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Let's talk about "Kim" by Eminem.

ItWasMeantToBe19

ItWasMeantToBe19

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
20,440
There's this idea that because it's art that it's fake in intent and that Eminem never intended this to psychologically harm or threaten Kim Scott... But "Kim" is clearly meant to harm, it's domestic violence in song form.

In Kim, Eminem narrates a fantasy of him murdering his then wife Kim Mathers (later, Scott). This song was written, I believe, after Eminem caught Kim kissing a bouncer. He assaulted the bouncer and later said that he was about to murder both Kim and the bouncer but his gun was not loaded. So, we're already off a great start.

But here's the thing that's really bad.

Mathers, 32, tells Dr. Keith Ablow in an episode of his talk show airing Friday that the final straw came when she saw Eminem (real name: Marshall Bruce Mathers III) onstage beating a blow-up doll that resembled her while singing a song about her.

"Seeing the crowd's response and everybody cheering, singing the words and laughing and it just felt like everyone was staring at me," she says. "I knew that it was about me and that night I went home and I tried to commit suicide."
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https://people.com/celebrity/kim-mathers-eminem-nearly-drove-me-to-suicide/

Eminem wrote a song about murdering his wife, then brought a blowup doll on stage (that looked like his wife) to assault, and then his wife attempted suicide...

I... Am not sure why this song remains considered such a great song. There is artistic merit in depicting domestic violence accurately but... that's because it's domestic violence from a domestic abuser. It was a song intended to inflict extreme pain on Kim and to serve as a warning that he would kill her if she cheated on him.

Kim is a really bad song.
 

Spine Crawler

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
10,228
its pure insanity and rage and i was shocked when i heard it the first time. i was even more shocked when it was selected as a single.

i did like it at that time though.
 
TheChuggernaut

TheChuggernaut

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,231
I didn't listen to Eminem stuff till about a year ago, but the first time I heard Kim I thought "There's people out there that listen to this song when they're going through a break up and those people scare me."
 
Menome

Menome

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,446
Edgy, teenage me who didn't realise it was based on real domestic violence and thought it was a dark 'joke' song in seeing how far Eminem could take his content, liked it.

Grown up, adult me has a 50/50 chance of just skipping it on the album, or just bearing through it depending on my mood these days.
 
Darksol

Darksol

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,704
Japan
I think it was an extreme, cathartic work of art meant to actually stop him from carrying it out for real.

Should it have been left off the record? Probably.
 
OP
OP
ItWasMeantToBe19

ItWasMeantToBe19

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
20,440
Darksol said:
I think it was an extreme, cathartic work of art meant to actually stop him from carrying it out for real.

Should it have been left off the record? Probably.
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Well, that would make more sense if he then didn't use it as a tool to inflict psychological pain on his wife and drive her to attempting suicide.
 
JoeNut

JoeNut

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,483
UK
Menome said:
Edgy, teenage me who didn't realise it was based on real domestic violence and thought it was a dark 'joke' song in seeing how far Eminem could take his content, liked it.

Grown up, adult me has a 50/50 chance of just skipping it on the album, or just bearing through it depending on my mood these days.
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Same. I don't think he gets a pass, it was shocking then too. But that was one of the reasons Em did well, he was controversial
 

Deleted member 46641

User requested account closure
Banned
Aug 12, 2018
3,494
Listening to this song for the first time was the moment I hated Eminem.

Trading in shock imagery of domestic abuse and misogyny under an incompetent framing of "satire" to make crowds of white boys yell "bleed bitch bleed!" while driving the song's subject matter to near suicide. Quite frankly, that song is in itself an act of domestic abuse.

But what do I know? I'm what Eminem calls "a fag... a trans-a-vest". I have no seat at this conversation.
 
nikos

nikos

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,998
New York, NY
Menome said:
Edgy, teenage me who didn't realise it was based on real domestic violence and thought it was a dark 'joke' song in seeing how far Eminem could take his content, liked it.

Grown up, adult me has a 50/50 chance of just skipping it on the album, or just bearing through it depending on my mood these days.
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This.

I don't see anything wrong with it.
 
Senator Toadstool

Senator Toadstool

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
16,651
It horrible. Its violence. Its inexcusable.

Its also art, lots of art is violence.

Its not good thing, but it exists, its an expression of a human experience we'd rather not pretend doesn't exist.

One can absolutely condemn it existence and think it horrible it exists.
 
Drain You

Drain You

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,990
Connecticut
I was young and naive at the time and didn't really understand it I guess. I had to be around 11 or 12 when I first heard it. If it came out today, I would view it very differently.
 
ginger ninja

ginger ninja

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,060
He has said some terrible shit about his mother too. Yea I get he was abused and what not but he definitely did cross the line of decency in a lot of places. His songs have helped a lot of people including myself but he shouldn't be anyone's rolemodel when it comes to treating people.

End of the day he doesn't care what anyone thinks though. Em is a complicated person and I do accept that I can't exactly judge him on such past behaviour because I haven't been in his shoes. As long as he didn't do anything illegal, I am not going to codemn him.
 
OP
OP
ItWasMeantToBe19

ItWasMeantToBe19

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
20,440
Birdseye said:
I bet OP would hate Michel Sardou
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Well, I don't know his music, but I'm not sure if he's ever released a song that says "I will kill my wife if she cheats on me" and then use the song to drive her to attempt suicide.

I'm very confused what the irony or larger context is supposed to be. The context is that Eminem drove Kim to attempting suicide... That's much worse than the song without context.
 
Drain You

Drain You

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,990
Connecticut
Vyrak holy shit hahaha, I've never seen that before. That was good.

I also thought the dude playing Eminem was the dude who plays Jean-Ralphio, Ben Schwartz from Parks and Rec for a hot second.
 
SurrenderDorothy

SurrenderDorothy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,510
Drifter_InA_Cage said:
You've never been in love if you've never contemplated murder.
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1a9.gif
 
TyrantGuardian

TyrantGuardian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,293
Yeah there's no excuse for this song. I skip it every single time I listen to the album. Just completely awful and inexcusable. Luckily he seems to have genuinely grown into a better person on those matters.

Completely agree that the song itself counts as abuse. Have zero understanding for people who consider it a "good work of art". There are plenty of ways to create the same honest representation of awful shit without abusing the person in question to the point of despair, that's just unacceptable regardless of artistic merit. Personal safety > art.

Menome said:
Edgy, teenage me who didn't realise it was based on real domestic violence and thought it was a dark 'joke' song in seeing how far Eminem could take his content, liked it.

Grown up, adult me has a 50/50 chance of just skipping it on the album, or just bearing through it depending on my mood these days.
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Man even as a teenager I felt physically sick listening to the song and I spun that album like 5 times a day.
 
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