[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: The unlikely election activist: Eminem

Mon Nov 1 00:10:50 PST 2004

>
>
>[To view the Mosh video online, go to the Guerrilla News
>Network site: http://www.gnn.tv/content/eminem_mosh.html
>-- moderator]
>
>Eminem, Anti-Hero
>By Davina Baum, AlterNet
>Posted on October 29, 2004, Printed on October 29, 2004
>AlterNet
><http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/20345/>
>
>There was merely a ripple in the cultural zeitgeist when
>Bruce Springsteen put aside his genial nonpartisan
>everyman stance and headlined the Vote for Change
>concerts, benefiting America Coming Together (ACT), and
>ultimately, John Kerry. No one blinked when Ani diFranco
>set off on her own tour, boldly titled Vote Dammit. Same
>with Moby, who has worn his politics on his sleeve from
>day one. And no eyebrows were raised when P. Diddy, in
>typical Diddy style, came out big and loud with his Vote
>or Die campaign ... which as usual seemed to be more
>about Diddy than anything else.
>
>But Eminem ... the man who George Bush once called "the
>most dangerous threat to American children since polio"
>.. could be the true October surprise.
>
>Eminem is one of the least likely artists to come out
>with an overtly political message and a rallying call to
>youth, yet eight days before the election Eminem
>released "Mosh," the second single from his forthcoming
>album "Encore," scheduled for release on Nov. 6. Solidly
>established as an anti-hero, reveling in the fact that
>his words and actions ... pulling a gun on his ex-wife's
>boyfriend, rapping about "fags" and then making nice
>with Elton John or mooning fans at the MTV Video Music
>Awards ... were not to be followed, analyzed, or
>mimicked, Eminem seemed content to remain the angry
>young man with a wicked flow, biting lyrics and
>astronomical record sales.
>
>Instead, he releases a rousing call to arms for the hip
>hop generation to take back the government that seeks to
>represent them. He even proclaims himself their leader.
>Surprise indeed.
>
>With "Mosh," Eminem ... the most polarizing musician of
>our times ... takes on the most polarizing election of
>our times.
>
>In the video, Eminem leads a mob fired up and
>politicized by four years of outrage and anger at the
>Bush administration. Clad in black hoodies, fists
>raised, the angry young men and women descend on a state
>building ... to vote.
>
>Chunky black-and-white illustrated figures on a moody,
>sepia-toned landscape play out the frustration and angst
>of a generation. One young Iraq veteran returns home, to
>be met by his wife and children and a notice of
>reassignment; "Fuck Bush" is the accompanying lyric he
>spits out. Then he dons a black hoodie and joins the
>mob. A single mother comes home, groceries in hand, and
>opens an eviction notice while news of a tax cut for the
>rich plays on the television ... she dons a black hoodie
>and joins the mob.
>
>Eminem leads the crowd, providing "spark" to the chorus:
>
>   "Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
>   As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
>   Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
>   Come with me and I won't steer you wrong
>   Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through
>   the fog
>   To the light at the end of the tunnel
>   We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we
>   gonna march
>   Through the swamp, we gonna mosh through the marsh
>   Take us right through the doors (c'mon)"
>
>The video was produced, directed and edited by Ian Inaba
>of the Guerilla News Network, who didn't necessarily
>have Eminem in mind when he came up with the concept.
>Inaba, also a contributor to GNN's new book "True Lies"
>(The Penguin Group, 2004), concurs that the song and the
>video have altered the left's perception of one of its
>favorite whipping boys: "People who have been critical
>are now saying positive things about him," Inaba tells
>AlterNet. "I think he's matured a lot as an artist and
>he's a very hard working and intelligent artist. And I
>think this song and his effort is showing people that."
>
>This sea change in public perception occurred in less
>than five days. The video was finished on Monday, Oct.
>25, and posted at gnn.tv on the same day. After rumors
>that MTV would refuse to air it, the video appeared on
>Total Request Live on Tuesday; it's currently No. 1 on
>the charts.
>
>So Inaba and Eminem were a fortuitous pairing. The video
>was first a concept in search of a song, but when Inaba,
>who had worked with Eminem on his last album, heard the
>song, he felt it was the perfect fit. "I wanted to do a
>voting video," he says. "[We were] trying to come out
>with it right before the election ... hopefully a little
>earlier than we ultimately did." Inaba shopped it around
>to record labels, landing at Interscope, looking to see
>who among the label's artists would be releasing an
>album near the election. "The video's content was pretty
>well established in my head when I went to his
>management so we were both kind of surprised when I
>heard the song. You know it couldn't have been a better
>song," says Inaba.
>
>"Mosh" couldn't have fit better with the concept, and
>Inaba considers Eminem's nation of listeners a powerful
>bloc who otherwise wouldn't have heard the message: "We
>heard the song, we knew it was gonna have the reach, you
>know we could have gone with other artists, but he's got
>reach into swing states, into middle America, and
>that's, you know, a powerful thing." Think of it as the
>Michael Moore effect on an Xbox.
>
>Indeed, in a nation where undecided-voter frenzy has
>reached a fever pitch, the hip hop generation has been a
>favorite target. According to the U.S. Census Bureau,
>there are 26.7 million Americans between the ages of 18
>and 24, and only 8.6 million of them ... about 32
>percent ... voted in the 2000 presidential elections,
>meaning two of every three did not vote.
>
>Reactions to the video have been dramatic. Moby, whose
>history with Eminem is stained with vitriol, has been
>effusive: "Wow, you know that Eminem and I have had our
>differences in the past, but this video is the best
>thing that I've seen all year. It's an amazing song and
>an even more amazing video. Please go watch." The
>"differences" that Moby blithely refers to include a
>call-out in Eminem's 2002 release "Without Me": "You 36-
>year-old boy fag, blow me/ You don't know me, you're too
>old, let go/ It's over, nobody listens to techno."
>
>Inaba thinks the response has been amazing ... and if
>the goal is getting out the vote, he believes that the
>video is a success: "We've gotten a lot of responses on
>message boards, on blog sites, things like that; kids
>saying, 'I wasn't gonna vote and I saw this video and
>it's really transformative and I'm now gonna go out and
>vote.'"
>
>Naturally, the hip hop generation is watching, and
>talking. On MTV.com's "You Tell Us" feature, reactions
>are strong. Kyle, a 22-year-old from Ithaca, N.Y. says:
>"Not since Chuck D has a hip hop artist spoken so
>eloquently of the power in numbers. If we stand up as a
>bloc and vote, both the president and the senator will
>have no choice but to listen."
>
>Nineteen-year-old Kelley from Apple Valley, Minn. has a
>different take: "I am completely appalled by Eminem's
>'Mosh' video. He may have his own opinions about our
>president, but there should be no reason that he has to
>come out with this Bush-bashing video a week before the
>election. I am a huge Eminem fan, but this is extremely
>upsetting. I am also afraid that people will watch this
>video and be corrupted by what he is portraying, and
>that is a false image of President Bush."
>
>Eminem, not surprisingly, disagrees. In an advance
>report of a poorly timed interview in Rolling Stone
>(appearing in the Nov. 5 issue), he is quoted as saying:
>
>   "[Bush] has been painted to be this hero, and he's got
>   our troops over there dying for no reason ... I think
>   he started a mess ... He jumped the gun, and he fucked
>   up so bad he doesn't know what to do right now ... We
>   got young people over there dyin', kids in their
>   teens, early 20s that should have futures ahead of
>   them. And for what? It seems like a Vietnam 2. bin
>   Laden attacked us, and we attacked Saddam. Explain why
>   that is. Give us some answers."
>
>According to the article, Eminem won't endorse a
>candidate: "'Whatever my decision is, I would like to
>see Bush out of office,' Eminem says. 'I don't wanna see
>my little brother get drafted ... he just turned
>eighteen. People think their votes don't count, but
>people need to get out and vote. Every motherfuckin'
>vote counts.'"
>
>If the video augurs anything, those votes will be
>legion. Eminem ends the song as a line of voters
>stretches out into the distance:
>
>   "As we set aside our differences
>   And assemble our own army
>   To disarm this weapon of mass destruction
>   That we call our president, for the present
>   And mosh for the future of our next generation
>   To speak and be heard
>   Mr. President, Mr. Senator
>   Do you guys hear us?"
>
>Well, do you?
>(c) 2004 Independent Media Institute. All rights
>reserved.
>
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand