Have you listened to much of his recent work? To my ear it sounds almost worse than his earlier work. And I don't even think the most recent song I listened to from him had anything "un-PC" that jumped out at me.
Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Nas X and the like don’t try to milk the language for what it’s worth, it’s all ‘my pussy this, my pussy that, girls rock’, they don’t break words into syllables and rhyme the syllables separately or construct two words out of one, they don’t make in-jokes on different parts of different words in verses and he still does. So in terms of reviewing the technical craft of rapping, yes, I think he still deserves a whole lot of credit, more so than the ‘girl power’ gang - and on a personal level, he especially deserves credit for being ironic about it, ironic about the unrealistic standards for veteran artists and ironic about admitting that he will never be as good as he was. That in itself takes self-reflection and guts. (I never in a million years expected us to actually be discussing Eminem in depth so I apologise to everyone who may find it irrelevant and annoying).
I agree with the criticism that he is entirely solipsistic, me-me-me, yes, it’s annoying, but Cardi B is exactly the same level of me-me-me - ‘Cardi bad bitch this, Cardi bad bitch that, Cardi run New York’, how is that any more insightful? What’s the difference?
It’s not like there is much substance to what Cardi B ever said, whereas Eminem always used to deliver pretty good satire and, more recently, self-parody. It’s like what Scorsese is being criticised for with The Irishman, oh, it's too long, well, this is craft, but people just get bored. That’s understandable, but is that reason enough to lower the technical standards?
And why wouldn’t they keep going in the same direction if ‘that’s who they are’, to throw a buzz phase in? Cardi B just gets an unfair advantage because she happens to be in the zeitgeist, but that also makes things ever so much easier for her. She didn’t need to reconstruct the entire genre, she’s just riding the girl power bandwagon.
Most of what I wrote above applies to what I see in the film industry: people don’t take risks that come anywhere near those taken by true pioneers, even Nolan at the time, when he made super-brainy sci-fi that no one could understand. He still does, as Tenet shows, and I think that in itself is laudable. I get a feeling that no one wants to work on the craft at all anymore or even take it into consideration, be it in rap or in filmmaking. Honestly, making Wonder Woman/Captain Marvel is so much easier and less risky than making Tenet. The same applies to the saga of the pulled release of The Hunt. Someone tries to do something remotely risqué and non-PC, and lo and behold, you’re delayed by two years.
So that comes back to your point about reviewers caring about what’s fun (and trendy, I’d add). That’s undeniably true, but to me, that’s quite sad and disconcerting and I’m disappointed that my kids are unlikely to see any kind of respect for technical expertise in any professional medium, be it film, rap or painting. This ‘personal’/‘humanity-driven’ approach breeds mediocrity is what it does. You do know songs are getting shorter (under 3 minutes) because people get paid by streams and you can get more streams in with shorter songs? The hooks also come much earlier into the song as otherwise people won’t bother listening on. I mean, this makes me think of the film Idiocracy. As in, that we’re living in it. So no, I will never, ever accept an argument for the ‘fun’ approach to reviewing anything at the expense of technical expertise and craft. Mr Minio and some others above have also pointed out that there’s an undeniable element of educating oneself when delving into anything and that includes getting to appreciate the technicalities of craft.
There is a difference between a movie that shows an uncomfortable dynamic and a film that people feel may do actual harm to them. It also comes down to individual vs common good. If there is a movie that I watch that makes me fearful about motherhood, that impacts me. If I watch a film in which I am exposed (without context) to portrayals of people of a certain race/sexuality/gender, that has the potential to negatively impact people I come in contact with.
I certainly agree with you that the HOW matters, but in my experience (and I continue to keep a close eye on all developments in education), critical thinking is being actively discouraged. If a student ‘formerly known as Joe’ (I’m looking at you, Prince) comes to class and says ‘I’m Jane now’ and everyone calls the person Jane just like that, including the teacher, and there’s no critical discussion about why Joe might be doing this, and then if Jane changes her mind a month later and bam, she’s Joe again, that, to me, is the opposite of critical thinking. Same with banning Spacey from working and supporting victims of Me Too, Time’s Up etc with absolutely no thought given to the obvious benefits these people reap from upsetting the status quo.
Last edited by AgrippinaX; 06-13-21 at 05:48 PM.