The same was said back in the day rby the older (threatened) establishment regarding new genres and styles taking force of the charts, whether it be Sinatra or Elvis or Dylan or the Beatles or Black sabbath or Sex Pistols or whatever. They only "glorified talked" because the "singing" wasn't quite like the status quo of that time. Well with Pistols, you probably couldn't understand alot of their yelling, but regardless.

Hell, can't "glorified talking" perfectly describe Dylan? Are you willing to say Ozzy Osbourne is "singing"? For that matter, some people (despite scientific evidence to the contrary) claim Barry Manilow can "sing."

Its a subjective claim.



If he does, then that's just prejudicial. Reminds me of kids who dismiss Jazz for being just "random sounds."

I won't rant on and on about something you may inevitably dismiss, but regardless I would suggest just a handful of counter-arguments that demonstrate that good skill (and even range) is needed to make these classics work: Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," them and heavy metal group Anthrax on "Bring the Noise," the title track from n.w.a's STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON (arguably the greatest rap album), Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy," and Grandmaster Flash's "The Message," which Congress added in the inagural class of the National Recording Registry's archival list back in 2002. A honor that not even the Beatles pulled off.

Check them all up on Youtube. Come on fellow rap fans, help me out here.

As for Eminem, I would almost describe him as a rap Johnny Cash, speaking from sincere anger, hostility, and aggressiveness garnered from rearing up in white impoverished America, whether it be Cash from 1930s rural Arkansas wrecked by the Great Depression or Eminem from 1990s urban Detroit screwed by Reaganomics. Both men had (frequent) bouts with drugs and booze, both men were complete dicks to closed ones, both suffered from depression, and both at one point or another thought they inevitably would pull a Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison or any of those great artists done in too early by their addictions. They both sincerely examined themselves (and their faults) in their emotional life stations frequently.

Probably why Cash's still resonates today decades later while the shallow contemporary Nashville country pop is forgotten within weeks, and Eminem is the first white MC rapper (outside of Beastie Boys) to be fully accepted by the black-dominated rap field/audience, not as a gimmick, but as the legitimate real deal. I'm almost tempted to call Mr. Marshall Mathers the Greatest Artist of the 2000s, this in spite of a 5 year Lennon-esque sabbatical from music during that decade.

But yes, the topic. Well how about the range Em displays? In "Real Slim Shady," he's being a sabotaging smartass pointing fingers back at the hypocritical society blaming him for their wills. In "Stan," he's roleplaying as a devoted fan (his fanbase in general) who see themselves way too much in him, and expect too much from a rapper. In "The Way I Am," he's the king of Rap yet he's truely fustrated. Or how about his fierce desperation in "Lose Yourself" (all time best-selling rap single).

Or the infamous "Kim," which he goes to a dark place within himself that few people have gone, or want to. You know that feeling of being unnerved by the end of Lennon's "Mother" when he's basically yelling for his parents who abandoned him to come back? Yeah "Kim" is even more uncomfortably disturbing.