by EminemBase » Aug 13th, '13, 12:22
You missed out "Who Knew" yo. A lot of MMLP material is politically-conscious and by far his most socially-conscious,and,politically-conscious album - people kind of don't notice it as much because it's weaved throughout the material, but the entire album is a giant anti-censorship statement, with tons of commentary on bullying, race relations, corruption, just all kinds of little political commentary which is far sharper and more relevant than most blatantly 'political rappers' who overstate the point and write very obviously.
Those songs you have listed here as his most blatantly 'ON POLITICS' songs but, much of his best political lyricism is in-between the lines. A lot of people never considered / picked up on Em being such a political rapper, they think you have to explicitly write a song ON AN ISSUE to be that, but Em was always too artistic and conscious of being obvious and corny to do that...
A lot of political rappers which people think aren't obvious, are, and who people think are more political than Em... aren't. Em always seemed to know that just saying "THIS IS WRONG" is shitty art, that's just a literal and obvious, crowd-winning sentiment... he weaved his statements through character, situational humor etc. SUCH AS "so who's bringing the guns in this country?... " that whole segment; things like that which just seem off-hand and taking the piss, he's still actually often saying something and making a point without simply stating it...
He gets that art should make you realize truth, not just BE IT. Well, except when he does his introspective bullshit, which is why that stuff bores me so much. I mean, even then he applies some kind of story or concept in some sense. But still... yawn.
He could have material for days if he just started relating things OUTWARD again... he's still got the wit, the potential, the genius, the rhymes, the skill... he's just too inward.
One critic put it best, in regards to Recovery... they referred to it as something like 'the most insular of all his releases'... in a way he's how you'd expect him to be; and he's aware of it; a kind of... self-obsessed nut job forever picking apart his own contradictions and insanity, and he makes it funny and interesting... but he's absolutely decimated his own mind so much that at this point... if he could just look outward again and use real societal issues and moments... his material would have so much more clout.