EMINEM HAS A ROUGH TIME HERE IN THE BAY AREA

Rap superstar Eminem swung through the SF bay Area this past weekend
on a promotional tour and wound up running into a few problems. The
first occurred on Sunday morning during his interview at college
radio station KALX 90.7 FM in Berkeley. According to Eminem he had a
run in with long time dj Sista Tamu. He claims that not only had a
bad attitude and was she extremely rude and disrespectful to him, but
she also took his hit record 'My Name Is Slim Shady' and cracked it
in half on the air. 'It was like she was on a mission to come for
me', he noted in a later interview. He said that she appeared bent on
trying to embarrass him on the air by telling him she did not like
his rhyme style and music. 'If that was the case why did she agree to
interview me?' Eminem wondered. He also noted that he himself tried
to be professional by holding back and not going off the sista.

Sista Tamu offered up her side of the story. She explained that when
she first met Eminem that she went over a few ground rules with him
including that she tries to keep her show 'clean' of the large number
of families and kids listening on Sunday morning. She went to explain
that she had heard a few of his freestyles in particular one in which
he rapped about killing his baby's mother. It was for that reason
Tamu was not really fond of Eminem. Tamu who is a community activist,
admitted that she prefers hip hop that brings a socially uplifting
message. However, she felt that because Eminem was so popular that it
was important to allow him access to her listeners. 'I'm not really a
big fan of your style of rap, but a lot of our listeners are so
welcome to the show', she told him. She also told him that if he
decides to freestyle or anything like that to keep that in mind and
respect the ground rules she had set. According to her, Eminem
agreed.

During the interview she and Em exchanged barbs with each other.
While Eminem felt she was trying to be rude. Tamu felt it was all in
jest. She said that Em's whole character was to be witty and
sarcastic and she was having fun with him by trying to match wits.
Eminem felt she was trying to pull the 'race card' by talking about
him having blonde hair and being white.

Tamu then took a number of calls including one from a woman who noted
that she appreciated Em's sarcastic and somewhat sadistic wit, but
cautioned him not to leave young impressionable listeners with the
wrong message. Eminem admitted that his album was very different then
the sanitized version they were playing on MTV and commercial
radio. 'A lot of parents are going to be upset and take that album
right back to the store because there's nothing nice or clean about
it', he noted. The next caller challenged Eminem to do a freestyle.
So [Mr Slim Shady agreed]. What set Sista Tamu off, was that after
cautioning Eminem about her audience, he then flipped a verse which
started off with him slapping a pregnant woman and then slapping
another 'bitch'. Tamu immediately stopped him and ended the
interview. 'I ain't having that disrespect on my show' she explained.
At that point she bid him goodbye and as Slim Shady left the station
Tamu went on the air and said because he had disrespected the ground
rules and her audience by doing a rap about 'slapping bitches', he
would never be invited back and at that point she cracked his record
on the air. needless to say it quite eventful and left Slim Shady a
bit peeved.

If that wasn't enough while visiting record stores across the Bay in
San Francisco's infamous Haight Ashbury district which is known for
it's hippies, punk rockers and other colorful individuals, some kid
steps to Eminem and in a threatening manner asserts that 'this is his
block' and Eminem better leave. At first Em thought he was joking but
soon realizes the kid is serious.. This is his block and he has no
intention of letting Eminem walk by. When Eminem moved to walk around
him the kid reached for what everyone thought was a weapon. The next
thing you know Mr Shady lit up on homeboy with a barrage to the head.
I guess he let his Detroit upbringing come out as folks had to pull
Eminem off the kid who was left literally sprawled out on the ground.
By the time I caught up with Eminem he was bit spent..

Eminem SPEAKS HIS MIND

During our interview Eminem dispelled a lot of negative perceptions I
had of him. Initially I thought he was gonna be some arrogant kid who
was using some sort of gimmick to get over in hip hop. We chopped it
up for more then an hour and he came across as someone who's funny
and his really into hip hop. As he noted that while he's enjoying his
current success, he wanted to make it clear he is by no means a
bubble gum rapper and that a lot of fans are gonna be quite shocked
when they get his new album. 'My lyrics are sick and there's nothing
nice about them' he explained. When asked why he changed the lyrics
to his current single 'My Name Is Slim Shady', he explained that his
record company wanted something for the radio so that caused him to
tone things down. But he ran into another snafu when he attempted to
clear the sample he used as his rhythm track. The owner of the song
was a gentleman who now lives in Africa and his a gay activist. He
took great offense to several of Shady's lyrics where he talk about
raping a lesbian among a few other things. He was not going to grant
a sample clearance unless certain verses were taken out of the song.
Shady said he was upset but wound up complying.

I asked him about the current Detroit underground scene and if knew
some the old schoolers like Kid Rock, Mystro and Kaos, Awesome Dre
among others. He explained that Detroit has an up and coming scene
that's real small and close knit. It isn't always supported. He never
kicked it with Awesome Dre from back in the days. He like Mystro and
Kaos and he looked up to Kid Rock who made himself known by getting a
major record deal and dropping a cut called Yodeling In The Valley'.
He also spoke about a rival emcee named Cage who had been going
around dissing Slim Shady. 'Every time I've showed up to battle him
he's never been around', at this point in time I don't want to give
him any more attention', he explained. He concluded by talking about
a partner of his named Royce who just got signed to Tommy Boy
Records.

On the question of race, Eminem explained that he was tired of
it. 'All my life I've been dealing with my race because of where I
grew up [Detroit] and being in the rap game' he noted. 'I'm at a
boiling point...Anybody who pulls the race card is getting it right
back in their face' he said. He emphasized that it's all about the
music and while image has a lot to do with things, he feels that
people are really into what he's saying. He spoke on how a lot of
journalist insist on focusing on the whole racial aspect of him being
in the game.

I challenged Eminem and told him how his record reps were calling up
djs and marketing him as a 'dope whiteboy' who can rap. He felt that
was foul and whoever did that should be fired. He hoped that approach
was limited to a few individuals who took it upon themselves to do
that..and that it was not what he wants to happen.'. He didn't like
the fact that people were seeing him as getting over because he was
white.. 'You can't control who likes you' he explained. 'If I got
Backstreet Boy fans what am I supposed to do? Turn them away?'.
Eminem added. 'Whoever likes my stuff, likes my stuff but just know
Slim Shady is hip hop, I grew up on hip hop, it's the music I love
and it's the music I respect. I respect the culture...that's me'.

I asked him about Vanilla Ice and Eminem explained that he felt
Vanilla Ice has nothing against the Ice Man but he ruined it for
white emcees all over. He gave people the wrong impressions of white
emcees because he lied and was fake. 'No one can help their color and
no one can help where they grew up.. that's your parents doing.. If
you grew up in the suburbs be proud and don't pretend you came from
somewhere else'.

On battling, Eminem noted 'I'll battle anybody who calls me out and
people better know that'. He explained that he doesn't take battling
as serious as he once did, but it's all done in fun. He also noted
that he doesn't wanna be labeled as a battle emcee because it
essentially limits people's perceptions of you. Eminem sees himself
as someone who is an all round emcee meaning he can write songs and
flip different styles.

I asked him about his thoughts on collaborations with other artists.
I asked him jokingly if he wanted to do a song with Lauryn Hill, KRS-
One or Public Enemy. I was surprised how he got real serious when I
mentioned Lauryn's name, 'The first word you said is a dirty word to
me', when I asked if he meant Lauryn and I asked why.. 'I heard a lot
of stuff about her and how she is toward white people and I heard
she's racist. I can't prove it, but I heard a lot of stuff and
there's a lot of controversy.. so if she's like that I don't wanna
get down like that.. I don't believe in all that.. That's her
business if she doesn't like white people..everybody has their
preferences..'. At the time of the interview, I didn't know.. but
I've since heard the stories surrounding Lauryn hating white folks
were nasty rumors that had been circulating. Eminem concluded that
he's not really a collaboration type emcee. He wants people to enjoy
Slim Shady and he doesn't want to play himself out by having folks
get sick of him.