Some fifteen odd years after its release, lyrics from Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP are still at the center of controversy.
A fifteen-year-old boy attending San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno, California was arrested Tuesday, September 1, and charged with making terrorist threats and for disrupting school activity, prompting classes to halt for the day.
The incriminating lyrics on social media stem from the song “I’m Back,” where the unapologetic rapper spit, “I take seven kids from Columbine/Stand ’em all in a line/Add an AK-47/A revolver, a nine, a MAC-11 and it outta solve the problem of mine/And that’s a whole school of bullies shot up all at one time/I’m just like Shady and just as crazy as the world was over this whole Y2K thing.”
The Fresno Bee attended the press conference following the sophomore’s arrest and Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer believed his officers took appropriate action, calling the boy’s characteristics similar to that of “a loner” and a “socially awkward” kid who pulls off unthinkable crimes, i.e. Dylann Roof.
As fate would have it, the student was barely alive when Eminem’s multi-platinum second album dropped in 2000 and actually told authorities he was quoting lyrics from the song “Rap God,” released in 2013. On the song, Eminem repeated his infamous Columbine reference (without the censorship heard on the press recordings), joking that he could get away with saying the lyrics without reprimand, seeing that his celebrity wasn’t as strong as it was fifteen odd years ago.
When police searched the boy’s home however, their call to action was rewarded with evidence. A replica AK-47 Airsoft rifle, a handgun, a .357 Magnum revolver, a 12-gauge shotgun, ammunition and a bulletproof vest were later found seemingly hidden in the subfloor of a closet.
The boy’s father could also face charges of “negligent storage” of the firearms, although he denied any knowledge of their existence. The teen is currently in juvenile detention while his lawyer is claiming he was “hacked.”
“These are really all of the things we look for in individuals that historically have been involved in incidents like Columbine. So we’re very fortunate that this was brought to our attention,” Dyer said during the press conference. “We have every reason to believe that he was reaching out for help.…The weapons were present. The ammunition was present. Perhaps even the mindset was present to carry out those threats.”
On the Eminem song “Who Knew” off the same album, the rapper somewhat gave incidents a foreboding saying, “How many retards’ll listen to me/And run up in the school shooting when they’re pissed at a tea-cher, her, him is it you is it them/Wasn’t me, Slim Shady said to do it again/Damn, how much damage can you do with a pen/Man, I’m just as f**ked up as you would’ve been/If you would’ve been in my shoes, who woulda thought/Slim Shady would be something that you would’ve bought/That would’ve made you get a gun and shoot at a cop/I just said it, I ain’t know if you’d do it or not.”
Let us all be thankful this alleged attempt was thwarted in time.
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Photo: Dennis Van Tine/Future Image/WENN.com
