Dallas Penn: Making Stans And Kissing Babies…

Marshall Mathers is clearly one of the more polarizing personalities in rap music. When he is on his ‘A’ game he is part of the considerable pantheon of rappers vying for G.O.A.T. status. When he is only looking to score some pop music bucks he is still better than YOUR favorite arena anthem rapper.

With his latest song ‘Not Afraid‘ Eminem has once again crafted the everyman empowerment song for a generation. Easy to recite and repeat all you need to do is get yourself a Bic cigarette lighter and you are ready for the summer outdoor concert season. This song has instant ‘Stadium Status’.

Don’t think I equate this song’s popularity with great rap music however. More often the inverse is true. While this song will inspire most of us that live in poverty with the notion that we are only one golden ticket away from becoming better people, the song lacks Marshall Mather’s best lyrical efforts. I suppose that was the plan tho’ in order to make this song easily digestible for the masses. When Eminem goes in hardbody he will body the track and anyone else who dares to drop a verse alongside him.

Case in point: Forever

But even when Eminem sells out he still goes in…

Listen: ‘Not Afraid‘

You can try and read my lyrics off of this paper before I lay ’em
But you won’t take this thing out these words before I say ’em
Cause ain’t no way I’m let you stop me from causing mayhem
When I say ’em or do something I do it, I don’t give a damn
What you think, I’m doing this for me, so fuck the world
Feed it beans, it’s gassed up, if a thing’s stopping me
I’ma be what I set out to be, without a doubt undoubtedly
And all those who look down on me I’m tearing down your balcony
No if ands or buts don’t try to ask him why or how can he
From Infinite down to the last Relapse album he’s still shit and
Whether he’s on salary, paid hourly
Until he bows out or he shit’s his bowels out of him
Whichever comes first, for better or worse
He’s married to the game, like a fuck you for christmas
His gift is a curse, forget the earth he’s got the urge
To pull his dick from the dirt and fuck the universe

Ok quit playin’ with the scissors and shit, and cut the crap
I shouldn’t have to rhyme these words in the rhythm for you to know it’s a rap
You said you was king, you lied through your teeth
For that fuck your feelings, instead of getting crowned you’re getting capped
And to the fans, I’ll never let you down again, I’m back
I promise to never go back on that promise, in fact
Let’s be honest, that last Relapse CD was “ehhhh”
Perhaps I ran them accents into the ground
Relax, I ain’t going back to that now
All I’m tryna say is get back, click-clack BLAOW
Cause I ain’t playin’ around
There’s a game called circle and I don’t know how
I’m way too up to back down
But I think I’m still try’na figure this crap out
Thought I had it mapped out but I guess I didn’t
This fucking black cloud’s still follow’s me around
But it’s time to exercise these demons
These motherfuckers are doing jumping jacks now!

It was my decision to get clean, I did it for me
Admittedly I probably did it subliminally for you
So I could come back a brand new me, you helped see me through
And don’t even realize what you did, believe me you
I been through the ringer, but they can do little to the middle finger
I think I got a tear in my eye, I feel like the king of
My world, haters can make like bees with no stingers, and drop dead
No more beef flingers, no more drama from now on, I promise
To focus solely on handling my responsibility’s as a father
So I solemnly swear to always treat this roof like my daughters and raise it
You couldn’t lift a single shingle lonely
Cause the way I feel, I’m strong enough to go to the club
Or the corner pub and lift the whole liquor counter up
Cause I’m raising the bar, I shoot for the moon
But I’m too busy gazing at stars, I feel amazing and…

Eminem’s verses have a total word count of 534 of which 17 are polysyllabic words. The introduction of complex words into rap verses is inherently a display of technical lyrical design. Those of you who are skilled enough to count bars ovestand this issue. You might should kill yourself if you call yourself a rap fan but you can’t wrap your head around this principle.

Marshall Mathers put the stan in the fan, but I have to say relax to all the Eminem stans who claim ‘Not Afraid’ is vintage Slim Shady. This song shows Eminem employing a polysyllabic word for every 31 words used. That doesn’t match his murderous output of 18 per like in the song ‘Forever’ yeut it still shows that if you have the talent you don’t have to make pop music that sounds completely retarded.

Unfortunately it ends up sounding horribly teh ghey.