Nelson Mandela turning 90, Eminem to MC
So it was announced today that Eminem is coming out of retirement to perform at the 90th birthday party for Nelson Mandela. I can’t think of a better performer to honor a man that has won over 100 awards for his work towards peace and unity on this planet (including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993) then Mr. Marshal Mathers (take special note of the non-violent depiction of him on the left holding a machette). Mr. Madella suffered in a prison for over 27 years as a result of his struggle against white men who took control of Africa under a little thing known as Apartheid in which the country was segregated into acceptable racial groups and those that were any color other than white were systematically shit upon. In that same spirit, a white guy from Detroit who crossed over the lines of a racially divided music industry in the early 1990s, dominating the urban street language of hip-hop and ganster rap, outselling every black performer to every lay down some funcky beats will perform. Despite this strange irony, Mr. Mandela's work in the realm of peaceful solutions to world problems is reflected in Eminems music with woefully poetic lyrics like…
“.. I said you don't, wanna f--- with Shady (cause why?)
Cause Shady, will f---ing kill you (ah-ha ha)
I said you don't, wanna f--- with Shady (why?)
Cause Shady, will f---ing kill you..”
Or
“Left the keys in the van, with a gat in each hand
Went up in Eastland and shot a policeman”
Or
The fact that he uses the “N” word at least once in just about every song. I can only imagine the look on Mr. Mandela’s face when that word gets fired from the mic every ten seconds.
Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy hip-hop as much as the next middle class white guy, but of all the people to represent the life of Nelson Mandela this is who they pick? The only thing that would make this funnier is if they asked the Spice Girls to also be there…. Oh wait, they did that too. Sounds like this shin-dig is gonna be a real hum-dinger!
Official ITD Rating: One white guy co-opting black culture out of five