So I on my spare time I watch my sister’s kids on the weekend so she can get some QT and chores done. I never thought to censor my music in front of them. So one day, I picked up my sister and she got in the car. I was listening to Eminem’s new cd and she got so upset I was listening to this in front of the kids.
So the next day, she came and burned this cd called, “For the Kids” for me to listen to. I’m not going to lie, it’s actually pretty good. They had Cake, Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLauglin on it.
Me neither. I pretty much hate him, although I have to admit, I thought a few (very few) of his songs are pretty good. The ones that don’t talk about bitch-slappin’ ho’s and faggots and whatnot.
I’ve bought all of his albums and really like a lot of his lyrics; very clever even if I don’t agree with what he is saying. However, if I had kids younger than about 13 I wouldn’t want them listening to him.
I don’t know what I was thinking. (Obviously I wasn’t) I like Eminem, but I’m old enough to know not to be influenced by what I hear and listen to.
LOL. Not going to lie, I’ve been listening to that “For the Kids” cd even though my nephew and niece aren’t around. But that will be our secret. But, if you ever see a guy jamming to Guster’s rendition of “I’ve Got to Be Clean” then it’ll probably be me.
…my attitude when my then-12 year-old sister bought one of his albums was basically, “well, it isn’t anything my parents haven’t yelled at each other before, so whatever.”
However, would my kids ever get to listen to him? Hell no–or, at the very least, I wouldn’t expose them to his music on purpose. Even though I generally like his music.
I like that you’re sensitive enough to your sister to see her point and she’s sensitive enough to you to get you a cd you can share with the kids. Oh, and I like that you watch her kids in the first place.
I’ve always listened to a wide variety of music in front of my children, but there are definitely songs I’ve censored. Even some pretty “tame,” mainstream artists have songs with words or even concepts I’m not prepared to have the children hear. I have more than one cd that I find myself automatically reaching for the skip button on certain tracks whether the kids are present or not.
Now that my children are older (13 and 9), I don’t always skip songs just because of a bad word or two; they know that I expect them to be mature enough to know not to repeat certain things (nothing they haven’t heard on the playground by now anyway). And some songs have been the springboards for really good discussions - my children could have intelligent conversations about the themes of Elvis Costello’s Let Him Dangle or Peter Gabriel’s Games Without Frontiers, for instance. However, I’m not an Eminem fan, and I haven’t really listened to enough of his music to tell you whether I’d want my kids hearing it.
Here’s a little snippet from “Cleaning Out My Closet”
“But guess what, yer gettin’ older now and it’s cold when your lonely. An’ Nathan’s getting’ up so quick, he’s gonna know that your phoney. / And Hailie’s getting’ so big now, you should see her, she’s beautiful. But you’ll never see her, she won’t even be at your funeral. / See what hurts me the most is you won’t admit you was wrong. Bitch, do ya song. Keep tellin’ yourself that you was a mom. / But how dare you try to take what you didn’t help me to get. You selfish bitch, I hope you fuckin’ burn in hell for this shit. / Remember when Ronnie died and you said you wished it was me? Well, guess what, I am dead. Dead to you as can be.”
Here’s the cite for entire vile song if you can stomach it.
I let Little Honey listen to songs which have some “Profanity” but I draw the line at songs which are filled with “Hate”
Ok, I swear everyone saying Eminem is bad for everyone is gonna get it. I think that it is ok for 13 and up, I started listening at 9 years old, maybe I am just the worst person alive. I am almost 24.