Monday, January 29, 2001
o PINION
Page 5B
THE BATTALION
Grammy Dreams
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Eminem’s talent, unique message merit awarding him Album of the Year
R!
ecently,
the Na
tional
Academy of
Recording Arts &
Sciences
(NARAS) an
nounced that Em
inem, a 27 year-
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old rapper from Detroit, has been
nominated for four Grammy awards,
including Album of the Year.
Although millions of fans
|j around the world have grown to
H embrace his talent and creativity,
, Ldw organizations are vying to keep his
g phenomenal album from receiving
the award. The news of his nomina
tion spawned thousands of emails
and calls to the NARAS office.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation, has threat
ened to protest the Feb. 21 awards
■ ceremony. The group said giving
H Eminem the best album award
'"S' I, would be a disservice to society
Hand would serve as an approval for
| his obscenity-laden lyrics and raw
graphical style.
\ From the birth of the recording
industry, rebellious works from
fmusicians like Elvis, The Beatles
[and now Eminem have stirred up
[seemingly unavoidable controver
sies. Music’s greatest tradition —
ncouraging artists to be them-
elves — now finds itself plagued
y narrow-minded critics who un
ermine artists’ originality and re-
ist the evolution of new sounds.
Eminem rocked the rap world
Tre *jf'vhen his debut album, The Slim
-Shady LP became an overnight suc-
_____ i feess. His second album. The Mar-
"i home •; i; '$hal Mathers LP, which sold over 8
illion copies and currently stands
s the second-best album in 2000,
t faced critical opposition from the
x)fm/2b8‘>
55-1532. *
minute it was released. The second
album, named after his given birth
name, reflects Eminem’s harsh up
bringing, covering issues like
poverty and single parenthood.
As seen with his own eyes and
written by his own hands, Em
inem’s powerful creation of art
should not be honored for its mes
sage or its content, but solely for its
artistic and technical achievements.
Eminem's powerful
creation of art
should not be
honored for its
message or its
content, but solely
for its artistic and
technical
achievements.
Eminem’s explosion onto the
music charts, after years of struggle
for success, has raised the level and
standards of rap music pioneered
by Run DMC in the early 1980s.
By remaining atop the hip-hop in
dustry, Newsweek magazine hails
this white superstar as the heir to
the legendary Tupac Shakur and
Notrious B.I.G.
Conveying a message one
should not mistake for anything
more than a joke, his lyrical style is
so clever and intricate the admira
tion of nationwide music magazines
has become routine for Eminem.
In fact, in an interview by
Rolling Stone in response to nam
ing the LP their pick for best al
bum of the year, Eminem himself
passes these lyrics off as a cruel
joke. Mindful of such storytelling
genius, with a remarkable sense of
cartoonish-like humor. Spin maga
zine named Eminem their Artist of
the Year, yet another prestigious
accomplishment.
Quick to defend Eminem’s
Grammy nominations, NARAS
President C. Michael Greene claims
the controversy over Eminem’s
nomination is no different than the
actions of comedian Lenny Bruce,
another groundbreaking performer
found offensive by some yet enjoyed
by many. Greene even called the
Eminem recording “remarkable.”
This album should be viewed the
way other verbally explicit works
are, without questioning the content
or judgment of the author and the
thoughts he or she draws upon. The
roads literary works have paved are
in line with Eminem’s intentions to
speak his mind.
Although Eminem’s thought
process seems twisted and irra
tional, one cannot overlook or dis
miss the actions that speak louder
than his words. Eminem never
committed any of the graphic ac
tions outlined in his songs. His ac
tions thus far have only proven his
outstanding ability to create fierce
visual fantasies and vivid illusions
in his listeners minds.
It is this astonishing verbal and
narrative agility that NARAS saw in
Eminem when it nominated him for
Album of the Year. Eminem does
such an extraordinary job of creating
his music that one cannot help but
root for his success at the Grammys.
Far from being a model citizen,
Eminem deserves recognition for
the imagination he possesses and
the success he he has worked'so
hard to achieve.
J.J. Trevino is a senior
journalism major.
RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion
with wasMW
artmenl, i#’
jtilities.
CHI-'
695-6994.
A Waste of Time
I .
XFL football promises poor quality, trashy entertainment
of-fun.Ui
M-T(r s
GEORGE
DEUTSCH
orld Wrestling
Federation
, . . (WWF) owner
ja^BanKow* 1 Vince McMahon, the same
3S t priceman who rakes in millions
16 6117 L. ever y wee k by objectifying
■Women, stereotyping mi-
[norities and promoting ho-
-mophobia, has partnered
t'eTgie 5 j-with NBC for his next twisted vision of fami-
-gg^Mly entertainment — the Extreme Football
; league (XFL).
___—Flamboyant and uninhibited, this new
iondoTio^waguc is intended to appeal to those sick of
>026. Me penalty flags, referees and head coaches
the Mosjjm a t give the NFL its sense of discipline.
o^pboduc 1 ' 1 Lately, McMahon has been trashing the
|NFL, calling it the “No-Fun League,” but
-)gS this label is little more than a pitch for his
L. new brand of football. Debuting Feb. 3, the
FL promises to be a more-violent and
shameless brand of football, complete with
helmet-cams, celebrity guest appearances
and silicon-laden cheerleaders.
: But what the XFL does not promise, and
cannot promise, is legitimately good football,
ipn After all, this league will not be composed of
OINtU' p rem j ere athletes of NFL-caliber talent. In
stead, it will feature the sport’s rejects — the
»NEY
ones too old for college football and not good
enough to contribute in NFL Europe, the
Canadian Football League or the Arena
League — much less the NFL.
Drew Pearson, general manager of the •
New York-New Jersey Hitmen, echoed these
sentiments, “You’ll notice the drop-off from
the NFL... these guys ... they’re here because
this just may be their last chance in football,
and they are going to leave their hearts out
there on the field.” ^
Player salaries, ranging from $40,000 to
$50,000, based on position, can by no means
be considered competitive in an age where
top cyclists and skateboarders make hundreds
of thousands of dollars annually.
“If you pay a guy $40,000, then that’s
what you’re going to get: a $40,000 football
player, which ain’t much,” Chet Simmons,
former USFL commissioner and ESPN presi
dent, recently commented in Men’s Journal.
“If the level of play is significantly below
what they are used to, then they are going to
stop watching.”
But the American viewing public has more
to fear than just bad football. McMahon, who
has all the class and character of Howard
Stern, has built his reputation (and fortune) by
glorifying sleaze on his wrestling broadcasts,
and the XFL will be his new outlet.
NBC, McMahon’s partner-in-crime, has
scheduled XFL games to air during prime
time on Saturday nights. Great, the kids will
be awake, so they can learn poor sportsman
ship and possibly a new expletive, and still be
in bed by 11 p.m.
The new league may turn into a public re
lations black eye for NBC, which is supposed
to be a class act. The same network that is
home to the Olympics, the World Series and
the Superbowl is now home to the ^(FL.
The upstart XFL will also be a financial
gamble, reportedly costing over $100 million
for the eight-team league. WWF stock took a
25 percent plunge after McMahon announced
plans for the league because many Wall Street
analysts fear it will go the way of the U. S.
Football League, the All-American Football
League and the World Football League, which
all failed miserably. McMahon’s response:
“Wall Street can kiss my ass.”
Among the changes to be implemented by
the XFL are: no fair catches, a 35-second
play clock, and cameras and microphones
everywhere — on coaches, players and even
in the locker rooms. But Vince, for decency’s
sake, keep the cameras out of the bathrooms.
George Deutsch is a sophomore
journalism major.
Post-sentence lockup
decision is fair for all
I n a major deci
sion last week,
the U.S.
Supreme Court
ruled that post- sen
tence lockup of vio
lent sex predators is
not punitive and
does not constitute
double jeopardy, the
law that states one cannot be tried twice
for the same crime.
The case came before the court
when a six-time convicted rapist was
placed in Washington state’s Special
Commitment Center after his criminal
sentence had expired. While many may
see this Act as extended punishment for
criminals, the opinion of the Supreme
Court was based on a multitude of legal
precedents and Constitutionality.
According to the Supreme Court
majority opinion, ‘The Washington
State’s Community Protection Act of
1990 authorizes the civil commitment
of ‘sexually violent predators,’ persons
who suffer from a mental abnormality
or personality disorder that makes them
likely to engage in predatory acts of
sexual violence.”
The court reviewed the statute,
which was ruled to be civil (not per
taining to criminal charges) by the
Washington Supreme Court, to deter
mine whether the criminal could claim
the statute was punitive “as applied”
to him. The court decided that the “as
applied”(how the law affects the indi
vidual in question) decision is not
double jeopardy.
According to Reuters, Justice San
dra Day O’Connor said “that a law
found to be civil in nature cannot be
deemed to be punitive as applied to a
single individual in violation of the con-
stitutional protection against being pun
ished twice for the same crime” in the
opinion of the majority of the court.
Since the law is civil, and a defen
dant cannot use the “as applied” theory,
double jeopardy is not a factor for re
lease because double jeopardy only ap
plies in criminal cases.
To many post-sentence confinement
may seem harsh, but it is not. The new
statute is being used to keep habitually
violent offenders from returning to soci
ety without proper treatment for then-
malfunction. The Washington law is a
way of protecting society against men
tally ill sex offenders. According to
The Associated Press, this type of lock
up has been compared to “the state
practice of involuntarily committing the
mentally ill for treatment.” This law is
not limited to those who are already im
prisoned, but to people who are found
not guilty by reason of insanity and
those who are incompetent to stand trial
as well.
Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the
only dissent to the verdict. “If the con
ditions of confinement are such that a
detainee has been punished twice in vi
olation of the double jeopardy clause, it
is irrelevant that the scheme has been
previously labeled as civil without full
knowledge of the effects of the statute,”
according to Stevens.
Stevens said he believes that even
though the statute was once consid
ered civil it may not be if the court
does not know all the conditions of the
confinement.
While Stevens has a legitimate
point, the Washington Supreme Court
had already decided the Act was civil,
therefore, this was not the question the
U.S. Supreme Court was deciding.
The Supreme Court was asked to de
cide if the Act constituted double jeop
ardy “as applied” to the defendant. Ac
cording to O’Connor, in the majority
opinion, “that kind of case-by-case
analysis of whether an individual pris
oner’s confinement was civil or puni
tive is ‘unworkable.’ ”
The court’s decision to reject the “as
applied” theory of looking at laws has
left little room for confusion. By making
this decision, the court has clearly said
laws do not change with the individual.
This statement solidifies the idea that the
law is the same for everyone.
These detainees still have other op
tions to sue for their release, but the
Supreme Court has closed one avenue.
The Act has the ability to protect society
from those criminals who are mentally
unstable, and calmed fears of criminals
returning to their prior way of life.
Brieanne Porter is a junic
political science majo
me Dcncw/T,,.