mjm wired ;)  

At the end of the day a Palestinian, Gujurati, Russian and I were talking about how stupid and often talentless rap is. And then Eminem came up, and there was a split reaction in regards to his lyrics. I guess we all ageed that his constant rehashing of his "tough childhood" and "hard life" has become so old - boring really. We get it already. But then someone mentioned that in his Mockinbird lyrics off of his latest album mentions they saved a jar which "almost had a thousand dollars". My Gujarati coworker says, "Man, 1000 dollars? I'd be rich back in India". We laughed, then we thought about it. He complains about his problems, but at the same time (1) he had place to live, (2) could put food on the table, and (3) actually saved money. And then we went off on that. My Russian coworker talked about life in Russia and how his parents survived war conflicts. And I mentioned that driving at night in Bombay I could see hundreds of people sleeping on the concrete, and families housed in makeshift scrap metal and covers. And finally my Palestinian coworker says, "I lived an okay life in the West Bank, but now I think about it, this Eminem, his complaints seem so small".

Everything is relative, I know. But to me, all these "hardcore" rappers who become tough over years growing up "on the streets" - I doubt they could last a day somewhere else, where it truly is "hard".