The gang war of words

Don't blame the messenger, even if his message is derogatory, misogynistic or violent. \nThis age-old proverb eludes the media and skeptical public when the messenger is Eminem. \nBut if there's ever been a moment when Eminem has truly deserved our undivided attention, it's now, in the midst of a hip-hop crisis. \nBefore we knew the poverty of 8 Mile or the story of Hailie's childhood, before anyone in America listened to Dido, a Detroit kid named Marshall Mathers sent tremors through the underground hip-hop battling scene. But even today, the music industry quakes from one night of freestyling. \nYears ago, after a disastrous relationship, Slim Shady lashed lyrical mayhem on the mic by degrading African-American women. In 2004, Source magazine released the underground recording without Eminem's permission, according to the New York Daily News. \nSince then, Eminem and Source co-owner Ray Benzino have feuded, enlisted other artists into the rivalry and threatened each other's lives.\n"(Eminem) never wanted to squash the beef," said Benzino in a www.MTV.com interview. "He's never had the desire to sit down with me."\nBenzino doesn't comprehend that Eminem is addressing the issue in the most profound way possible. Before a judge can rap his gavel on this case, Eminem has composed his own rap, "Like Toy Soldiers," to confront the industry: \nI ain't trying to have none of my people hurt or murdered / It ain't worth it, I can't think of a perfecter way to word it / than to just say that I love y'all too much to see the verdict / I'll walk away from it all before I'll let it go any further.\nPerhaps for the first time in hip-hop history, an artist has rapped about violence -- not from the poor neighborhood of his adolescence, but the kind that exists in the business itself, in the corridors of recording studios, on the California estates of artists who have gone platinum. \nAll P. Diddy had to say when the wars ended so tragically between Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. was I'll be mi-iss-i-ing you. \nWe all know hip-hop originated from the street corners of the Bronx, when all an underprivileged kid in an underprivileged neighborhood needed was a beatbox and a crowd to communicate his frustration with life's struggles. Unfortunately, the same inner-city culture that birthed this great modern folk art is the same one that harbors the vices of gang violence. At times, hip-hop has intertwined with territorial battles; it's transcended from the 'hood to the sound booth. \nBut these wars are different. The gangs that exist in the hip-hop business are not the same as the ones from their roots. Instead of sharing the same neighborhood or coast, they bond from genealogy. Dr. Dre sired Eminem; Eminem sired 50 Cent. It's a lineage of back-scratching that unites them, not class. \nIt seems the survival mode of the streets has conditioned hip-hop artists for the pack mentality, but Eminem has received nothing but criticism for "Like Toy Soldiers," with reviewers saying he's trying to make a quick buck off of his private life. \nWhen will the FCC, media and angry parents shut up? Behind the explicit language is a social issue that needs our attention. Hip-hop inspires today's youth, and one of the most influential artists has finally acknowledged that the music must remain separate from gang roots for the sanctity of the artists, the business and the fans. \nI'm so caught in it, I almost feel like I'm the one who caused it / This ain't what I'm in hip-hop for, it's not why I got in it / Now it's never my object for someone to get killed / Why would I wanna destroy something I helped build?\nListen between each gimped foot of Shady's meter. There's more to hip-hop than vulgar words.