A lot has changed since Eminem was a relevant and prolific force in both hip-hop and popular music. It's been ten years(!) since his break-through Slim Shady LP. Back then Clinton was in the White House. The economy was booming. The internet, DVDs and video games hadn't become popular enough to prevent the music industry from seeing their crop of stars sell millions of CDs in a week.
So it's strange to see how little of Marshall Mathers's schtick has changed in the years since he retreated from the spotlight. To watch his new video, "We Made You," is to watch someone plainly trying to remind the public of his existence ("Guess who's back? / Did you miss me?") and take down a few of today's tabloid cover stars; in the video he talks about fucking Sarah Palin, Kim Kardashian and turning both Lindsay Lohan and Portia de Rossi back into heterosexuals. It could be nostalgic if it weren't so clear that Mathers has no idea that his best days are behind him.
But what of those days? When The Marshall Mathers LP hit the airwaves, it was also a critical success, despite the many outspoken critics and politicians who said he was too violent, misogynistic and homophobic for anyone to enjoy.
I never really paid attention to reviews when the album came out. I was in eighth grade and firmly entrenched in my nu-metal, rap-rock phase. So what was it about Eminem's filthy mind that had me crossing over to one of the usual forbidden genres of my upbringing? Swear words of course.
I thought about how as a kid gets into the double-digits age bracket, there's a naturally longing for him or her to not be considered a kid anymore. Ideas and personalities start to develop and the time comes to let go of the Nickelodeon cartoons for something more mature. But here's the catch - that kid is still a long way from mature, and unless they are decidedly gifted, like a certain girl in my class who did a sixth grade project on the Bronte sisters, the next steps are just equally juvenile takes on adult humor. Along side South Park, Eminem was the cartoon for the kid who wanted to seem more adult and mature, the stepping stone towards being able to handle violence and profanity in entertainment, without being too challenging intellectually.
I doubt this new crop of pre-teens will feel the same way about Eminem as I did when he first started taking down easy targets on MTV. South Park at least continued and adapted through the years, consistently taking down easy targets week after week like a cruder, animated version of Saturday Night Live. But Eminem's been out of his game for some time now, settling down with rote party-songs like "Ass Like That." To find him treading old ground again, it's hard to believe he was considered one of the greatest MCs ever.
