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"I think we're all a bit puzzled by your professed admiration for M&M considering your own musical talents and skills. I mean, who doesn't sympathize with the esteemed Roger Kimball who recently expressed outrage that a New York Times critic (this is not the leftist political editorial page of NYSlimes we're talking about,) would declare that the midget poseur who goes by the name of "Prince" is this century's Mozart! And here you are declaring M&M the greatest lyricist if not of all time then of this time. As compared to who?"

Perhaps I did not choose my words carefully enough, so your point is 100 percent valid.

I respect that fact that most people here do not think that rap is art, and are turned off by the subject matter. I will not try to covert those people. But rap, however, is indeed an art. It is the art of speaking words that rhyme over background beats meant to accent the rhyming. And yes it is a real talent. Especially freestyle. (Coming up with rhymes off the top of your head without having anything written, which there are even competitions for)

As far as that art form, I will gladly say that Em is the best there is of that genre. I did not intend to say that he is the greatest lyrical writer of all time. But as far as I am concerned lyric writers can even includes poets in a broader sense. Reading back, what I said reads that way, but what I state here is what I really meant to convey. Em is the best rapper that ever lived, to date.

Another point I need to make. Now I see that someone has posted the lyrics to his new song here in the thread. (Which I can't stand, btw) The following explanation applies less to this song and more to other instances of this situation.

And I notice that when a lot of people look at rap, they may read or repeat the lyrics, without ever having heard the song in situ, the way it was meant to be heard. Think about reading this phrase: "You're such a jerk"..

Now what does that mean, in writing? Me calling someone a jerk. But if you heard it spoken, it could be really angry."You're such a jerk!".. or it could be said jokingly.. like me goofing around with my best friend.. or it could be said sarcastically.. like you had done something really nice for me and I was jokingly thanking you, by making a sarcastic remark. Until you hear the intonation and vocalization, you really don't know what the song is about. Think about it.. if you read an essay describing a painting.. do you REALLY know what it looks like? If you read the lyrics, but have not heard the song, I am sorry but you really don't understand the meaning of those lyrics.. it could be total sarcasm for all you know. Bill O'Reilly does this all the time, and has no clue what he is talking about, he has even repeated lyrics as if the artist was saying them, but if you heard the song the artist is merely describing what was said to him as part of a story.

Marshal Mathers is truly gifted. His vocabulary and his use of it, his ability to fit words together in a way that is so slick, they fit together like Tetris pieces. I have a very old recording he did, I believe on a radio station, where a beat was played in the background, and Em was there, sounding VERY young (it's very old) and there are some other people who are blurting out random words, and Marshal then goes off rhyming using those words.. and in an INSTANT he has entire verses composed about the very situation he finds himself in. I am sorry but I do not thin many people can do that. It shows he was gifted at a young age.

Don't misunderstand his appeal, I, like many others do not like him for his vulgar lyrics are his fight with his mom, we like him IN SPITE of that, because his skills as a person who can creatively use the English language are unequaled in the genre. It doesn't matter what he raps about, if he raps about killing his mom, or if he raps about buttering his toast or tying his shoes, if he does it as WELL has he is able to, people will listen. I really don't think much of the people who just latch on the the violence and vulgarity. I think they are missing his real skill.

Also, about his trailer trash shtick. That is not just an act, and he is a person who truly raps about exactly what is going on in his life. Only the first album does he sound like that. In his second album he releases some anger about things that happened once he got famous and got some money. (so called "friends" crawling out of the woodwork who never gave a crap about him before, etc.

In his third album he rapped about his love for his daughter, and other things that are going on in his life at that point, such as his disputes with some other rappers. This new album will be no different. He is a man who truly speaks whatever is on his mind. The trailer park gig ceased when that ceased to be the life he lives. (except for the occasional joke about his past here and there)

I am not trying to make everyone like the guy, but don't read the lyrics to a single song and think you understand this man. His career and his collection of songs to date is VERY dynamic and VERY complex. You can really only grasp it all by sitting and listening to the albums sequentially. I bet you would find a lot you never knew was there.

So, Em, ya really pissed me off with this stupid song, but as long as you keep the music up the the level you've demonstrated, there will still be a place for you in my CD player.

Sorry for the long post, thanks for listening.

Bones