Considering that Eminem first broke onto the scene in 1999 with his celeb-skewering video for “My Name Is,” we didn’t begrudge him for revisiting the same turf in his subsequent videos for “The Real Slim Shady” and “Without Me.” However, by the time the video for “Just Lose It” came out back in 2004, it was painfully clear that the novelty of taking the likes of Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson to task had lost its freshness and social relevance. So imagine our dismay this morning when we discovered that the video for “We Made You,” the first single off Eminem’s five-years-in-the-making Relapse LP, trod the same, tired ground. Whereas Eminem used to have his finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist, his latest collaboration with former hotshot music-video director Joseph Kahn could not be any more behind the curve if it tried. It’s chock-full of visual cues that reference thoroughly dusty pop-culture moments like Jessica Simpson’s appearance in The Dukes of Hazzard (2005), Jessica Alba in Sin City (also 2005), the wood chipper from Fargo (1996), and, most confusingly, the casino scene from Rain Man (1988). Notice that we didn’t even mention the video’s Sarah Palin subplot. If only there were an emoticon for groaning, we’d use it here. Can’t someone please get this guy a new subscription to Us Weekly?
“We Made You” - Eminem [MTV.com]
