Most everyone knows who Eminem [Marshall Mathers] is by now--an all or nothing, no holds barred, tell it like it is rapper from Detroit who, like the Beastie Boys before him, broke the color barrier once again by springing on the scene with the help of former N.W.A. member Dr. Dre. Em's intricate rhymes atop Dre's ill West Coast flavored beats spawned a new hip hop sensation whose style and success has yet to be rivaled in the world of mainstream rap culture. One would think that an artist as big as Em wouldn't try to make waves with an all powerful government that can destroy your career in a single heartbeat, but that spotlight is exactly where he needed to be to get his opinion out there.

The position that Eminem is in allows his voice to be heard by, and his message to be spread to millions across the globe. And no, it's not about Michael Jackson, Christopher Reeves, Jessica Simpson, or Christina Aguilera. It's about the impending oppression being perpetrated upon America and the world by the Bush administration. Two of his videos, Mosh and White America, both produced by Guerrilla News Network, have practically become GNN.tv exclusives due to the fact that MTV doesn't give them as much airplay because of their highly charged political content. Even in the lyrics to Mosh he straight up says "Fuck Bush! Until they bring our troops home, come on!" Em took the song to Saturday Night Live where it was heard by millions more. "Strap him with an AK-47, let him go / Fight his own war, let him impress daddy that way." Definitely a far cry from what the radio shoves down our throats on a daily basis. The lead-in to the Mosh video shows actual newspaper headlines referring to "Bush Knew!" [about 9/11], and even depicts Eminem holding the My Pet Goat book [upside-down]. Since its debut, the Mosh video has been hailed as a "breakthrough" achievement and has become a not-so-underground cult phenomena.

Eminem's shown that if you have a voice and a means to be heard, then take that opportunity to bring attention to pertinent issues that everyone's talking about but no one's doing a damn thing to fix. If that means a small fraction of fans are going to tune out, then whatever--there's still going to be so many more that hear the message and act on it. We need more influential artists, like Eminem, who are in the position that he is in to step up to that soapbox and push the truth, no matter what the perceived consequences might be.

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For more on Eminem visit:
http://www.eminem.com                                http://www.shadyrecords.com                                http://www.aftermathmusic.com