Next week I will be presenting about 2000s Hip-Hop & Rap incorporating the artist Eminem featuring one of his top hips called “lose yourself”. A very talented and misunderstood rapper, real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers lll, He had a rough upbringing, his father left him when he was just a baby, and his mom was mentally ill with Munchausen syndrome and used to beat him constantly, as Eminem admitted to in the 1999 interview with Howard Stern.

Eminem was bullied growing up, and one time he got beaten so bad he got a concussion and had to relearn basic skills slowly to regain his full consciousness, this experience was inspired by his song “brain damage”. This is why Eminem is well respected, because all of his music has a reason, and comes from personal experience, but this is also why he is misunderstood, because people don’t realize he is only speaking his feelings from his upbringing, he admitted this multiple time in his books and interviews.

Before Eminem got a record deal he was known for his underground rap and rap battles that eventually got him noticed by Andre Romelle Young. Bbetter known by his stage name Dr.Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics. Dre was previously the co-owner of and artist of Death Row Records. He has produced albums for and overseen the careers of many rappers, including 2Pac, The D.O.C. Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Xzibit, Knoc-turn’al, 50 Cent, The Game and Kendrick Lamar.

Although Eminem was underestimated before he was famous, it took a lot of convincing for Eminem to win respect because of his race, but most people realize hip hop is a social political movement meant for people who grew up in the ghetto to find a voice through hip hop, like Eminem, not for specific races. Eminem is always real, never faked an accent when rapping, always respected the hip hop culture and black history and culture, he is now an iconic legend that will forever be known and continues to inspire many rappers. In my personal opinion and to many others that are rap fans/ Eminem fans, I believe that Eminem is probably one of the greatest rappers to ever come out and make it. He is truly a lyrical genius with a style of rap that no one else can compare to.

This week we began talking about metal in the 1980s. The metal in the 1980s carried forward legacy of the 70s rock. The metal is guitar driven and venturous with a transgressive aspect. The first song we listened to and discussed was “I wanna rock”. The music video was something different and out of the ordinary. As mentioned in class it has a flamboyant look/feel to it. The make-up and hair in the music video is very out of the ordinary for a male to wear/look like. When I first heard this song, I did not think the band would look how they did. The visuals definitely add to the song and make it over the top. Here I go again- is a song about the singer running away from a relationship. But in the video, it does not seem like he is running away. Tawney Kitten was the model in the video and was dating the lead singer at the time. At the end of the video Tawney Kitten gets hauled away by the “sex police”. The metaphor of the song is mostly about being under the power of female sexuality. Moving on we began talking about Madonna who remade the image of women pop stars. She not only changes women’s view for sex objects, but also subjects in control of image. Madonna used sec to critique attitudes and boundaries. Madonna controlled her image very differently and much better than other previous pop stars could do. One of the songs we began talking about was “like a prayer”. Like a prayer was sexualized in various ways. The lyrics in a way kind of talks about sex in a sense. But the video make it seem like a type of religion, but what is odd is that its frowned upon to mix sex, with religion. The racial aspect is very odd as well. Madonna is speaking to an African American priest and the choir is also all black. I’m honestly not really sure what to think about all of this other than its very odd to me. Next, was “open your heart” which was another very odd music video. Madonna is talking about opening your heart in a love sense, but the scene in the video is a peep show with all different types of males of all ages. From young kids, to young gay adults in uniform, to an older guy that looks like he’s in his 70s. Another odd aspect is that at the end of the video Madonna kisses the young boy and runs off with him. Two interpretations of this could be a inappropriate relationship or another way to view this would be to having a good relationship with your child. I think this video is meant to be notioned that mothers could be both sexy but also have the proper loving relationship between mother and child.