On the pages of a comic book or up on movie screens, superheroes live double lives. They possess talents and powers beyond normal human capabilities. Whether admired or despised, they have closely watched and highly scrutinized public personas. Yet, they also are shrouded in mystery, walking the fine line between anonymity and notoriety. They live behind a mask or cape, usually to hide their traumatic and conflicted pasts. But, as seen in the recent film hit Spiderman, being a superhero is paradoxically both a gift and a curse.
In our pop culture, the closest equivalent to Peter Parker is Marshall Mathers, the masterful rapper known as Eminem -- who was not bitten by a genetically enhanced spider, but rather a bug for intricate rhyming. Instead of fighting crime, he has directed his venom at his detractors, fellow pop stars and his absentee family members. His ultimate goal now isn't quite saving humanity, but rather to protect free speech and galvanize the recording industry's stagnate record sales.
The Detroit native has always been a crafty rhymer, as shown by his previous two solo albums and a slew of guest appearances. He has the ability to crisply command each syllable and breath, and to dance upon melodic tracks with linguistic lunacy. But with greater power comes responsibility, and besides his obvious gift for rapping, the anger and emotion of Eminem's words have typically been aimless and destructive. He was known through his music as a social deviant, a homphobe and misogynist, who "doesn't really give a fuck" if he corrupts the minds of American youth. Even with words that have been his most powerful weapon, he has hidden behind fast moving rhyme schemes and ignornant slurs, possibly to avoid dealing with the problems and issues from his own life.
On his latest album, The Eminem Show, though, Mathers opens up, and gives an invitation to explore the depths of his genius and disturbed mind. It is a breakthrough for Eminem as an artist, Hip-Hop music and youth culture at large. For the first time, Eminem molds his words and his voice to speak from his heart and to direct his anger. He is the quintessential tragic comic book hero on Show -- fusing humility, honesty, passion, and his own hubris into this twenty track offering. On Show he finally stretches his previous artistic limitations, and in the process never really misses a step.
From the title and the album's lyrical content, its clear Eminem is ambivalent about his position as both a venerated public icon and as a public enemy. The fact he is struggling with his role as spokesperson of a generation highlights the complexity of his life, and that is reflected all over this work. On the irresistible and intelligent single "Without Me" and boastful "Business," Em juggles labyrinthian banter in his own truly witty and animated style. He also easily transforms into a social and political critic, on "Square Dance" where he plans "to ambush this Bush administration... push this generation of kids to stand and fight for the right to say somethin'." On the brilliant "White America," the rapper says, "Look at my sales, Let's do the math; if I was black, I woulda sold half." Here, and on other tracks, he offers some of the realest and most salient racial commentary recorded in the past decade. And, when Eminem turns the camera of Show onto himself, he becomes the most vulnerable, and in turn those tracks are the album's strongest. Tracks like "Cleanin' Out My Closet" and "Sing for the Moment" give an articulate and poignant voice to those kids from broken homes who are the victims of domestic abuse.
Eminem is a superhero of sorts -- blessed with the gift to rhyme and forced to deal with the responsibility that comes with it. As he spits on the reflective "Say Goodbye to Hollywood," "I'm trapped, if I could go back, I never woulda rapped." That very sentiment makes this album so special. It is clear he uses rhyme as a means of therapy, to exorcise his own demons from the past. As listeners we have watched him perfect this outlet, and have witnessed a transformation from each album to the next. His outlandish style is still a bit offensive, as his inexcusable uses of homophobic and misogynistic are repugnant and unnecessary. But yet, as he grows, it is clear his anger is becoming directed where it was previously aimless, and he is finally able to address the need for a change in those societal values that ironically created his own sick sense of reality. As non-sensical and pessimistic as Eminem is, his Show is an artistic vanguard and can give us all hope that this rhyming superhero has stepped out of the shadows to truly find himself and yes, eventually save the world.
