Question:
I'm listening to his Marshall Mathers LP right now. Wow. All I can say is look past his anger. He is an excellent rapper, and in a different sense of the word, a profound poet. Most people who don't like him tell me it's because he's violent. Life is violent. He's telling you what his life was like before he was a hit, and he's telling you the things he doesn't do because he has an outlet in Rap. Just wondering if there are any other fans on the board.
- Rich

Answer:
I hate rap. I listen to classic & modern rock, metal, blues. But I do like and respect Eminem's style in that his 'music' is intelligent and somewhat satirical. He is an artist you have to learn to understand. You can't take his work at face value. I don't listen to his stuff regularly but I have heard a lot of it and I can appreciate it.
Could he be an "anti-rapper"?

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Another fan here though I don't listen to him as much as I used to. A definite urban poet.

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i used to listen to him back around the time the marshall mathers LP came out, actually, not so much anymore. i think i like his flow alot better than his lyrical content. i do love hiphop though. my favourites at the moment are atmosphere, aesop rock, and eyedea & abilities. i definitely recommend checking them out if you're into hiphop.

Answer:
Originally Posted by MadScientist Could he be an "anti-rapper"? No, his roots are in rap, and his family is in rap. He is actually more of "out of the box" rapper. For example, most rappers preach tolerance among each other then kill each other (Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Proof and Bugz (both of D12)). He rapps about killing people, then does the opposite in real life. He does many things the opposite way of many rappers, but I don't think he's the anti-rapper; the anti-rapper would try to destroy the genre. Good point though, he is a very different breed than Big Boi, Baby Boy, Lil' Jon, Lil' Webbie, Lil' Rob, Lil' Bow Wow (Now just Bow Wow)... you get the point. I think that other rappers that rank up there with him include Dre, Jay-Z, Ludacris, (The old) Nelly, Tech N9ne, and Snoop, but he is also better than all of them in certain ways.
- Rich

Answer:
hell no! I can't believe they call
"my words cut like a knife" (how trite is that?)
let alone "lesbian or transvessss" poetry! I'm sorry. It's a joke.
Try the Smiths! Morrissey, there's a poet. Just get like "the best of the smiths vol 1 and 2" and you're liable to forget all about mr. plain and peanut (more poetic brilliance, the clever name...NOT!).
And what do you mean "look past the anger"? Are you suggesting we ignore ... the substance, the spirit, for the "profound poetry"? Give us a for instance, please. Two lines. One line. I don't hate rap but I despise M&M. And, before you ask, of course I haven't listened to much of him. A little goes too far as it is. And it certainly makes no difference to me that ridiculous little elton john is his little pal.
Maybe I'm a dreary moralist; I can't even stand to read Jean Genet. But Eminem is no Genet.
I hope you don't feel insulted by my saying all this, but, I guess I feel you maybe haven't read a lot of great poetry. I'll hasten to admit that Morrissey has had moments when he wasn't exactly burning bright. His xenophobia is something that is prohibitive of poetry sometimes. Because it's too easy to be xenophobic, too facile to wallow in hatred, it requires not making the effort to penetate some wall that needs to be knocked down to get to the truly profound. A kind of laziness, carelessness, indulgence in willful stupidity, in the end, that precludes poetry. Like thinking it's a great idea to get this tatoo that you will wear the rest of your life of the mrs being decapitated or whatever it is Marshal Mathers has.

Answer:
Originally Posted by supermarky Are you suggesting we ignore ... the substance, the spirit, for the "profound poetry"? Give us a for instance, please. Two lines. One line.
I hope you don't feel insulted by my saying all this, but, I guess I feel you maybe haven't read a lot of great poetry. Well, of course I'm not going to argue with your opinion, but you asked me two questions.
1.) I'm not telling you to ignore his anger, that's what fuels his passion. I'm telling you to look past it until you understand it, because you don't listen to him for this very reason. "I think you'll be doin' just fine if you Relax a little..."
2.) My grandmother got me hooked on Robert Frost after she met him (She used to be an in Republican, she met him at a political party). "Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today, and let us not think so far away." Wasn't he the one that said "Poetry is a reproduction of the tones of actual speech"? Nevermind, I just looked it up, he did. Henry David Thoreau is my all time favorite. I try to live by his thoughts and ramblings from Walden. It's just so simple. It's hard not to believe.
- Rich

Answer:
Sweet baby Jesus, I HATE Eminem so much. UGH!!! So many of the bars around here play his music. He makes me sick.
Misogyny, homophobia... no thank you. I'll stick to positive hip-hop.