8. Square Dance (Second Verse) The Eminem Show
Featuring perhaps one of the finest assonant onslaughts in Eminems career a bold claim to attach to a rapper so rhythmically proficient Square Dances bizarrely catchy melody is barely noticeable by the time Marshall has got comfortable with the song. The verse weaves around the political lashing that is so prominent on the LP, honing in on freedom of speech and the youth of today, rallying them over the crunching backbeat and questioning the US military and Uncle Sam morals as they hook in young impressionable citizens to put their lives on the line in the name of patriotism. He hits heights that he rarely reaches again on The Eminem Show, nor on any releases since then.
Let your hair down to the track, yeah kick on back Boo! The boogie monster of rap, yeah the man's back With a plan to ambush this Bush administration Mush the Senate's face and push this generation Of kids to stand and fight for the right to say something you might not like This white hot light that I'm under, no wonder I look so sunburnt Oh no, I won't leave no stone unturned Oh no, I won't leave, won't go nowhere Do-si-do, oh, yo, ho, hello there Oh yeah, don't think I won't go there Go to the Beirut and do a show there Yeah you laugh till your mothaf*ckin' ass gets drafted While you're at band camp thinkin' the crap can't happen Till you f*ck around, get an Anthrax napkin Inside a package wrapped in Saran wrap wrappin' Open the plastic and then you stand back gaspin' F*ckin' assassins hi-jackin' Amtracks, crashin' All this terror, America demands action Next thing you know you've got Uncle Sam's ass askin' To join the army or what you'll do for their Navy You just a baby gettin' recruited at eighteen You're on a plane now, eatin' their food and their baked beans I'm 28, they gonna take you 'fore they take me Crazy insane or insane crazy? When I say Hussein you say Shady My views ain't changed still Inhumane, wait Arranged two days late, the date's today, hang me!
A mythical hedonist, a chronic solipsist, a poet armed with a mouth full of adjectives, a brain full of adverbs and a box full of laxatives. Writing words in a language that isn't real to impress people that I invented since The Big Bang.
