Whatever You Say I Am_ The Life and Times of Eminem - Anthony Bozza [125]
See what you see: Eminem in 1999.
Even if American entertainment and morals take a turn for the puritanical, Eminem, by revealing his humanity and sharing his life, has been accepted by those he lived to bait. He may choose to lose his new fans by extreme acts of impropriety, but given the content that’s already been presented, he will be hard-pressed to top himself. “He might be such a genius, though, that he is one of those people like Madonna, who have their shit so worked out and are so strong that he could become basically institutionalized in mass culture and still be transgressive and powerful enough that he will still be interesting,” Sasha Frere-Jones says. “He probably isn’t going to be like Bob Dylan, have a motorcycle accident and decide he wants to do thrash, or become Christian, which I think could be totally interesting.”
A listen to the singles Eminem has recorded or rapped on between his studio albums provides some clues to the stylistic changes he is pursuing. Judging by the Benzino response tracks that Eminem recorded at the end of 2002 and his verse on “Go to Sleep” performed with DMX and Obie Trice for the Cradle 2 the Grave soundtrack, Eminem may continue the hardcore style of songs such as “Till I Collapse” and “Soldier” from The Eminem Show or “The Way I Am” from The Marshall Mathers LP. If so, gone will be the characteristic humor, perhaps for good, leaving only the limits of Eminem’s intensity.
Whether Eminem will deliver another episode of his life for us to devour, inhabited by Kim Scott, his mother, those who oppose him, or the light of his life Hailie, is unclear. It is improbable that Eminem’s private and public life will simultaneously reach the feverish peak of 2001, though the Brady/Shady Bunch conditions of Eminem’s new home life could prove to be interesting fodder. An older Eminem may begin to look outward and comment on society at large more than he has in the past. A political Eminem, as moments of “Square Dance” from The Eminem Show indicate, would really be something. One thing Eminem has made clear is that when he has nothing left to say, he will put down the mike.
“All that Eminem has to do is just be a great rapper,” says André of OutKast. “What’s happened with his career, it really is a phenomenon. Him being white definitely helped a lot, but really it is a phenomenon. I listen to him rap, this white dude, and he’s got perfect timing. He listened; he paid attention. He’s proved that, so now he can do anything. As far as his music, he’s done his work, so he can play now. I don’t mean he can go and not give a fuck about music anymore, I mean he can do whatever he wants. He can change the backdrop, the musical style, the tempo, the delivery—anything.”
“I think Eminem is going to have a really long, amazing career,” Sia Michel says. “In terms of how many more albums he’s going to make, I don’t know if he’ll make that many more. But the way he’s dealt with something like 50 Cent and his label and the film role, I think he’s going to be the white equivalent of some of the black stars who are diversified, like a Queen Latifah or an LL Cool J. He’ll be someone who acts, produces, and performs.”
If Eminem retired today, he would retire as a legend. He has changed hip-hop and pop culture forever, not just with his talent, but by personifying a true cultural cross-pollination and the new racial paradigm in America. He honed his craft in an underground culture in which race is an issue to some, but authenticity, talent, and innovation rule all, and he brought those values to the mainstream. It is the hip-hop code by which so many live their lives in this country and around the world, as the culture’s influence continues to spread.
“Hip-hop is so multicultural,” Eminem said in 1999. “There’s gonna be Korean rappers, Lebanese, Japanese—every culture.