My YF idolizes Eminem. In his lyrics, he has found such a close parallel to his own life that it is almost as if Eminem were telling his (my YF's) story, letting people know how he feels inside. It seems somewhat cathartic to him to let out this aggression by listening to these songs that tell of the things he feels.

I tried to curb his interest in Eminem at first, but I was unable to. The problem is that Eminem's early life was so similar to my YF's that my YF feels some kind of connection to his music. Like Eminem, my YF: is the lone white kid in a poor black neighborhood, he grew up fatherless, he is a victim of a neglectful mother, he was a munchausen by proxy victim (or still is, although he now sees through the lies), etc. I can't blame him for latching on to that music.

Thankfully, unlike the kid in the video, my YF has somewhere else he can go besides to his room to crank up the music and escape into another world. He can come over my house.

Should kids be listening to this stuff? Were he my son, he would not be allowed to listen to it. But then again, he wouldn't need to; he wouldn't be able to relate to those lyrics or that lifestyle, if he wanted to listen to it it would be only because he thought it was cool. I think the artists should be more responsible about what they publish. One day, I told my yf he could put the eminem cd in my car but upon hearing the first bad word, I would change the song. After skipping the first 5 songs within less than one minute, he gave up and turned it off.