Album: Encore
Year: 2004
“Mosh” is a protest song by Eminem, released on October 26, 2004 as a digital single and the second single from his fifth studio album, Encore (2004). It was released just prior to the 2004 presidential election.
The video for the song was made available for free on the Internet (back in the days before YouTube, when music videos were generally not made available to download for FREE) and encouraged voters to vote George W. Bush out of office. The song was excerpted from Eminem’s album, Encore, not yet released at the time the video was made available to the public.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, And to the Republic for which it stands, One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
— Eminem, Mosh lyrics
Eminem: Mosh music video
“We set aside our differences and assemble our own army to disarm this Weapon of Mass Destruction that we call our President”
— Eminem, Mosh lyrics
About the Mosh music video
Video, which was released for his anti-Bush song makes “Fahrenheit 9/11” look like a GOP campaign spot, and was likely meant to reach the target audience which normally wouldn’t think of shelling out to see a documentary (in cinema).
The music video for Mosh was released on the eve of the 2004 presidential election, and is mostly animated. Immediately, all eyes were yet again on Eminem and internet was buzzing with Eminem and Mosh related discussions. Video directed by the Guerilla News Network’s Ian Inaba combined with the song’s driving beat, conveying a greater sense of urgency than even Eminem’s powerful “Lose Yourself,” urges voters disillusioned with George Bush Junior to remove him from power.
Upon release, there’s been a huge call-in demand for this video which drove it to number one in MTV’s TRL. MTV was compelled to broadcast the video, but only part of it. They cut out two of the most powerful scenes of the video: a shot of a collage showing dozens of newspaper articles, their headlines announcing the grave misjudgments of the Bush administration. Before the collage stands Eminem, angrily pounding the walls. What happened to freedom of speech? Shame on you MTV!
The video (Mosh) proceeds to show several individuals dramatically affected by Bush’s policies: an urban black man, a target of racial profiling; a working mother about to be evicted from her apartment and a U.S. soldier ordered to Iraq. These individuals and many more begin to march/mosh behind the passionately rhyming Eminem. Their destination is revealed in the final scenes, which MTV did not show last night: the army of angry “moshers” storms the steps of a courthouse, not to riot, as it first looks, but to orderly exercise their right — and power — to vote. I’m disappointed (but not surprised) that MTV (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Viacom) did not show the controversial Mosh video in its entirety.
“Mosh” is one of the strongest indictments I’ve seen of President Bush since Fahrenheit 9-11 and people deserve to see it. Eminem has already been targeted by the FCC and FBI, and this video definitely places him squarely on Bush’s enemy list, if he wasn’t there before (which I doubt).
From GNN’s site:
“When I got the callback that our favorite conspirator of controversy, Eminem would be releasing an album in November, I knew we had the potential to say something that would be heard by the masses. And after hearing the song later that month it seemed Mr. Mathers had also been in the lab concocting his own plans for the election and it was precisely the anthem I had been looking for.“
While the Mosh video is harsh on George Bush simply through the visual presentation, Eminem did not hold back in his lyrics either:
“Strap him with an Ak-47, let him go, fight his own war;
— Eminem, Mosh
Let him impress daddy that way;
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil;
No more psychological warfare,
to trick us to thinking that we ain’t loyal;
If we don’t serve our own country, we’re patronizing a hero;
Look in his eyes its all lies;
The stars and stripes, they’ve been swiped, washed out and wiped;
And replaced with his own face, Mosh now or die;
If I get sniped tonight you know why,
Cause I told you to fight!”
Eminem: Mosh lyrics
Intro:
(Kids: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America..
(BOOM)
(Kids: And to the Republic..)
Eminem: People..
(Kids: For which it stands..)
Eminem: Hahaha..
(Kids: One nation under God.. Indivisible..)
Eminem: It feels so good to be back!
Verse 1:
I scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel, re-energize and rewind
I give sight to the blind, my insight’s through the mind
I exercise my right to express when I feel it’s time
It’s just all in your mind – what you interpret it as
I say to fight, you take it as I’ma whip someone’s ass
If you don’t understand, don’t even bother to ask
A father who has grown up with a father-less past
Who has blown up now to rap phenomenon
That has, or at least shows, no difficulty multi-taskin’ and juggling both
Perhaps mastered-his-craft slash entrepreneur
Who has helped launch a few more rap-bags
Who’s had a few obstacles thrown his way
Through the last half of his career
Typical manure, moving past that
Mister kiss-his-ass-crack, he’s a class-act
Rubber-band man, yeah, he just snaps back
Chorus:
Come along, follow me, as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me, and I won’t steer you wrong
Put your faith in your trust, as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel we gon’ fight
We gon’ charge, we gon’ stomp
We gon’ march through the swamp
We gon’ mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors
Come on..
Verse 2:
All the people up top, on the side and the middle
Come together, let’s all form this swamp just a little
Just let it gradually build, from the front to the back
All you can see is a sea of people, some white and some black
No matter what color, all that matters we’re gathered together
To celebrate for the same cause, no matter the weather
If it rains, let it rain
Yeah, the wetter the better
They ain’t gon’ stop us – they can’t
We’re stronger now, more then ever
They tell us “No”, we say “Yeah”
They tell us “Stop”, we say “Go”
Rebel with a rebel yell
Raise hell – we gon’ let em know
Stomp, push, shove, mush..
Fuck Bush
Until they bring our troops home, c’mon, just..
Chorus:
Come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me, and I won’t steer you wrong
Put your faith in your trust, as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel we gon’ fight
We gon’ charge, we gon’ stomp
We gon’ march through the swamp
We gon’ mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors
Come on..
Verse 3:
Imagine it pourin’, it’s rainin’ down on us
Moshpits outside the oval office
Someone’s tryin to tell us something
Maybe this is God just sayin’ we’re responsible
For this monster – this coward that we have empowered
This is Bin Laden
Look at his head noddin’
How could we allow something like this without pumpin’ our fists
Now, this is our final hour
Let me be the voice, and your strength and your choice
Let me simplify the rhyme just to amplify the noise
Try to amplify it, times it, and multiply it by sixteen million
People are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach al CIAda through my speech
Let the president answer our high anarchy
Strap him with a AK-47, let him go fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil
No more psychological warfare to trick us to thinking that we ain’t loyal
If we don’t serve our own country, we?re patronizing our hero
Look in his eyes, its all lies
The stars and stripes, have been swiped
Washed out and wiped and replaced with his own face
Mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight, you?ll know why
‘Cuz I told you to fight
Chorus:
Come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me, and I won’t steer you wrong
Put your faith in your trust, as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel we gon’ fight
We gon’ charge, we gon’ stomp
We gon’ march through the swamp
We gon’ mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors
Come on
Outro:
Eminem: And as we proceed to mosh through this desert storm.. in these closing statements, if they should argue, let us beg to differ.. as we set aside our differences, and assemble our own army to disarm this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president for the present.. and mosh for the future of our next generation.. to speak and be heard.. Mr President.. Mr Senator..
(Kids: Hear us, hear us?.. Hahaha)
Eminem: Mosh – Explained
Music video for Mosh is extremely well-thought out and smoothly presented, with plenty of energy, angst, and intrigue to support its less-than-subtle message. This short explanation is for Shady fans who would like to know more about the topic at hand.
No, the message is not “Get out there and sing in the rain.” For all of the high-powered screaming and yelling in the video, the message is surprisingly tame. Eminem isn’t asking you to blow things up as you might expect. He’s not asking you to become physical, not to attack anyone. He’s simply asking Americans to form an “army” and vote Bush out of office on November 2nd. What could be more patriotic and American than voting? Nothing. And that’s why the end of this video is so very powerful.
Meet Eminem’s Moshing, voting army. The animated characters in this video are nothing short of amazing. Apparently someone decided to go all out with this one and Eminem’s energy doesn’t hurt the process either. Now more than ever, he’s proving himself to be more than a musician. He’s an entertainer.
And for all of the violent, dark images in the Mosh video, suggesting that rebellion is on the way, we have the assembled army walking into a place where they’re going to do what they have to do. And what do they have to do to make sure that future generations are safe?
Just vote. That’s it.
I suspect Eminem will inspire many of first-time voters to get out there and let their voice be heard. Fault him all you want, but he’s going to get major credit for having the courage to release this video and gets my respect for it too. He’s going to inspire many people who wouldn’t have voted to get out there and vote, not just this one time, but in future too.
The greatest achievement of any artist is that he or she inspires their audience. Mission accomplished, Eminem.
Eminem: Mosh – Director’s note
Eminem’s Mosh Music Video – Directed by GNN’s Ian Inaba
Directors Note: Most Americans are well aware that in 2000, the presidential election was decided by 537 votes. From hanging chads to the hourly updates of the manual recount, this story was obsessively covered by the mainstream press. However, what wasn’t covered was what journalist Greg Palast discovered that thousands of primarily minority voters were scrubbed from the voter registry in Florida and prevented from potentially changing the course of America’s turbulent last four years.
By the spring of 2004 all around the country, groups from both sides of the aisle were organizing and activating plans to impact the coming presidential election from MoveOn to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Here at GNN we were finishing our book, True Lies, two related documentary projects and barely had enough time for our own attempt of an online voter registration campaign. Through Palast’s reporting and our own investigations into electronic voting machines and the crossover campaign that defeated Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, we became increasingly aware of the fallibility of elections and the fragile state of America’s most fundamental democratic process. We also knew the potential power of the youth vote. With more than 55 million voters between the ages of 18 and 35, this demographic group accounts for 36% of the total eligible voters in the U.S. And as witnessed in 2000 it all comes down to who shows up to vote on election day.
So on the eve of one of the most spirited elections in recent times, it’s time to try and turn out the vote. As a music video director, ideas for videos usually come independent of the song and are then adapted to fit the timing and lyrics of the featured track. I initially developed a concept for this video in June 2004 and contacted Interscope shortly after to find out what artists in their roster would be releasing albums near the election. The goal was to make a video that inspired young people to vote because they too often disregard it as a powerless exercise. To show them that political decisions do impact their daily lives and that voting is the most powerful act we all have to voice our opinion and effect change. And to educate and reiterate the point that whether or not people want to accept it, there are forces in play that attempt to suppress the youth and minority vote.
When I got the callback that our favorite conspirator of controversy, Eminem would be releasing an album in November, I knew we had the potential to say something that would be heard by the masses. And after hearing the song later that month it seemed Mr. Mathers had also been in the lab concocting his own plans for the election and it was precisely the anthem I had been looking for. So with less than six weeks to deliver we put together a team and forgot about what it meant to sleep. In order to produce animation for a song that runs 5:20 in just over 5 weeks we were going to need a lot of green tea and mate and a little help from Marshall himself. This video was made possible by a team of artists who came together inspired by a song and video that might be able to effect the next four years of all of our lives.
Two years ago, this video would not have been approved by a single record label. A year ago it would never had the possibility of being played on television. But with the changing tide of public sentiment marked by the success of our last video for Chronic Future, an anti-war message that made it into rotation on TRL we think it might just have a chance.
Now, it’s up to the broadcasters. Will they ban the top selling musical artist for being anti-establishment while they allow other propaganda to air? Or will they finally allow an artist who has the courage to speak out to take center stage and utilize the airwaves for something other than typical celebrity fodder?
Stay tuned for updates on the unfolding antics and remember to show up and vote for you candidate of choice on November 2nd.
Source / posted by: Anthony, Guerilla News Network
Mosh music video credits:
Track: Eminem, “Mosh” from the album Encore
Producer, Director, Editor: Ian Inaba:
Art Director, 3-D Animation: Anson Vogt of Phong
Character Animation: Haik Hoisington of Black Mustache
Motion Graphics: Steve Ogden
Illustration, Animation: Craig Patches
Eminem Animation: Kevin Elam
After Effector: Mark Nicola
Green Screen Producer, Cameraman: John Quigly
Illustration Design: Thomas Brohdal
Illustration Support: Nicholas Sanchez
Eminem: Mosh – Director’s note update
Eminem Mosh – the New Ending aka The Mosh Continues
Director’s note: The original version of our video for Eminem’s Mosh was a cultural phenomenon beyond our wildest dreams. The video hit number one on MTV’s Total Request Live within 24 hours of its premiere on October 25th. Internet message boards talked of grandmothers crying while watching it. There were (unconfirmed) reports of runs on black hoodies at Foot Lockers across the country. New York magazine called it “the most important piece of mainstream dissent since the 60s.” The Asia Times’s terrorism expert Pepe Escobar wrote, “For an 18-year-old voting for the first time, Mosh provokes the same impact that the barricades of May 1968 in Paris did on the ‘children of Mao and Coca-Cola,’ as film genius Jean-Luc Godard put it.” But not everyone loved it. Some lefties derided what they called its simplistic “get out the vote” message, saying it played into the system it alleged to attack. New York Press film critic Almond White wrote, “This isn’t a plebiscite; it’s a mob…the video presumes all young people think alike, leaving no room for choice in the election or in lifestyle.”
Regardless of how you felt about Mosh, the video sparked emotions that had been suppressed for four years. There were certain things you just could not say in George Bush’s America. Like Fahrenheit 9/11, Mosh seemed to be one of the lone pieces of mainstream media to be saying (at least some of) them. And in the week leading up to the election, those inside the media who felt burned by the administration took off the restraints and wielded their power to promote America’s most popular (and despised) artist’s statement against the Bush Administration. It was a safe way for the all to speak out by joining the mob of Mosher’s from their Times Square offices.
But did it make a difference?
It’s a question I’ve been asked a million times since the video premiered: “But did it turn out the youth vote?” Released too late to influence voter registration in almost all states, there is no clear way to gauge the effect, if any, it had.
We do know this: Despite early misleading reports, the youth vote did show up on election day. According to CIRCLE , 20.9 million Americans under the age of 30 voted in the election. That’s 4.6 million more than cast ballots in 2000. This turnout represents a 9.3% increase nationwide and in the battleground states turnout was even higher, up 13% over 2000. But young people weren’t the only ones who showed up. Voters of all ages also showed up in record numbers and the 18-29 demographic was the only group to favor the Democratic ticket (54% – 44%) in the presidential race.
The original version of the video ends with Eminem’s black hoodie mob casting their vote in an act of defiance against a corrupt and illegitimate regime. But voting was only part of the video’s message. It was a larger call to arms for a generation alienated by a system that only sees young people as consumers, criminals or cannon fodder.
In this alternative ending for the video, we remind all those who were inspired by the first version to not give up the fight. In our corporation-controlled duopoly, sometimes you have to take other measures to have your voice heard. So if you are still searching for answers, know that our opinions still matter. Our hope is that it will show our battered teammates and the rest of the world that we are not here to say sorry but instead, the fight continues and we will be heard…
Pictures From Eminem: Mosh music video
