New Urban "So What Was That That Happened?" - That time Eminem came from out of nowhere to deliver ferocious commentary on today's social issues at the #bethiphopawards
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| credit: via Marshall Mathers' Twitter @eminem |
G.O.A.T. (noun) acronym for "greatest of all time".
to snatch someone's wig (verb) the abrupt and unexpected airing out of the dishonesty of an unscrupulous liar... in front of many, many people. Wig snatching attempts to avenge previous wrongdoings and lies perpetrated against victims of aforementioned liar, backed from truths and facts of their previous deeds and actions.
cipher (noun) two or more rappers freestyling together in an informal context, sometimes as a battle contest, or simply playing off of one another.
bars (noun) well-composed sentences in lyrical hip hop songs.
So, this is one of those days when, if your own 73 year-old mother calls to inform you that a hip hop icon has verbally snatched the wig off of the Leader of the Free World, suffice it to say that (well, not only does she continually surprise you regarding the depths of her familiarity with American pop culture, but) one's curiosity hits a bit of a peak & wants to know, "so wait, what exactly happened that it's now the trending topic of the moment - especially to the point of media outlets combusting?"
Well, the long and short of it is that Marshall Mathers, the hip-hop artist otherwise known as Eminem stepped out to make a rare tv appearance at this week's Black Entertainment Television Hip Hop Awards: Slim Shady appeared via live feed from the financially crippled city of Detroit, Michigan (the state he has lived since childhood) to deliver a scalding (we mean, really, really blistering ) freestyle rap critiquing the current State of the Union in America that left eyes bulging & jaws dropping from sea to shining sea.
Despite a troubled history with family, marital, and prescription drug dependency issues, the Oscar & Grammy awarding winning rapper/producer/ actor has over 172 million albums sold globally to his credit, owns a hip hop radio station distributed via Sirius Radio (Shade 45), and holds a unique place within the traditionally black and brown musical genre of rap in America- often referred to as a member of that critically celebrated, select group of pop culture creators in urban American communities of color affectionately known as G.O.A.T. For those unfamiliar with the music, Hip-Hop in and of itself is a culture where rap is one of its' basic elements. The root of rap music begins first and foremost with the rapper's ability to well, actually write clever, poetic lyrics (and their ability deliver them with expertise, known as orality), and a rapper's critical credibility usually comes from their technical prowess for freestyling -the skill in which in which they create lucid, complex rhyme schemes off the top of their head at the drop of a dime. Eminem's rapping and writing ability is particularly noted and respected for his witty (sometimes humorous or sometimes dark & brutal) word play- using melody, syncopation & often bending his words into his rhymes. He is also a renowned "battle rapper", which, similar to its' black American cultural predecessor "Doing The Dozens", battle rapping is the art of trading barbed, rhyming insults against an opponent in a contest setting- very much like the poetic verbal fencing popular in 5th-15th century Europe known as 'flyting'.
And so it was October 10th, 2017 on the BET Hippity-Hop Awards. Popular music's most famous battle rapper was back for a US appearance for one night only. Each year, the BET telecast breaks away from the actual awards ceremony to spotlight a number of ciphers, featuring veteran artists paired with newcomers and rising stars for a bit of improvised interplay rapping their best bars. As the veteran of the evening, Eminem's appearance was highly touted and highly anticipated. After all, who doesn't cave in to a bit of nostalgia when we trot our best-selling "Old-Timers" out on awards shows to show the new kids how Old Folks did things back in the Olden Days...and yes, forty-four years old is considered ancient in today's music culture. So sure, we were interested to see the now middle-aged corporate businessman trade his CEO hat for his signature stage hoodie - and bring on the lyrical acrobatics & verbal joust with the themes of the day.
Now, to be fair, we knew Marshall would bring fire and intensity to this scenario. He is, first and foremost, a provocative artist that has garnered a lot of controversy over 25 years for defying political correctness & calling out hypocrisy in his lyrics, whether the theme is dark or comic in nature. The cipher began with a few fits and starts, however, while we knew that probably meant his alter ego Slim Shady was gathering himself to change course into a different direction...we (and a whole lot of other folks watching) didn't expect what was coming, at all:
*PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE LYRICS CONTAINED IN THE FOLLOWING VIDEO CONTAIN LANGUAGE THAT IS NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK OR MINORS, in fact, we highly recommend the use of headphones where appropriate *
Trolling N.Korea, Gun Law Reform, A Maxed Out Travel Budget that's Depleting other Budgets for the US State Department, Broken Campaign Promises, Outright Campaign Lies, the Rise of Open White Supremacy, Neglect of Puerto Rico & Military Veterans, the Dismantling of the Obama Presidential Legacy, and the NFL Protests Racial Injustice...all in four minutes and thirty-four seconds...off the head, and clearly enunciated.
As of the completion of this blog post, in an unusual tendency, the current US President has yet to respond to social media's #1 trending topic via Twitter.
For this blog post, we's like to extend special thanks to Grandma NUY70+ & Co. for the lead information on this story in between their daily senior citizen activities, and rounds of playing Bridge & iPad Candy Crush Saga.
