July 14, 2002

• Even if you’ve never listened to Eminem, you probably have an opinion about his music.

  
  

  But no matter what you think about what he raps about, if you listen to his lyrics, you gotta admit he knows how to rap. His lyrics look like crap on paper, but his lyrics sound amazing on his CDs.

  
  

  What’s his secret? Well, I was just read an article online that gives a tantalizing hint:

  
  

  
  

  At first, [Eminem friend] Fields says, Eminem was just a smartass cracking inside jokes with Manix and his cronies. Before long, however, he said Eminem began teaching him what he called “the inside rhyme.” “At that time, if you had two lines that rhymed, that was it,” Fields says. “Marsh was putting it to the next level. He was trying to put as many words that rhymed into a line as he could fit.”

  
  

  The inside rhyme. Pretty cool.

  
  

  With this in mind, I listened to his latest CD and found inside rhymes everywhere. Take this excerpt from his current radio hit, Without Me (I’ve highlighted matching “inside rhymes” with matching backgrounds):

  
  

  
  

  A visionary, vision of scary
  Could start a revolution, pollutin the airwaves
  A rebel, so just let me revel and bask
  in the fact that I got everyone kissin my ass {*smak*}
  And it’s a disaster, such a catastrophe
  for you to see so damn much of my ass; you asked for me?
  Well I’m back, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na
  {*bzzt*} Fix your damn antenna tune it in and then I’m gonna
  enter in, in the front of your skin like a splinter
  The center of attention, back for the winter
  I’m interesting, the best thing since wrestling
  Investing in your kid’s ears and nesting
  {*bzzt*} Testing, attention please
  Feel the tension, soon as someone mentions me
  Here’s my ten cents, my two cents is free
  A nuisance, who sent? You sent for me?

  
  

  Compare this to a less talented rapper like Puff Daddy — I mean, P. Diddy — in his incredibly lame recent radio hit, I Need A Girl:

  
  

  
  

  I had a girl that would’ve died for me
  Didnt ‘preciate her so I made her cry for me
  Every night she had tears in her eyes for me
  Caught a case, shorty took the whole ride for me
  At first we were friends then became lovers
  You was more than my girl, we was like brothers
  All night we would play fight under covers
  Now you gone, can’t love you like I really wanna
  But everytime I think about your pretty smile
  And how we used to drive the whole city wild
  Damn I wish you would’ve had my child
  A pretty little girl wit Diddy’s style; this shit is wild.

  
  

  Can you find a single inside rhyme? Except for the J. Lo references, P. Diddy offers no value for your CD dollar — especially musically. He can’t even master the outside rhyme; the first four lines quoted here all end in for me, he rhymes “wanna” with “covers”, and “smile” with “wild.”

  
  

  We don’t often pick up on this stuff consciously, but I bet a big part of Eminem’s success comes from our subconscious paying attention to how Eminem raps. The man may not be polite, but he’s got mad skillz.

  • 5:05 am
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