Eminem and Gary Sisco - Strange Bedfellows?

[mke]

"Mosh" video

[Gary Sisco]

Wha?

Haven't seen the video.

I have nothing whatsoever to do with Eminem. What's this all about, yo.

[mke]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Wha?

Haven't seen the video.

I have nothing whatsoever to do with Eminem. What's this all about, yo.

Click on the link to watch the video. It was a tongue-in-cheek comment most relevant to the end of the clip.

[Gary Sisco]

Thanks, but I don't have time. Off to work in a minute. How about a brief synopsis for chrissake, M.

If it's about his being one of the (very few) undecideds in the election (I saw it in a local paper), I'm not with him. I've already voted, so I can't be counted as undecided.

In any case, he's a cat I couldn't possible care less about. I've never even heard one of his records, to my knowledge, and don't want to.

[mke]

The song and video are anti-Bush, but the bit that made me think of you was when towards the end he gathers up an army of black hoodie-suited acolytes and marches (towards rebellion?).

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

Mwanji, did you actually see the end of the film?

He amasses what superficially looks like a Black Bloc (self-styled anarchist/anti-capitalist group designed to be a specific militant unit in demonstrations, prepared to de-arrest people and both protect the rest of the demo from the police and fight against them if necessary, plus usually smash expensive cars and the windows of multi-nationals (McDonalds but not Body Shop, hehehe), not very effective usually, and a big part of the "rebranding" of protest which ignores real organisation and political (as opposed to electoral or petitioning) activity), and they walk right up to a government building, looking angry, maybe about to storm it, before registering to vote, presumably for Kerry. I believe the word anarchy is used just before they all register to vote, although pronounced in an odd Sex-Pistols-like way (anarch-eye), and presumably without any understanding at all.

So in two swoops he's managed to co-opt (albeit not very well thought out) anarchist/activist Seattle/G8 style protesting tactics into a pro-voting advert, and divert anti-Bush militancy into a vote for Kerry as opposed to concerted political activity (which I wouldn't describe Black Bloc-ism as, but it's better thought out than assuming Kerry will fix any/everything.

Doubt that will persuade Gary to rush out and buy a CD somehow.

[mke]

Never heard of the Black Bloc, but as I said, it was tongue-in-cheek, nothing that deep. And yes, the jump from black-suited revolution to "Vote on November 2nd" is a bit of a let-down.

It's just that it made me think of Sisco's penchant for armed revolution, is all.

[hearsay]

Actually I think he uses anarchy in reference to Iraq.

I can't recall any song so angrily and specifically directed at a leader or administration. How did Eminem become the new Chuck D?

This is my new favorite song, FUCK BUSH!

[Sergio Zamora]

Nat, as I'm sure you're aware, a good portion of those black bloc folks are agents provocateurs

[Jazzzoline]

Thinking about it: those two look a lot alike, don't you think?

[Juju]

Hit it, boys:

Lyrics - 'Mosh' by Eminem


I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the Republic for which it stands
One nation under God
Indivisible
It feels so good to be back..]


Screenshot from 'Mosh'
Scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel, reenergize, and rewind
I give sight to the blind, mind sight through the mind
I ostracize my right to express when I feel it's time
It's just all in your mind, what you interpret it as
I say to fight you take it as I’m gonna whip someone's ass
If you don't understand don't even bother to ask
A father who has grown up with a fatherless past
Who has blown up now to rap phenomenon that has
Or at least shows no difficulty multi task
And juggling both, perhaps mastered his craft slash
Entrepreneur who has held long too few more rap acts
Who has had a few obstacles thrown his way through the last half
Of his career typical manure moving past that
Mister kiss his ass crack, he's a class act
Rubber band man, yea he just snaps back

Come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark, that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength,
Come with me, and I won't steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
Till the light, at the end, of the tunnel, we gonna fight,
We gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march through the swamp
We gonna mosh through the marsh, take us right through the doors

To the people up top, on the side and the middle,
Come together, let's all bomb and swamp just a little
Just let it gradually build, from the front to the back
All you can see is a sea of people, some white and some black
Don't matter what color, all that matters is we gathered together
To celebrate for the same cause, no matter the weather
If it rains let it rain, yea the wetter the better
They ain't gonna stop us, they can't, we're stronger now more then ever,
They tell us no we say yea, they tell us stop we say go,
Rebel with a rebel yell, raise hell we gonna let em know
Stomp, push up, mush, fuck Bush, until they bring our troops home come on just . . .

Come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark, that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength,
Come with me, and I won't steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
Till the light, at the end, of the tunnel, we gonna fight,
We gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march through the swamp
We gonna mosh through the marsh, take us right through the doors, come on

Imagine it pouring, it's raining down on us,
Mosh pits outside the oval office
Someone's trying to tell us something, maybe this is God just saying
we're responsible for this monster, this coward, that we have empowered
This is Bin Laden, look at his head nodding,
How could we allow something like this, Without pumping our fist
Now this is our, final hour
Let me be the voice, and your strength, and your choice
Let me simplify the rhyme, just to amplify the noise
Try to amplify the times it, and multiply it by six
Teen million people are equal of this high pitch
Maybe we can reach Al Quaida through my speech
Let the President answer on high anarchy
Strap him with AK-47, let him go
Fight his own war, let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our soil
No more psychological warfare to trick us to think that we ain't loyal
If we don't serve our own country we're patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes, it's all lies, the stars and stripes
They've been swiped, washed out and wiped,
And Replaced with his own face, mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you'll know why, because I told you to fight

So come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark, that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength,
Come with me, and I won't steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
Till the light, at the end, of the tunnel, we gonna fight,
We gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march through the swamp
We gonna mosh through the marsh, take us right through the doors

[Eminem speaking angrily]
And as we proceed, to mosh through this desert storm, in these closing statements, if they should argue, let us beg to differ, as we set aside our differences, and assemble our own army, to disarm this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president, for the present, and mosh for the future of our next generation, to speak and be heard, Mr. President, Mr. Senator

[mke]

Originally Posted by hearsay

How did Eminem become the new Chuck D?

My thought exactly.

[hearsay]

I think it's great, hopefully this will wake up his millions of fans to how important this election is. Hopefully it's not too late.

[Gary Sisco]

I don't have a penchant for armed revolution, and certainly not in the company of suburban brats like Eminem or the Black Bloc (however many of those there are who aren't working for the FBI).

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

Yeah Zamora, I mate of mine who's been looking into the minutes of British anarchist organisations over the past decades worked out that most of the individualist and anti-organisationalist motions at conferences were put forward by agents. I'm sure loads of people in the anti-capitalist milieu are paid in some way by the state, even if they don't know it.

Do a google for ruckus if you want to get pissed off very quickly.

[cookie]

Cool!

Saw snippets last night. Reading the words is interesting. They stand up pretty well on their own, but in conjunction with the images, it's a brutal piece of art. Without the images, you miss the recall scene in the video: the one where the guy is just home from Iraq and is greeted by his wife and baby then immediately gets notice that he has to go back. The images themselves tell a story.

I say this is good. And I would prefer that the masses work it out through the vote. I think Eminem's message is that people should use the vote to overthrow the Bush "regime", but the images of the "hoodie army" implies that if the vote doesn't work, violent uprising is a possibility.

I still have yet to see the whole video. I tried the link, but it didn't work for me.