John is Stupid. Eminem is Not.

Posted by: John "Just Lucky to be Here"		This was originally published on Seattle.CitySearch.com as a concert preview. When I was Music Editor, we had a content swapping agreement with MSN, so it actually wound up running there too. Fortunately, CitySearch has no public archive, so it quickly vanished into the virtual ether. Now that I have the ability to recant my statements, I don’t mind it being available. And with the exception of the hateful things I wrote about Eminemcomparing him to Vanilla Ice? Real original JohnI stand by everything I wrote. The bratty poster-boy for inflametory rap, a pair of rap-metal acts and a sparkling West Coast MC invade Tacoma. The Scoop It could be Vanilla Ice’s fault. Maybe Eminem feels like he has offend just to appologize for "Ice, Ice Baby." Dre’s hateful protegee is more talented MC than Robbie Van Winkle, but his clipped, nasal delivery and static cadence wouldn’t make headlines if he weren’t spouting off about murdering his wife. Appropriately, the great white dope is touring with Limp Bizkit, whose music resembles a marketing excercise (rap+metal+suburban teen market=cash) more than genuine artistic expression. In stark contrast to the rest of the bill stands Xzibit. For his sparkling debut, "At the Speed of Life," Xzibit married West Coast production with East Coast lyricism, producing a stunningly personal hip-hop record possessed by the energy and anger of the street. Listen for "Paparazzi," his anthem-like tirade against phony rappers, and "The Foundation," a raw, yet heartfelt track about his hopes for his son. The Crowd Drunken frat boys and those who consider the End the last word on popular music. John Coyle