Eminem Tells Blogs: He Made You
Eminem dropped his first official solo single in four years earlier this week, "We Made You". Some like it, but many more are calling it formulaic, or boring.
Of course Marshall conceded before the video came out that he was returning to a familiar recipe by working with director Joseph Kahn (Without Me) again.
The time between formal releases is important because, gosh, the world has changed so much since Em himself emerged as a game-changer at the turn of the century: Boom to recession, Bush to Obama, Friendster to Twitter. All things considered, looks like we did ok without Em.
But it's worth noting — for the chorus crying about the lack of originality — that Em's last album Encore didn't have one of these celeb-skewering pop-anthems; he's really only made three ("My Name Is," "Without Me," and now "We Made You"). So, um, maybe it's possible the media-fatigue with the formula comes not from Eminem's overuse, but this new media dependency on snarky-punchline-commentary. "Without Me" dropped in 2002, years before folks were asking who or what is TMZ, and a year before Gawker was anonymously tracking brand references in his lyrics. When those sites hit their stride the model was essentially a blog-version of platinum-hit songs like "Without Me" and "We Made You." All to say, Gawker didn't invent snark, Em did (at least for these contemporary times).
In addition to everyone so keenly recognizing the tabloid formula, everyone is also acknowledging Mr. Mather's skills. It's sort of like if Perez Hilton got skinny and cute and funny and talented; then you might begin to begrudgingly but respectfully criticize his "work" instead of calling him a fat piece of shit. But, y'know, that's not the case. But it is with Eminem! No one wants to argue over Eminem's merit as an artist. Oh no no no, they know he's got skills. In fact there's such a uniform line of respect that you wonder if the smell of fear hasn't crept into the analysis, especially since so many of these blogs/pop-critics have risen to the level of identifiable target. Nah, we all know it takes great intellect to find the temerity to critique great artists. Kanye has had huge problems with reconciling this.
The thing is, if Em were to take Vulture's Mark Graham on his suggestion and refresh his Us Weekly subscription, then the song would be better, fresher, and likely more entertaining/compelling than a week or a month's worth of content from Vulture or any of these blogs? So, I don't know, if Em should be conscious of changing things up shouldn't the blogs? That's all I'm saying.
Out of respect for the home turf here, the Gawker crew of writers can diversify. And who knows, if McCain had won the election maybe the political man himself, Pareene, would have mandated a change of tune. Made it a little more political-activist Huffpo like, if you know what I mean.