Memoir of someone I am not

Disclaimer: I am not the musician in question. Though I believe I have accurately portrayed his thoughts and feelings, these sentences that fallow may not reflect his views. Nor are any of them things he actually said.


 People always ask, why become a rapper? Your a white man shooting for a black man profession. But I always tell them I just do what I enjoy doing. And then I usually ask if they think I rap poorly, not that I give a s***. they always respond with a "no no not at all", judgmental b*****ds. But I know I am a good rapper. How else could I have made it this far? 
 People are always talking about my authenticity. Like they know how it feels to experience the things I have. Like they could possibly understand the depth to which my past changed me. But there it is, isn't it? My ability to rap and my authenticity all stem from my past. The revolutionary white rapper has issues.
 Lets get it out of the way, yes, I never met my father. If I ever do it wont end well for him. And yes, my mother had me when she was only 15. A broken family is something I rap about often. It was and is a real problem, especially for me.
 My mother, due to her loneliness and her stressful life of poverty, turned to drugs and alcohol. Of course, despite the stupidity of it, and despite her distance from me, I went there for awhile to. It was a terrible idea then and it is still a terrible idea now, especially when I think of my daughter getting sucked into that sort of mess.  I rap about doing drugs a lot to.
 And as "white trash" I got picked on a lot as a kid. I did not fit in with the snobby white kids. The black kids were just as bad for awhile, before they released I was more like them then the middle class a******s.  Another thing that always bubbles to the surface from the past is the violence. I saw more than my far share of. And it changed me, made me stronger. The intense bullying made me violent, in the end.  After it changed me I began to fight back. But I still needed an outlet for all the built up pain and sorrow.
 Music ended up being that outlet. As it turned out, rapping was very good outlet. Dr. Dre took me up under his wing and that was that. I became an official rapper. Guessed who yet? But what is a name other than a title. A thing used to generalize. But either way I have three real names. One is Slim Shady, that one is a reflection of my past and personality. Eminem is the name I took when I became a rapper. My real name is Marshal Mathers III, way to nerdy sounding a name to be a rapper.
 Despite it all, I chased my dream. I did what many fail to do. I escaped the shackles of poverty, the pain of abandonment, and the vice of substance abuse thanks to my music. But these problems still exist. And until they don't, I will continue to inform the rest of the public in the only way I know how.

Dance to the Stereotypes

As odd as it may seem, you don't have to be on the butt end of a stereotype or bias to know about them, and their misleading ways. Picture now, if you will, a white guys appearance and personality. Where you able to? Of course you were. You probably envisioned a well dressed man, with his wife and two kids in front of their house playing baseball. Or a nerdy looking kid, with glasses, braces, acne, overalls, and a shirt pocket full of pens (this is the stereotype I fit into and take no offense at). Now, being the smart, people you are, you have probably realized that your image of said white guy is at least loosely based on a stereotype, plus your own personal experience of white guys. If not, then you have proven another thing about stereotypes. Which is they vary from person to person. The place where these widely known beliefs start is in people like you and I. It is likely that a thousand years ago some jerk said "All the Asians I know are good at math, must be that they all are" (no offense intended, although this guy is totally from Mississippi). And in that sentence is yet another stereotype. Another good example is the stereotype that non-native English speakers, in English schools, are stupid. This particular stereotype, unlike some, holds no water. The simple fact is, back when this stereotype started, the non native speakers were not understood by the native speakers. This resulted in the thought that the non native speakers were not intelligent, because the native speakers could not be the stupid ones. Those ignorant English speakers never stopped to consider that the non native speakers merely could not communicate in a language not their own. One wonders, why would anyone start, what is in essence, a rumor about an entire group of people? Great question, the answer is simple. We humans like to be able to put everything, from dirt to people, into neat little boxes. In other words, we like to be able to classify everything without actually trying so we can worry our pretty little heads over what is important, like which video game to play or YouTube video to watch. Granted these stereotypes, while offensive and ignorant, usually have some foundation. Does that mean it is OK to use? Only in your head where people can not see them and judge you unless you don't care if the entire community thinks your an idiot. Are stereotypes a bad thing? Again, amazing question readers. That is really up to you to decide. Their use is a shortcut to assuming personality. So if you want to use them and continue watching YouTube in your house as opposed to actually making friends and talking to people, then go ahead. Personally I believe, as I have stated, that stereotypes are ignorant and offensive. Thus I try to avoid them, even though I fit the stereotype for a nerd perfectly.

Disclaimer: Even though I am a ignorant English speaking white guy, no stereotype mentioned in this post  relates in any way to my personal thoughts or feelings.

The Meaning of Culture

As a young man who recently moved to a new country, this is probably an ideal time to explore the question of culture. Before now, the only things I considered with any real depth was YouTube, what video games I was going play, and when I could go scuba diving. With two siblings, both bent on my demise, escape is a welcome thing in any form. My move from a very outspoken society, specifically Phoenix Arizona in the USA, to a society where crime can be punished by deportation has been an interesting one. Before it was OK to express ones opinion of leaders, past or present, in any setting. Now I have to watch my mouth, which is something that I have very little practice in, to the sorrow of my family. Now though, post move, it is time to get my act together and start working. The primary goal of the getting together of my act is to pass school. In the past this has been no problem, but now it seems that school got harder while I was busy playing Skyrim. The necessity of education is present in any culture.  But back to the actual reason for being here, the nature of culture.

The real problem of defining culture is that everyone has a different definition for it. My definition of culture is different from your definition. And your definition is different from that of my parents who are presently yelling at me to finish my homework. Since this is my blog, we will have to settle for my definition. To me, culture is the set of rules, beliefs, activities, products, languages, and experiences shared by a people who choose to partake in the culture. Some of you readers are likely starring at your computer wondering why this guy decided to throw in products as a piece of culture.  No, it is not because I have to have a certain number of components of culture to get an " A". When I say products, I mean the art, music, and food particular to a people. However, products meaning things like toys, video games, and fast food also are a piece of culture. And yes, that does mean the Big Mac is just as much a piece of American culture as the eagle and the star spangled banner. The strange thing about culture is it simultaneously affects us as we affect and change it. The acceptable practices of 40 years ago are no longer acceptable in the culture except as a relic of the past. Another interesting thing about culture is the malice harbored for other cultures within a culture. In America, speaking Arabic will likely get you reported to some sort of authority. Though the authority will likely treat you fairly, the fact that you get reported in the first place proves that culture is a vain thing. It proves that within a culture everyone believes that they are right and everyone else is wrong. So they then attempt to prove to others that their culture is wrong, *cough* *cough* religion *cough* *cough*. That is not to say religion is wrong, just a little pushy. Religion, being a big part of culture, is worth looking into. In essence, religion seems to be a way to keep people on the path of the righteous, or in other words, to keep their morale compasses clean, functional, and in line with everyone else. The other major piece of culture is language. Language is the gateway to higher thought. Also language is usually very specific to a culture. As the language changes the culture tends to change as well, they are so tightly interlocked due to the requirement of higher thought for the rules of a culture to be understood.

In the end, culture is really a set of rules to dictate behavior. It is interlocked with language because language is one of the only ways to communicate these rules.

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