solve anything and even stayed to sign them autographs, according to a close friend of his:
http://216.109.117.135/search/cache?p=Nathan+Mathers%27+studio&ei=UTF-8&cop=mss&b=41&u=www.entertainment.lycos.com/celebrities/AMINewsStory.asp%3Fstoryid%3D748793%26op%3DgetArticle&w=nathan+mathers+studio&d=18EA5A87FC&c=483&yc=550&icp=1
Marshall also may have given us a chance to listen to Nathan Mathers’ work soon. He offered a studio to his brother for his 18th birthday. Marshall is Nate’s role model and certainly a huge source of inspiration to him:
“He’s an inspiration to me. We’ve always been very close and when I need help he helps. He got me the equipment I needed to create a studio in my room because he knows I want to do music too”
I would be very curious to know more about Nate’s rap style, if he intends to work solo and do some independant work or if he’d rather work with Marshall and other artists related to Shady Records such as D12, Obie Trice and 50 Cent. Before the release of Nathan’s first album, some of my questions may stay unanswered. If Nathan is as hardworking and as gifted as Marshall, his first album promises to be a huge success.

Would Harry Potter be interesting in the public’s eye if he wasn’t gifted for magic? Honestly, I don’t think so. He’d appear as an annoying teenager who is complexed by his physical appearence. His scar and his glasses would make him look disadvantaged in front of an average teenager.
But the hero of J.K Rowling’s book is gifted for magic and that makes the whole difference. His hidden powers make Harry Potter look like a hero.
You probably wouldn’t be surprised at all if I told you that some people have tried to bridge the most famous wizard with the most famous Mc.
Dr L has written a quite amusing ‘Lose Yourself’ parody that is based on the ‘Lose Yourself’ song:
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:wapoJL6hzLIJ:www.amiright.com/parody/2000s/eminem143.shtml+eminem+magic+wizard&hl=en&lr=lang_en
Rappers and I’d say battle emcees in particular have a similar role to play: he brings you into a world that you would probably refuse to explore if it wasn’t for your ears and your eyes’ greatest pleasure.
The rapper is an average man from the ghetto who introduces you into his underworld: a hidden place full of colorful words and forbidden actions. He will make you enjoy your stay and sometimes he will take you to real scary places
Many people wouldn’t focus an interest such personalities if it wasn’t for their lyrical abilities.
But being an emcee makes you untouchable, it transforms you into a powerful word wizard.
Kuniva explains it very well:
“Being a rapper in high school was like being one of the X-Men. Like bein’ a mutant with hidden powers, knowin’ you could do something.”
How many times have the D12 wizards taken you to their forbidden world full of drugs and illegal stuff that are related to allday ghetto life? How many times have you felt like being guided by enchantors of a hidden and fantastic universe, the magical ‘313’?
Being a good rapper means being a lyrical master and a sound master as well. You gotta impress your public, you gotta show what your capable of. With his hidden powers, a battle MC will rip his adversary off before he has time to think about what happens to him.
Through his Slim Shady persona, Eminem has shown his hidden powers so many times. To quote Seamus Heaney, Eminem has ‘created a sense of what is possible’ through his powerful lyrics.
Those who have seen Eminem rapping on stage know how much he masters his art and appears as a powerful word wizard. The atmosphere is quite magical, because the mic is blessed by the greatest MC on the planet.
Other MC’s like the Detroit underground MC Lazarus are quite impressing too and they will show you their mastery of their art if you are willing to listen to them.
Rappers are the kings and the heros of a world that is usually despised by middle class and rich people. They have the power to make it appear in a new light with their magic wand: the mic. They will keep you in admiration in front of their verbal dexterity and their mental imagery. Their talent will make you envy them and wanna be language masters like them. Don’t be confused by the frequent use of some colorful words: it will make the text look spicier and make you feel the reality of a rapper’s magical world.

DJ Graffiti aka Martin Smith is a Michigan MC from Ann Arbor. He calls himself ‘the underground mixtape king of Michigan’.
Martin Smith grew up in Oak Park and West Bloomfield. He graduated at Bloomfield High School in 1996.
His nickname ‘DJ Graffiti’ comes from the lyrics he wrote. About his own lyrics, he says: ‘I spray mentals like lyrical graffiti.’
He is certainly a perfectionnist, who is known for his quality mixtapes:
‘My goal is to create projects that sound better, look more professional and reach farther than those currently available. It’s not about competition, but I know that if my focus is always on bringing something improved to the table, I won’t be taking steps backwards.’
DJ Graffiti attented the business school at Michigan University. He wants to be a positive influence for the hip hop community. Djing is his real passion: ‘I enjoy mixtapes and I do a lot of different things. My passion is the Djing, that’s my love.’
Groups from Detroit like Slum Village and DJ Butter have collaborated with DJ Graffiti who has also performed as a jazz percussionist in the Montreaux Detroit jazz Festival.
Also very active at the campus events, he used to be a DJ there: ‘I started Djing my first year in College. You din’t have events going on in West Bloomfield. As soon as I got turntables, I was off and runnning.’
He also used to make some guest appearences at the hip hop show on the campus radio station WCBN-FM (88.3).
In 2004, DJ Graffiti has released his tape ‘Bling Free, Vol.3’.
There is a message in DJ Graffiti’s ‘Bling Free’ series. DJ Graffiti envisions a hip hop community that would be self sufficient:
‘Right now, most of the major influences on the Hip Hop generation are fed corporately from the outside. Ultimately, I envision a Hip Hop community that is extremely self-sufficient. We will have a united front of individuals who were born into Hip Hop culture ‘ Hip Hop lawyers, Hip Hop doctors, Hip Hop teachers and Hip Hop owners all working together. I feel all of the different things I do are necessary for moving the current state of Hip Hop toward a point where it is Bling Free. That’s where it shines on its own.”
You will discover more about the artist on his official website:
http://www.djgraffiti.com/