Earlier this week while driving, Eminem's "Kim" came up on my iPod at random. I was blown away by how bad this song is, and how even more vulgar it sounds now, and that I fought like hell with my parents to listen to this album when they now seem so obviously right in retrospect - and specifically that he is singing about the murder of a real person, his former wife and mother of his child. I'll probably never listen to this song again.



It made me wonder if Eminem now regrets having written this song. My guess is he doesn't - for being in his 40s his content is still as pointlessly sophomoric as it ever was. (God he so sucks now.)



Since then I've been challenging myself to think of examples of veteran artists who expressed regret over content they created earlier in their careers.



I remember the Beasties being super regretful about their License to Ill stuff, specifically the blatant misogyny that runs through the record and their occasional use of the word "fag".



I also remember Jay-Z expressing his own late-career embarrassment at using the phrase "beat the guts" on Big Pimpin, sharing that of all the taboo topics he touched on through the years - selling drugs, calling women bitches, gun violence - the thing that he felt worst about was this specific and arrogantly passive reference to sex.



So my gears are turning:

- for starters, what other examples am I missing? Really curious to hear more.

- is this kind of regret exclusive to the genre of hip-hop?

- if not, what rock/rnb/country examples might I not be familiar with?


Fill me in, look forward to learning more from you guys.

He said he repented of that for a bit. As for "Kim" I've always found that song really disturbing. From the content to the maniacal sound of Em's voice, I could never really get into it.



Since 1976

But Snoop said he won't use the words "bitch" and "ho" to describe women anymore. He said he doesn't regret what he did before because he didn't know, but that he won't use the words anymore.

----

https://weketchum.contently.com/

from the stuff on Licensed to Ill (although I don't know if that was for legal reasons or just maturity)

R.I.P. Loud But Wrong Guy
Dec 29th 2009 - Dec 17th 2017

.

************************************************************

And until recently was almost exclusively made by young men.

All young men think, do and believe things that they
regret, because young men are weak, destructive, insecure
monsters (almost all of them).

So I'd say the vast majority of Hip Hop artists have said
many, many things that they regret. Because no music has
ever taken us inside minds the way Hip-Hop has.

"in a circle of faggots, your name is mentioned"
from Dooinit

he regretted that one by the time his next album dropped. I think he felt forced to address it by accepting a dude for being gay in "between me, you and liberation" off electring circus.


...then he became a soft and useless shell of himself as a rapper.

On the same album, a line on Heat

'Deep as a skinny girl's cunt'

always seemed real out of place for me, might be a english thing but I never want to hear that word

I thought the word was less offensive to people over there. like, guys just call each other cunts. or maybe thats australia. in america, its the last of two words that can actually offend people in general(at least females).

regardless, its a terrible line. since when are skinny girls known for being deep in the vaginal area? and even if they were, what a terrible way to demonstrate your supposed deepness.

yeah actually you're right, in certain areas more southern in england it's freely used... but at least where I'm from its seriously offensive.

so if its that offensive how did that line get no reaction in the studio ?!

its really only offensive to women. especially if you CALL a woman that. its the only thing close to nigger or faggot in terms of being REALLY offensive to one group.