Lost, lost, lost…
No, I’m not talking about the kick ass TV show. Actually though, it would be the perfect metaphor. I’m pretty sure at one time or another in everyone’s life there is a point at which you will feel lost. I know I’ve had it more than once. However I always have this focus in the back of my mind, trapped in the dark recesses of my brain where I’m continually drawn back to the thing that drives me. Music.
Sometimes you want to drop everything you’ve done in your past, forget it and start over fresh. In way I’ve done exactly that a few times when I’ve moved from one state to another to find a place where I felt I fit. That’s also a way to find variety, that spice of life. There are times when you’re in your new direction and you wonder if you’ve made a good choice. Again, I press ahead like a bulldozer.
I’m guessing Eminem went through it more times than most people. I think 8 Mile was his Swan Song, or his Operation: Mindcrime, or his White Album. It’s that point where your focus was so dead on and you had your vision come through and it creates a commercial and critical success. Mind you, I was not an instant Eminem fan. Despite that I decided to see the movie and despite a bunch of the Hollywoodization of his story, I changed my mind. Then came a point where I was asked to work on a soundtrack for an Eminem bio. I had to study some of his music and again it changed my view. I started to understand why it is that he hit superstardom with his rapping.
Why do I say that you ask? Well, very little rap is much more than rhythmic ranting. Mind you, some of it fun to listen to. However, it’s not like songs. In steps Eminem. Whether he did it on purpose he brought a real sense of pop song writing to his rapping. In addition to the actual song writing Eminem has an extremely acute and deadly ability to write great lines that paint very pointed pictures in the listeners minds-eye. It doesn’t hurt that he’s capable of stringing a lot of hard rhyme into those lines too.
Could rap experience another resurgence? Sure. Numbers don’t lie, rap is probably in the biggest decline in comparison to the rest of the music industry. It’s probably because the concept of the song is coming back into vogue. Could someone come out and prop rap back up? Yes. Eminem hasn’t put anything out in a while. I would be really interested to see what he’s got up his sleeve. However if another rap artist started spending his/her time going to songwriting camps and seminars, internalizes strong songwriting skills and infuses it with rap, I guarantee that person could become another megastar.
Don’t look to me, I’m not a rapper. But don’t put it past me to infuse some rap into a song on a future album. I won’t lie that having done music for that bio-pic that didn’t see the light of day, that it didn’t rub off on me. Oh what a weird sentence. What I mean is that it influenced me and I’ve got 3 songs that I’m finishing that are rap/song oriented. I’m sure one of them will make the next record.
(** Disclaimer: If Eminem or his label isn’t happy I’ve lost myself in his music, then I’ll have to lose the audio on the server. The post will remain to show that even when lost, I still find focus. **)