Killing your wife is a serious crime. It is punishable by death, unless you do it on a record, of course. Then, it is art. In the course of Eminem’s latest album, “The Marshall Mathers LP,” the rapper murders his wife in the chilling, rage-filled “Kim,” seemingly admits to hating gays and lesbians and repeatedly uses the word “faggot” as a way to describe people he thinks are cowards. “Each era has its own lightning rod of controversy,” Kyle Munson, Des Moines Register music critic said. “What Elvis was to his generation, Eminem is to ours.” Eminem has been widely criticized for his misogynistic and gay-bashing lyrics. “He shouldn’t be surprised if some people are coming back and finding it offensive,” Munson said. “I think he deserves that, because that’s the kind of thing he wants.” According to Rolling Stone.com (May 31, 2000), the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) released an official complaint concerning the content of the hip-hop artist’s latest record, accusing both Interscope Records and Eminem of being irresponsible with the music they are selling. Iowa and the ISU campus are divided on the controversial rapper. “Obviously, I don’t think that any lyrics that are negative toward any particular group are appropriate,” said Jeremy Hayes, president of ISU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Ally Aliance (LGBTAA). Though Hayes has come to the point where derogatory terms for gays do not have much effect on him, he believes it will affect others. “A lot of people are going to take offense to that, just as anyone would take offense to a derogatory word used to describe them,” Hayes said. However, not all people take Eminem’s music literally. “I hate homophobia, and I hate hatred in general,” Munson said. “I am not interested in artists who are perpetuating that kind of thing. But then there are artists who use it sarcastically, who are using it and violence as a part of their art form.” Munson believes Eminem is the latter type of musician, treading the fine line between horribly offensive and witty. “I don’t think people should dismiss him,” Munson said. “He loves to make people wonder, is he serious, is he just acting, is he just tongue-in-cheek, or is he trying to make a statement?” That ambivalence, however, is one of the problems for both Eminem’s supporters and detractors. “I don’t want to think he’s being serious when he uses those terms associated with gay bashing,” Munson said. Reporters have questioned the rapper concerning his feelings about homosexuals and violence toward women, and his actual beliefs have remained somewhat mysterious. “Originally, I thought he had a good point when he said, `don’t take me seriously,'” Abby Hansen, Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) president and an owner of “The Marshall Mathers LP,” said. “But then I started listening to it more and more, and it started to make me uncomfortable.” “I think there’s some really bad messages,” she said. Hayes, Munson and Hansen all agree that Eminem has the right, as protected by the First Amendment, to say what he pleases on his records. “But, I don’t think it does much for his image as a good guy,” Hansen said. Besides the album’s potential to offend many listeners, some critics feel it may have an effect on society, or at least on the younger, impressionable part of society. “I don’t think that his listeners realize that it’s not cool to stick your girlfriend in the trunk,” Hansen said, “it’s not cool to be like, `shut up, bitch.'” With proper parental supervision, Hayes said younger children would probably not be negatively affected by the album’s contents. However, a lot of kids are really susceptible to those type of lyrics, he said. Neither Hayes nor Hansen are concerned that the album is a reflection of current social conditions. “A lot of people already have in their mind how they view homosexuality, LGBT issues or whatever,” Hayes said. “I don’t think a couple of songs are going to have that much of an effect.” The LGBTAA and the FMLA have no plans to take action or protest against Eminem. They see no need to follow in the footsteps of GLAAD. Munson said he appreciates how Eminem’s controversial nature forces individuals to think about the lyrics and take sides. “I think any artist is good for the industry, unless you’re somebody like John Tesh,” Munson said.