AFP/GETTY IMAGES (EMINEM); MICHAEL BUCKNER (LADY GAGA)
28
NOVEMBER 2013
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
The Music
The Videos
The Collaborations
The Diva Moment
• At the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, Eminemwas
approached by “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” star Triumph
the Insult Comic Dog. The rapper shoved the puppet aside and
a member of his entourage scattered the comic’s notes. Later,
Eminem insulted the electronic artist Moby onstage, calling
him a “little girl.”
• Gaga didn’t hold back when a former assistant (and close
friend) sued her this year for unpaid overtime. “She thinks
she’s just the queen of the universe,” Gaga said about
her former friend. “And, you know what, she didn’t want to
be a slave to one, because in my work and what I do, I’m the
queen of the universe every day.” Yowza.
• Eminemhas slammed everyone fromGeorgeW. Bush to
Christina Aguilera, but hismost controversial lyrical moment was
his description of doing away with his real-life wife in “Kim.” She
sued him for defamation in 2000; it was later settled out of court.
• Critics began comparing Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” to
Madonna’s 1989 hit “Express Yourself” immediately after it
was released. Madonna responded by performing a mashup
of the two songs. They blended, er, seamlessly.
culture
||
THEMONTHAHEAD
“Summer heat poured into my body and rose from my
face like a damp fever, turning the dust on my face into
tears of mud. Then rain came once again and diluted
the tears, softened the roads and deepened the ruts,
until, once again, we were stuck.”
—From
The Valley of Amazement
, the new novel by Amy Tan
NOV. 5
• Even after his 2010 video for “Love theWay You Lie,” featuring
Rihanna andMegan Fox, was denounced for depicting domestic
violence, Marshall Mathers was able to top himself. His 2011
video for “Space Bound” included more domestic violence—
against an adult movie star.
• Critics bashed the video for “Judas,” in which Lady Gaga
tools around with biker gang disciples, dressed at first as
Mary Magdalene and then in hardly anything at all. There
was less of an outcry at the fact that the singer was tooling
around without a helmet.
• In the midst of tongue-wagging over his homophobic lyrics,
Mathers paired up with Elton John, who is openly gay, to perform
“Stan” at the 2001 Grammy Awards. After the performance, they
held up their hands in solidarity—launching a legion of new
tongue-waggers.
• Lady Gaga and longtime producer RedOne teamed up with
Cher to create a song called “The Greatest Thing” for Cher’s
most recent album. It went unreleased when Gaga decided
she didn’t like it, but it was leaked to fans—who quickly realized
it was not the greatest thing at all.
Blonde Ambition
Two pop stars with fake names, overdyed locks and outsize drives for courting controversy
face off this month. Who will take home the crown of scorn?
Lady Gaga and Eminemmay not be the
most eyebrow-raising music stars at
the moment (that distinction probably
belongs to Miley Cyrus), but between
them, they’ve engendered decades of
pearl-clutching. With Lady Gaga’s third
studio album,
Artpop
, and Eminem’s
eighth,
MMLP2
, hitting shelves (Nov. 5),
we wonder who’s the rudest of them all.
We’ll let you
decide.
