The other day an old friend gave me a complement that blew me away. I had just posted this poem and she said that when she read it, she heard Eminem rapping it. As if they were his lyrics. I was blown away.
Some people can’t stand Eminem. But me, I love him. Not necessarily because of what he says, even though I do love his lyrics, but because of how he says it. Because of how he tells his story. Unabashedly.
Maybe you find him offensive. Sometimes I do too. But he has used his words to climb out of a hole, and for that I have a lot of respect.
He had a hard life, and still made something of himself. He got kicked in the face and then stood up and kept on fighting. With his words. Something I am trying to do myself.
I know I can be edgy when I write. And I know that people will not always agree with the things I have to say. But I’ll keep writing anyway. Because my words help me understand myself, and because they also help me understand you.
I write and express myself the way I do as part of a living, breathing, social experiment. An attempt to challenge the world the only way I know how.
Because no one can control the hand they are dealt in life. No one can predict the future. But we can control the present. More importantly, we can control how we present ourselves. We can chose how we let the past represent our future and we can use every moment of our lives to create forward momentum.
And this is what I love about Eminem. This is what I love about open expression and so many others who you might consider crass. And it’s is why I share the things I do with all of you.
Because I want to watch you squirm. I want to make you uncomfortable. Because when you are uncomfortable, the real you gets exposed. And that is the you I want to see. That is the you, I want you to embrace. The you that can stand strong in the face of anything that comes your way.
So if I ever piss you off, then it probably means that I’m doing good work. If I make you mad then it means I have done my job. Because it means I have challenged the way you see the world and those are the moments that help us truly define ourselves.
And that my friends, is the ultimate goal.