You answered my question already - you haven't listened to the music but know that it's terrible and harmful. Yes, you are old. Very old. Two generations ago they were saying the same things about Elvis, and just one generation ago the great evil was Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper. That music is bad for you!

So you are listening to "Young Anymore"? Great, you are listening to an album that the artist himself despises.

Of course Eminem is maturing - his first album dealt with themes like knocking over liquor stores and feeding mushrooms to his dates. His latest addresses censorship, the erosion of our Bill of Rights, and the general state of hypocrisy in America. And in the film the themes are the loss of good paying union jobs, exposing the horrible state of poverty that exists in our great nation, and the silliness of violence associated with music.

I used to hate rap, too. And a lot of it I still do not care for. But I started listening to it, and like quite a few albums now. To ease you in, may I suggest you listen to Fishbone, which not only covers Aids and Armageddon, but also does another song that DB cowrote? David talks about his sessions with that band as one of the funnest experiences he ever had at the Palindrome Recorder, and at one time was hinting at taking that musical direction. About the only thing I don't like about rap is the fact that with few exceptions it sucks live in concert. Way too often it's like a big Milli Vanilli fest with tapes running, or worse yet you're paying big money to see karaoke.