Eminem’s Mosh

For the past few days the blogworld has been buzzing about Eminem’s new video, Mosh. Directed by the Guerilla News Network’s Ian Inaba, this song’s driving beat, conveying a greater sense of urgency than even Eminem’s powerful “Lose Yourself,” urges voters disillusioned with Bush to remove him from power.

mosh1.jpg
mosh2.jpg
mosh3.jpg

There’s been a call-in drive to elevate this video to number one in MTV’s TRL. Last night, at least, the video was in the top 20. MTV was compelled to broadcast the video, but only part of it. They cut out two of the most powerful scenes of the video: a shot of a collage showing dozens of newspaper articles, their headlines announcing the grave misjudgments of the Bush administration. Before the collage stands Eminem, angrily pounding the walls.

The video proceeds to show several individuals dramatically affected by Bush’s policies: an urban black man, a target of racial profiling; a working mother about to be evicted from her apartment; a U.S. soldier ordered to Iraq. These individuals and many more begin to march/mosh behind the passionately rhyming Eminem. Their destination is revealed in the final scenes, which MTV did not show last night: the army of angry moshers storm the steps of a courthouse, not to riot, as it first looks, but to orderly exercise their right–and power–to vote.

I’m disappointed but not surprised that MTV (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Viacom) did not show the controversial video in its entirety. “Mosh” is one of the strongest indictments I’ve seen of President Bush since Fahrenheit 9-11. Eminem has already been targeted by the FCC and FBI, and this video probably places him squarely on Bush’s enemy list. (More likely Karl Rove’s list, since Bush doesn’t read the news.)