Knock knock America...

Newsroom: From streets to stars

Welcome to America! The rich country, the powerful world power, where people criticize other people for the skin color, vote inefficient politicians and do war without any reason.

Hey, but we’re in America, don’t they live well here?

This song was very criticized for the irony with which EMINEM talks about subjects like police, racism and the average American man. Eminem is a perfect example of the union between the black culture and the white culture: that’s why our newsroom thinks that the lyrics should be read and understood deeply. Here is the lyrics:

America, hahaha, we love you, how many people are proud to be citizens of this beautiful

Country of ours, the stripes and the stars for the rights that men have died for to protect,

The women and men who have broke their neck's for the freedom of speech the United States

Government has sworn to uphold, or

(You, I want everybody to listen to the words of this song) so we're told...

I never would've dreamed in a million years I'd see,

So many motherfucking people who feel like me, who share the same views

And the same exact beliefs, it's like a fucking army marching in back of me, so many lives I

Touch, so much anger aimed, in no particular direction, just sprays and sprays, and straight

Through your radio waves it plays and plays, 'till it stays stuck in your head for days and

Days, who would of thought, standing in this mirror bleaching my hair, with some peroxide,

Reaching for a t-shirt to wear, that I would catapult to the forefront of rap like this, how

Could I predict my words would have an impact like this, I must've struck a chord, with somebody

Up in the office, cause congress keeps telling me I ain't causing nuthin' but problems, and now

They're saying I'm in trouble with the government, I'm loving it, I shoveled shit all my life,

And now I'm dumping it on...

[Chorus]

White America, I could be one of your kids, white America, little Eric looks just like this,

White America, Erica loves my shit, I go to TRL, look how many hugs I get, white America, I

Could be one of your kids, white America, little Eric looks just like this, white America, Erica

Loves my shit, I go to TRL, look how many hugs I get...

Look at these eyes, baby blue, baby just like yourself, if they were brown, Shady lose, Shady

Sits on the shelf, but Shady's cute, Shady knew, Shady's dimple's would help, make ladies swoon

Baby, {ooh baby}, look at my sales, let's do the math, if I was black, I would've sold half, I

Ain't have to graduate from Lincoln high school to know that, but I could rap, so fuck school,

I'm too cool to go back, gimme the mic, show me where the fucking studio's at, when I was

Underground, no one gave a fuck I was white, no labels wanted to sign me, almost gave up, I was

Like, fuck it, until I met Dre, the only one to look past, gave me a chance, and I lit a fire up

Under his ass, helped him get back to the top, every fan black that I got, was probably his in

Exchange for every white fan that he's got, like damn, we just swapped, sitting back looking at

Shit, wow, I'm like my skin is it starting to work to my benefit now, it's...

[Chorus]

See the problem is, I speak to suburban kids, who otherwise would of never knew these words

Exist, whose mom's probably would of never gave two squirts of piss, 'till I created so much

Motherfucking turbulence, straight out the tube, right into your living room I came, and kids

Flipped when they knew I was produced by Dre, that's all it took, and they were instantly hooked

Right in, and they connected with me too because I looked like them, that's why they put my

Lyrics up under this microscope, searching with a fine tooth comb, it s like this rope, waiting

To choke, tightening around my throat, watching me while I write this, like I don't like this,

Nope, all I hear is, lyrics, lyrics, constant controversy, sponsors working 'round the clock, to

Try to stop my concerts early, surely hip-hop was never a problem in Harlem, only in Boston,

After it bothered the fathers of daughters starting to blossom, so now I'm catching the flack

From these activists when they ragging, acting like I'm the first rapper to smack a bitch, or

Say faggot, shit, just look at me like I'm your closest pal, the poster child, the motherfucking

Spokesman now for...

[Chorus]

So to the parents of America, I am the derringer aimed at little Erica, to attack her

Character, the ringleader of this circus of worthless pawns, sent to lead the march right up to

The steps of congress, and piss on the lawns of the White House, to burn the casket and replace

It with a parental advisory sticker, to spit liquor in the faces of in this democracy of

Hypocrisy, fuck you Ms. Cheney, fuck you Tipper Gore, fuck you with the freest of speech this

Divided states of embarrassment will allow me to have, fuck you, [vocal melody],

He, hahaha, I'm just playing America, you know I love you...

Glossary

Proud: when you are proud you feel satisfaction with yourself (proud=arrogant, sometimes)
Citizens: people who live in a country
Strips and stars: it is a reference to the American flag
Freedom of speech: a situation in which all people can speak freely
Sworn: promised
Uphold: to support something
Believe: for example, I believe in Santa Claus
Anger: a strong emotion you feel when you think someone has done you wrong
Waves: Eminem means the radio signal
Stuck in your head: something fixed in your head
Bleaching my hair: make hair lighter, for example make it blonde
Ain’t: it is a slang expressions to say “I am not” 

Trouble: difficulty
Trl: Total Request Live, it is an American TV program
Swoon: to faint, to overcome with emotion
Give a fuck: not being interested in something
Gave a chance: to give an opportunity
Suburban: people who doesn’t live in a centre of a city
Lyrics: the words of a song
Comb: a small plastic or wooden tool you can use to untangle your hair in the morning
Choke: when someone suffocates
Throat: neck
Bothered: when someone is annoyed
Faggot: an offensive slang term
Pal: friend
Derringer: it is a small pistol
Worthless: without any value
Parental advisory: it’s a sort of parental control on the children’s computer
Allow: to consent something