Stevie Wonder has a lot of cojones spouting off what he did about Eminem (Full article here).
It’s one thing to criticize him for saying something you find distasteful about Michael Jackson.
It’s quite another to lay on this heavy-handed social philosophy baloney: Said Wonder: “He has succeeded on the backs of people predominantly in that lower pay bracket, people of color. So for him to come out like that is bull.”
What does making fun of Michael Jackson’s seemy habits have to do with poverty or race? Michael Jackson is in the lower pay bracket? The man’s swimming in dough. And he’s a “perosn of color?” I don’t know what the hell race Michael Jackson is, but I certainly wouldn’t describe him as having any “color.”
Go shove it, Stevie Wonder. If you want to defend Michael Jackson, talk about what actually matters.
Someone who’s been irrelevant for 30 years lambastes someone else who’s overrated to high hell for poking fun at someone else who is a mentally unstable child molesting freak.
I don’t even know where to start here. I think I’m just going to walk away.
Wonder isn’t referring to Jacko as being in the lower pay bracket. I think he’s lambasting Eminem for climbing to success on the back of the lower class blacks and then kicking another black guy when he’s down. Maybe we’d know more if we had the full quote he gave to Billboard, because that feels like an extract or a soundbite.
While I agree with the first part of your post 'cause, really, “OMG! Michael Jackson’s white!” jokes are played out, I don’t agree with you or Stevie on the second part.
Sure, Eminem’s climbed over a hell of a lot of poor black men to get to where he is but that doesn’t mean he should have to censor himself about one man that has nothing to do with the genre based simply on his race.
To me, this makes as much sense as Randy Travis getting upset at Lenny Kravitz for making some crack about Garth Brooks.
Well, that told him!
As far as Eminem making his riches by climbing over the backs of black men? Why not mention that he kicked a few Cocker Spaniels and BBQ’d a kitten or two? Eminem made his name fighting for recognition.
By the way, Dr Dre is the one that signed him to Interscope Records. If you want to be mad at anyone for Eminem’s success, look to whom brought it to you. I challenge anyone here to say they’ve seen or heard of him before the Slim Shady EP.
Does anyone have the actual text of Stevie’s remarks? As Evil Death noted, we’re getting a cut-and-paste selection of his comments. In the comments we do have, Stevie notes that he respects Eminen’s work. He then goes on to talk about not “kicking” someone “while they’re down.” Rather than the “blast” that has shown up in a couple of headlines on the story, it sounds a bit more as though Stevie was simply being rueful.
All in all, it would seem that this is more “tut-tut” material for Cafe Society than worthy of an actual rant in the Pit.
Mad? Mad?! Because I seek to give carrots the gift of intelligence, they call me mad! I am the modern Prometheus! They laugh at me, but when I succeed, it is I who will laugh! Oh yes!
I agree completely. Talking Book was 1972 and Innervisions was 1973. I was going off the top of my head when I said 30 years. Looking at his discography, I’ll have to ammend that to 28 years. Don’t get me wrong, people. Loves me some old Stevie. But lets not kid ourselves. He’s done enough crap in his career to fill an small warehouse. And someone if someone wants to point out more than one or two worthwhile things he has done since * Songs in the Key of Life* was released, I’ll gladly reconsider.
I thought he made his money on the backs of young white suburban and urban males, ages 9 to 17, myself. Truthfully, he’s a darn good rapper, I think, reminds me of when I used to listen to the early stuff on SNL and bootleg tapes. (I honestly don’t know where I heard rap first, but I think it was a SNL with… someone… doing Johnny B. Good. I remember an american flag… either guitar or record being involved, and I remember thinking, “Hey, this is good stuff.” Or maybe that’s the first time I liked rap.)
Stevie’s a genius, but he’s being a bit racist here, isn’t he? Or is he? If Mr. Mathers was black, he wouldn’t have been so popular, it’s true. But that’s because he’s from a non-traditional area, as much as anything. I do think being white broke him, but I think his talent is what is keeping him around, from movie to album. And he’s sticking with the band he came from, and his old friends. What is that group, K-12 or something? So…
As far as superstars go, he seems like a fairly decent guy with most of his head together. On the other hand, I consider Marilyn Manson a fairly decent guy with most of his head together, so…
