WildStyle said:

Lmfao lol

thats some funny shyyt!

paisleypark4 said:

damn he knows all those damn songs
he's more of a fan that i am
mmm that may be a stretch

When I said they were equally talented, of course I didn't mean musicianship! Rap is an art form Stevie could never compete with and being a gifted musician is something Eminem is not. But they are both great at what they do. Good for Eminem making light of the MJ situation. Who else could get away with that? It pisses people off. So what. Freedom of speech, right? Besides, you have to admit....Michael has become quite odd, sad to say.

glamslamkid said:

worship what???? PUHLEASE!!! put u on a graham cracka you would only be a snacka

Steveland said:

To summarize, he thinks Marshall is talented but producing work beneath him by being exploitative.

That's not bashing. That's a respectful rebuke: "You can do better, son. You're better than that."

The celebrity equivalent of, "Pull your pants up."

.
[Edited 12/6/04 20:02pm]

boriquateddy said:

WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO SPEAK BITCH? PUT YOUR MASK BACK ON AND GET TO WORK

pkidwell said:

Thank God for that! I'd be worried for him if he could compete with rappers.

pkidwell said:

Wrong. Eminem is not the Stevie Wonder of rap/hip-hop. He's more like the Wierd Al of rap. Okay, maybe he's a little better than that, but he's certainly not one of the greats. His songs are, save for one, forgettable. To be great takes more than a little talent. You've got to have something important to say and creative ways to say it. In rap you also have to have great beats (not the corny ones he uses on many songs) and perhaps most importantly a good rapping voice which he doesn't have.

Stevie, while he has a right to defend his friend, is over-reacting. Racism shouldn't have even come up. Eminem's song/video is harmless. MJ, guilty or not, has already been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. My suspicion is it's all about the Beatles, Elvis, catalogues. Who knows?

Whatever the case, when MJ admitted to sleeping in his bed with strange boys he all but admitted he was guilty of something.
[Edited 12/6/04 22:03pm]

glamslamkid said:

silly Queens always in the land of make believe

You know, when I saw this video... i thought nothing of the michael jackson. at all. Yes, the nose bit was a bit much, but damn, i believe ive seen much and heard worse of him anyway.. from movies to stand up.. to cartoons..

Its pretty obvious Eminem had his purpose in this. Look at his current position in music.. He cant spoof boy bands.. they really dont exist at this point.. his last two albums have leaned towards a politcal view, and in the midst of the past few years.. Michael Jackson has been a head liner.. and not in the musical news.. It only seems normal for Eminem to jab at him. And obviously it was a wise decision, as far as sales go, and controversy. His mission was accomplished and it was a success.

Its when people pay no mind to his antics and look beyond his brilliant musical controvery.. but when u get icons to bitch and complain about eminem.. it only accounts more massive sales in his part. BET banning his video only helped.. im almost certian.. it made him relevant and intersesting.

Now morally.. Its a different story.. but Eminem is just another link on the chain that pokes fun at Michael.

boriquateddy said:

wow...ya'll actually think calling me a queen hurts my feelings...SORRY!

Now, if you speak again, i'm gonna get the paddle with the spikes on it....

You're still my bitch....from now on.

Sdldawn said:

True. As far as the race thing goes Eminem tho extremely talented gets a pass because he is a white rapper who is acutally good and he is comfortable with that. Much in the Same way Lenny Kravitz get extra attention because he is the only Black rock superstar right now. Eminem is th Great White hope don't let anyone tell you that he gets by on skills alone. He is his own novelty "A White rapper that is not wack and is one of the best. There are waay more rappers (black/ latino) who have harsher things to say in their rhymes. Case in Point Chino XL who has been out the public eye for years but has said things that would give Rush, Neal Boortz,Sean hannity, and Bill O'rielly and all the other self righteous right wingers a Stroke. For example:
"You wack like Will Smith, your rhyme style is pansy
I fuckin murder your young style like Jon Benet Ramsey"

Now if Em said this it would be all in the papers and this is only a mild line from chino.

jacktheimprovident said:

In the rap game, I have only seen a few rap groups that create thier own tracks like BDP, Public Enemy, and Stetsonsonic. With the exception of those gorups, I am incline to agree with you that morst of your points.

Soulchild82 said:

that actually sounds tame compared to killing your wife and cramming her into the trunk of your car.

GrayKing said:

But i think the point stands as far as people in the face of the public.. This whole controvery idea was because of an icon like jackson..

Same for that line in my opinion.. dissin will smith and ripping on a dead child who's been in the papers for years...

His idea of killing his wife was merely concept.. that line is acutally talking about a dead child.

Actually, debating lines isnt a good idea.. simply because the publics gonna be picky and choose which line they wanna bitch about.

There have been PLENTY of things eminems said thats passed.. this shit about jackson is a joke compared to the latter albums. he even said "this is not a stab at michael" Lyrically I dont find him guilty of for anythign jackson wise. its the "poking fun" at an icon. on a video.
[Edited 12/6/04 23:26pm]

Sdldawn said:

i've heard more offensive references to Jon Benet Ramsey during watercooler conversation.

Soulchild82 said:

I am inclined to agree with your commnet about Emenen being the Great White Hope. You hit it right on the head with that comment. Being that he has a racial advantage , he is given a pass.

Hotlegs said:

doesn't really seem that way with people on this forum constantly calling him racist for a video that isn't racist in the least.

pkidwell said:

Stevie showing hsi age? Fuck, I'm 19 and think the video's a piece of flaming shit.

glamslamkid said:

you would like to wish...you think u calling me your bitch is getting me riled, lay off your circuit party drugs already...please the only thing you Master is taking cock up your ASS you silly lame tired power bottom...now get off my dick and tell your Daddy to come here.

boriquateddy said:

I don't really understand any of your posts but anyways

jn2 said:

well if you would take your head out of your ass...further more it don't concern you mind your buisness FUCK FACE!!!!!
:fu:and back at ya twice!!!!!

VoicesCarry said:

Yeah, the award should've gone to Radiohead, imo. Beck's album was pretty good, too. But, hey, it went to Steely Dan. Maybe the eight of them should've shared it.

So many things to comment on in this thread. I hate to criticize one of my favorites (Stevie Wonder) and come to the defense of somebody I don't wholly like as an artist (Eminem), but so be it. Where to start...

First off, I partly agree with Stevie's comment. While I'm not personally offended by Em's "bashing" of MJ in the video and song, I find it in poor taste. Not poor taste as in MJ's beyond parody and mocking, but poor taste as in he is kicking him while he's down. The man's already lost his career, his money by all counts, a lot of his fan base and, by all counts, his sanity. He's too easy a target, and it just seems like a cheap shot. Also, why bother parodying something that's been parodied to death already? I was kinda over the MJ parodies in 1985.

The part of Stevie's argument that doesn't make me comfortable is the implication that Em's success is at the expense of people of color. "He has succeeded on the backs of people predominantly in that lower pay bracket, people of color. So for him to come out like that is bull." I'm not sure point exactly he's trying to make with that comment. Em's never pretended to be something he's not, and he's very aware that he's an oddity in the industry. Had he made it where he is in the biz without the skills to back it up, then I'd see Stevie's point. But the fact is that they are both public figures and are not above being dissected, regardless of their race. It's a bad argument to make.

Secondly, this is about round 45 of the "I don't like him, therefore he doesn't have any talent." This poorly formed argument gets really, really old for me. There are very few people in the music industry who have sustained careers with little or no talent. Before you start listing a string of people, notice that I said "sustained." No matter which way you slice it, and no matter which way you try to attack him, the man's got some serious skills. I don't care if you don't like him; I'm not particularly fond of him myself. Why not recognize his talent and simply say "he's not my cup of tea?" There seem to be a lot of people whose base plan of attack is emphatically denying somebody's talent and saying how much they despise them. It's a boring argument - if you can even call it an argument.

The default criticism of Em for a lot of people is that he's a white man in a predominantly black performance field. That will forever be a detriment, and I'm pretty sure he recognizes that. Why is it a detriment? Because people will always say it is, and the measure of somebody's rhyming skills and lyrical ability is apparently in somebody's skin color. And anybody who says he doesn't have black fans is just being ignorant - I've seen one of his shows, and while there are plenty o' while folks, they're not the only ones there, and they're certainly not the only ones buying his records. He continues to have a career, because he has gained acceptance as a hip-hop artist by the hip-hop community. You may not like it, but it's a fact. Either way, you should get used to him being around, because I don't think he's going anywhere for a long, long time.

boriquateddy said:

BITCH!

circuit party drugs? OOOOOHHHHH!!!!STEREOTYPES!!! I'M SCARED!!!!

LICK MY BOOTS BITCH!!

RipHer2Shreds said:

ya damn skippy. Everybody hates Em but look at how much responses and attention he brings to prince.org.

DavidEye said:

Yes, it should get locked and you know why?? Because it's bullshit. Why doesn't someone like Stevie spend his time and energy on something that actually matters instead of a stupid, silly video. His comments are only going to increase the videos popularity. There are so many other concerns Stevie could have, but he chooses this one - Please folks, Stevie is a musical legend, but his statement about Eminem a waste of time. I guess he just needed some attention seeing as his latest release has been post-poned a million times already.

Luv4oneanotha said:

Because Steely Dan is real music. It's sophisticated and meaningful. Something doesn't have to be popular to be great.

kisscamille said:

Yep, very poor choice on stevies part.. I think im more disapointed in him than anything, it looks like more of a plug on his part for his "new album"

which i still think will be released in the year 2020

kisscamille said:

well of course it doesn't have to be popular to be great
afterall we are at a Prince forum

Steely Dan?
C'om they are like the Broccoli of music,
sure they where cool in the 70's but they havent had a good album out since the early 80's