Detroit

I think the scariest contrary I have never met is Eminem. I know no one has been able to place him in art history yet, because he is a complex little character. Stef turned me on to Eminem, I was so avoiding his work because I knew it was all hate stuff. But I was still curious, because he was so intense! I don’t think anyone has really clued in that he is pretty much in drag all the time. Detroit male drag! I didn’t grow up in Detroit, but in Saskatoon that was the American news we watched. And Detroit is hardcore! They set stuff on FIRE at halloween! They’re bizarre. So that was the male model he patterned his character after. And he has tried to make sure people know they are personas, because he uses different stage names. But he walked into the heart of darkness man, that’s been intense to watch.

What is interesting about his work is that we assume he is talking from the position of the ugly straight man. And he’s not! He’s singing about gay male misogyny. And it’s fucking intense! He brings out all the ugly thoughts gay men have about women and places it front and centre and somehow linked it back to heterosexual men, and that is scary! I think so many people have tried to pull him out of drag because he does make gay men look so awful! But it is a persona, because I’ve followed enough of his music and his personal life to know. And I think I know why he is doing it, because he’s the father of a girl! Do you honestly think he wants that kind of life for his daughter? Fuck no, and it comes out in his music, he gets violent if a fan comes around him and his kid. He seriously flips out to defend her, it’s so hardcore! I mean, he does love women, because he’s raising one, and he’s trying to figure out how to keep her from living in a world that worships Slim Shady. He’s so genderqueer, I don’t know how people don’t pick it up. He even dresses like a girl sometimes, but his fan base still doesn’t get it. I don’t know how he’s going to prove that lesbians are cool, but he’s trying. He’s so consumed by the corporations though, they don’t know what performance art is. And of course now he has a rabid fan base of guys who want to suck his cock and don’t know why. I’m so curious to see how he’s going to come out of drag, because it’s been bizarre to watch.