To Be Fair, Eminiem Lip-Synched Too Last Night

[THUNDER HANDS]

I watched it.
I saw it.
He wasn't actually rapping.
He was barely moving his mouth.
He was also looking down at his lyrics so he'd know what to 'mime'.

If we're going to call out Ashlee Simpson for her SNL performance, and SNL is going to make repeated jokes about it, they should at least make sure their own performer is not doing the EXACT SAME THING.

I love the Mosh video. I think Eminiem is supremely talented.

But be honest folks, that was a phony performance last night.

I was watching a special on Eminem on the E network last night after SNL. They showed him performing 'Forgot about Dre' with Dr. Dre from 1998 and the differences between that performance and last night's were striking.

He was actually speaking back then. You could hear him beathing. You could hear his voice change. You heard a man who could rap at speeds that would leave ordinary performers tongue tied.

But last night, it was totally different. I mean, jeez, it wasn't even a GOOD fake performance.

I knew to expect this too, because since Eminem has become really popular he fakes his way through performances.

Give credit where credit's due and say that Eminem created a great song with 'Mosh' but give blame where blame's due and say that he didn't back that song up with a legit performance of it.

There. I said it. Now flame away. :)

[Not Me]

1. Not only did he lip-sync - he did it poorly. BUT,

This was not a performance, this was a statement.
And it goes beyond what I thought NBC would go for. Kudos to them.

I hope his message is heard.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. "Here lies a lip-syncher. He lip-synched... poorly." (nt)

[fsbooks]

2. You can get the video (not the SNL version):

Either here: http://gnn.tv/content/viewer.html

or, it is mirrored here: http://mdfa.blogdns.org/video/GNN_Mosh_bb2.mov

[henslee]

3. Yup. But he was smart enuf not to do a dumb jig and walk off crying...

Too bad because there is something magical about a live mike. Em could have kicked an acapella version punctuated by less beats. He could have turned all the house lights on and rapped right to the camera, extra slow and seething. He could've stalked. He did not. He pretty much phoned it in and it was almost forgettable. Yawn.

[Nikepallas]

5. Saturday night live has almost always had people do that.

Soild Gold, and I think american bandstand did too.

It's only when Milli Vannilli(was that the group? I can't remember) was caught doing it that people started to make a big deal about it.


I think as long as the artist does live music in an actual concert setting then these shows they lip syn at should not be a problem.

If I remember correctly someone I knew who worked on a show liked that told me it would be TOO expensive (voltage wise) to have artist perform live. The main idea is to get the artist and song linked together and introduce them to a wide viewing audience.

[CatWoman]

6. so fucking what?

how many "HE LIP SYNCHED" threads are going to tell us he lip synched?

The important thing is SNL let him perform the song.

End of story.

[belladonna]

7. Oh, I predict at least a dozen more

I don't suppose anyone thought of the obvious reason he "lip synched", but then they wouldn't. You know,like SNL might not WANT Eminem doing anything live, especially this song. And I guess they didn't think of the reason he was so OBVIOUS about it either, but I guess any reason to hate Em is good enough for some people.

[THUNDER HANDS]

9. its not as if he had any OTHER song to sing

he's had two singles. One sucked (the second song) and one was good.

I'm just being fair.

[American Tragedy]

14. Not to mention the obvious fact that it's not really vocally demanding

Even rap fans have to admit that it's not exactly performing an aria. What's the worst that could happen in what is essentially rhythmic spoken word?

Sorry, but after having seen full opera performances or even operatic metal concerts a la Nightwish, it's hard to have a lot of sympathy for pop singers who can't even handle one song. Unless of course he was doing it to be ironic, after that one girl on SNL last time.

[chenGOD]

17. if you think it's not vocally demanding, give it a try...

This particular song "mosh" is not very demanding of a rapper (although it is in a slightly strange syncopation with the beat). But you try and rap along with some of his other songs. I don't just mean the chorus, I mean the whole thing.

edit for forgetting to close my parentheses.

[belladonna]

18. I did a thread asking people to do just that last night

What did I get? People half reading my post, which asked them to memorize the lyrics, and screaming that Eminem should have already memorized the lyrics if he wrote them. It's a lost cause, really :eyes:

[chenGOD]

22. Here's something funny...

i live in Seoul, South Korea, and priavet karaoke rooms are very popular here (you and a bunch of friends go and rent a room for a couple of hours or whatever and belt out some tunes). They have mostly Korean songs (surprise, surprise) but one place I went to had some eminem track, I think it was "real Slim Shady". So I figured I'd give it a try cause I like Eminem and I know that song fairly well. Goddamn was that ever hard to do.

I've got it on tape, but that's a tape that will never see the light of day...lol

[supernova]

8. To be fair, the only people who can sing and dance

at the same time are people who grew up taking singing and dancing lesson. People who grew up wanting to perform on Broadway, iow.

You really have to be in top physical shape to do that and most people aren't, even if they can carry a tune.

[American Tragedy]

10. But don't most people come to see a singer actually sing?

Not some slightly amateurish dancing.

I would consider it a huge rip-off if the groups I listen to lip-synched. A great performer can often sound even better live.

[supernova]

12. Most really good singers

don't do a lot of dancing around while they are singing. Only true theatre troopers do that.

If you want people to put on a really good dance show as well as sing, you are going to get lip-synching.

Try it sometime. You'll find out how hard it is to do both simultaneously.

[American Tragedy]

19. No argument, but why do you have to put on a huge dance show?

Would it really be so bad to cut back on the dancing and do a bit more singing? I'm generally into an artist because I've heard their songs, not for having watched their dance routines. And although this wasn't always true, with current amp technology live performances can be killer, which is why there is a considerable market for bootleg recordings.

Maybe it's just personal preference, I don't know. I'd walk out if someone I paid to see was mouthing to a tape.

[supernova]

21. It got to be that way

because of the advent of MTV. Somehow performers got the expectation that they were required to not just sing a song and us in the audience just dig watching them sing. But now, everything has to be a big production number. They think we expect a video clip when we see them live.

:shrug:

[Nikia]

11. I thought that most pop stars lip synched

To vocals that they had prerecorded. I thought that this was especially true of the ones that did energetic dance routines. My father, who was in a band, said that almost all television performances were done that way. It is usually too risky that the singer will get winded and miss some of the lyrics.

[snoochie]

13. Am I the only one who DOESN'T think he lip synched?

Let's get it straight - lip synching is JUST mouthing the words over a recorded song, NOT singing along over a backing track, which is what he did last night.

It was very obvious to me that he was singing over a backing track. I could hear the layered live vocal over the recorded track QUITE clearly.

Em put out the best anti-bush song yet at a critical time, yet some people just can't resist comparing him to that no-talent Ashlee ... people ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Last night it just bugged me, now it's starting to really piss me off.

[supernova]

15. I didn't see it, so I can't comment

but MM doesn't strike me as wanting to lip-synch his stuff.

You gotta admit, lip-syching rap (essentailly performance poetry) sounds silly.

[belladonna]

16. That's why I put it the way I did

"Lip synched"

I agree with you, but then I understand how rap and hip hop work. And I don't have an axe to grind with Em. I guess that helps, huh?

[snoochie]

20. Is that what it's about? Axe grinding?

Whatever the reason it's fucking WAY BEYOND lame.

Lip synching != singing along with a backing track.

You'd think it was fucking rocket science. :eyes:

AND if you consider that they CHANGED the lyrics, then it becomes even MORE lame. The second song he sang live.

[belladonna]

23. That's exactly what it's about

Who cares about the obvious reasons it was done? Who cares about the fact that Em was being WAY obvious about it? I guess nobody noticed that he dropped the mic away from his mouth at least 3 or 4 times that I counted. It's Eminem, the big bad wimmin hating bad boy and we must find a reason to hate him even more. :eyes: