Saturday, June 5, 2010

Not Afraid



"I'm not afraid to take a stand..."

The video for "Not Afraid" off of Eminem's Recovery album dropped earlier this morning and it's quit possibly the most well produced, impactful and definitely the most optimistic video that he's ever released. You can definitely tell that Eminem is in a new refreshed frame of mind of this album and this video is a perfect indication of his newfound focus and maturity. The video takes place in two different locations, one is in a city and the other is in a dark and dreary basement very reminiscent to some of his older videos. Early on in the city scenes after contemplating what looks like a suicide attempt we see a stoic and stonefaced Em walking around aimlessly almost completely detached from his surroundings until he catches a glimpse of himself in the window of a parked car and realizes that his reflection is distorted. From this moment on he begins to realize that something is very wrong and soon he is surrounded by mirrors casting the same distorted reflection back at him causing him to panic and jump through one of the mirrors. Meanwhile in the basement scenes we see Em (who looks a lot younger than he does in the city scenes for some reason) acting very similar to the way he used to in his darker videos. He shows off his angrier and more passionate side in these scenes as we see him throwing things all over the room until he throws a chair at the stone wall and it cracks revealing a small glimmer of light. At this moment he begins to punch through the wall revealing more light and walks into it. Back at the city, Em gets up and walks to what seems to be the edge of reality and hesitantly jumps off the ledge. Then the video turns into that scene from Matrix Revolutions and Em starts flying around the city Neo style. As he's flying we also see Em shrouded in light after getting out of the dark basement rapping the last verse of the song. At the very end of the video we see Em fly back up to the tall building that he was standing on in the very beginning of the video and looks out over the city. What makes this video so impactful compare to alot of his other videos is the fact that I think this is the first time we're TRULY seen a growth in Eminem. He's had mature videos in the past but this is the first time that I've seen such an optimistic and hopeful side of his music, and it sends out a powerful message to the listeners. While I'm sure that we'll still have some of the signature shock value songs on Em's new album, I'm really looking forward to hearing the material that he puts on this album which is sure to be a classic. You guys already know the drill so till next post, Rock on from Krypton.

Dueces Up!

-Vision.Air.y-

2 comments:

  1. A BEAUTIFUL start to this week... Marcus... i wanna cry, Marshall Mathers is doin it! This is a great song, with a great message, great feeling and great production and artistry.

    I HAVE NEVR SEEN SO MUCH HOPE IN THIS MAN B4

    ReplyDelete
  2. yea, when i saw the video on tv, i thought it was amazing. i've always loved him as an artist and i'm happy he continues to grow

    ReplyDelete