Not Afraid

[spoonless]

Via rosicrucian

Well... I own 3 of Eminem CD's (the most of any artist in my collection), plus the 8 Mile DVD, and have considered myself a fan of his for over 10 years (ever since the Slim Shady LP came out in 1999, which blew me away). But I have to say, Marshall Mathers still has a unique ability to surpise and inspire me:

Admittedly there's something that feels a little bit too polished or commercial about this song, almost as if it's a Nike or Pepsi commercial. And I don't think it measures up lyrically to some of his other great works. But especially towards the end, I find it is pretty hard not to react emotionally to it. Twice in a row I broke into tears watching it, even while trying not to and thinking "ok, this time it's not going to get me". I think I'll wait till tomorrow to give it another try. Seems to fit so many themes in my life. Perhaps it's the same reason I liked the Matrix so much... clearly there are some strong references to Neo in it.

Another good video released recently, of course, is Gaga's Alejandro, although I will resist the temptation to link to that as I've linked to enough of her art lately and those of you who are fans have probably already seen it, and those of you who aren't... probably don't care. Also, while massively cool, I don't think it measures up to the Telephone video.

Comments

[vaelynphi.livejournal.com]

I certainly agree with your analysis, and, truthfully, as usual the *music* isn't bad. However much I've never especially liked Eminem, his music has always displayed talent.

Of course, I don't know if that's just because he has good producers, or if it's his choices, or what, but all of his songs display catchy and well-orchestrated tunes.