Eminem’s ‘Rap God’ has debuted and it’s a breathtaking tribute to the 1980s icon Max Headroom as well as a digitized journey through decades of hip-hop and pop culture history.
The video was directed by Rich Lee for the single from Eminem’s eighth studio album, ‘The Marshall Mathers LP2,’ which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, one of the year’s biggest in first-week sales. The single itself caused quite a stir upon release for its barrage of references and evocations as well as the sheer rapping virtuosity; at one point Eminem raps nearly a hundred words in just 15 seconds.
So it’s quite fitting that in embodying the ‘Rap God’ it is Eminem himself who portrays the Max Headroom inspired Artificial Intelligence (AI) character. The original, as title character of its own TV series in the 1980s was billed as “the world’s first computer-generated TV host.” We could by inference perceive him as the first-ever computer-generated rapper. It would explain the speed. Or to take it directly from the lyrics, the Detroit MC says “They say I rap like a robot, so call me rapbot.”
Thus the rapbot takes us on a journey through decades of pop culture as captured by video in a dystopia where banks of TV and video monitors glare out and, through video imagery appropriately illustrate the vast amount of pop cultural references and name checks typical of Eminem’s wordplay. It’s a frenetic journey as are the lyrics themselves, which he raps at seemingly superhuman speed.
The music video runs for more than six minutes, and yet, time flies in the mashup of decades of technology and culture — everything from video games to news clips to images of rappers and hip-hop icons from days past including Busta Rhymes, N.W.A., J.J. Fad as well as the late great Tupac Shakur.
The video and the song itself holdup on multiple views as so much is going on it’s hard to take in all of the images and the references at once. But it’s dazzling. If not a rap “god” we are certainly in the presence of a rap masterwork that’s surely destined to become a classic.
And for anyone who remembers the much-too short-lived Max Headroom television series — which starred a digitally altered Max Frewer in the title role — it’s a six-minute nostalgic ride.
The full video is below. And, needless to say, the language is explicit and NSFW.
Pictures: PR Photos
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/6Qp92azoG4c/
Aki Ross Alecia Elliott Alessandra Ambrosio Alexis Bledel Ali Campoverdi
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