Early nomination for "Most Unhelpful Post."

i just like to thank jay for this nomination and.....sniff! ...i like to thank my wife for those horriable ....hot dog pies........again thank you very much,,,,sniff! ....this means so much !!..............

Is the coast clear to criticize rap without being considered racist?

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Not quite (Hee Hee).

As for Eminem, I've never thought he wanted to be black.  He ended up being associated with a lot of black people just by being involved in rap.  He doesn't come across as a poser on stage or during interviews (where posing would be obvious).

Smith has always been a valid, respected voice in Hip Hop to those with any sense of its history.

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No.  From the beginning, there have been fans, industry players, critics, reviewers who didn't consider Smith a valid hip hop artist - Eminem being one of them.  Is he part of hip hop history?  Yes.  Is he a valid hip hop artist?  I guess that an informed opinon.  I think he is, but clearly there were and still are those who think otherwise.  That's just the nature of the thing.  Some don't consider Ja Rule valid...

"...to those with any sense of history."

(Oh, and Eminem had nothing but positive things to say about Will Smith up until the point when Smith made a comment about not having to curse or be negative in his songs to sell records.  Mathers took it as a direct attack on the type of music he does and responded with a verbal assault of his own.  I have never read or heard anything that would indicate Eminem felt that Will Smith was not a valid Hip Hop artist.)

So, of course, I long ago abandoned any attempt to couch my posts in PC phrasing. The combination of herd mentality and auto-contrarianism strips some people of anything even approaching independent thought, so trying to phrase a comment so that its meaning will actually get thru to them is like trying to bail out the Titanic with a thimble.

Takes too long to type. Threnace?

Wallace, I didn't mean to make it seem Em vs. Will.  Maybe they're big fans of each other's work.  Whatever.

But there are clearly people with a sense of history who don't consider Will a valid hip hop artist even though he raps and has sold many, many records doing so.  And this isn't revisionist history.  From the moment he hit the national charts, people were dogging him and kept on.

Of course, some of it is jealousy.  He crossed over as a recording artist and that makes for bitter feelings (to which Nelly can attest).  I can't even describe what Will has done as an actor and movie star - seeing that he began as a rapper.

The title is meant to be tongue in cheek isn't it?  'Threat or Menace' indicating that these are the only options (non-options, synonyms) that some will consider - that the issue is a closed one as far as they are concerned and their positions entrenched.

Is the coast clear to criticize rap without being considered racist?

Michael Gambon, I understand, is a fan of Eminem's (and presumably other rappers too) because, he says, it is the only place left in modern society where one hears the rhythms of poetry, the rhythms of Shakespeare. (Shakespeare's iambic metre doesn't seem as appropriate as anapest or trochees but anyway...)  

I also thought 8 Mile to be a very good movie with a strong (albeit one note) central performance...watching it I could see the craft that went into the art and understand what others found to celebrate in it.

But to me, it is still awful.  In The Last Boy Scout, when told he is to be made to feel pain, Bruce Willis' character says 'Play some rap music'.  Sums it up for me.

Don't think this makes me racist though.