Calpundit brought my attention to this post by Matthew Yglesias, where he points out that the New York Review of Books article on Eminem fails to grasp the difference between radio and CD versions of a song. Pretty funny actually.
I read this article just the other day, and all I could think about is why does this bastion of “high culture” get all giddy over some white pop sensation who denigrates gays and women, when there are hundreds of brilliant black rappers who’ve been performing work for years that is far superior to many of the novelists and poets that usually grace the pages of this esteemed publication? I’m not a rap aficionado, but I can tell the difference between Eminem and The Roots… (i.e. between pop music and real creative talent.) Unfortunately the NY Review of Books does not. Or perhaps they do, but they feel that by canonizing a few low-culture icons they can avoid having to actually take popular culture seriously the rest of the time? Who knows …
Still, it is worth reading the latest issue of the NYR, if only for Garry Wills’ article on Jefferson’s “Southern Strategy”, and Dworkin’s article on Civil Liberties. (Download the articles to your HD before they disappear from the free portion of the site!)
