Instead of using the historic word “commonplacing”, Eminem uses the fantastic euphemism “stacking ammo”. Given his use of his words and lyrics collection in battle rap, this seems very apropos.
Cooper analogizes the collection as the scrawlings of a crazy person. In some sense, this may be because there is no traditional order, head words, or indexing system with what otherwise looks like a box of random pages and ideas. One might argue that the multitude of notebooks, papers, colors, sizes, etc. provides a sort of context which Eminem could use as a method of loci for remembering where to find particular ideas, thus making the need for an indexing system feel superfluous to him. This is even more likely if he’s regularly using, maintaining, and mining his material for daily work.
ᔥ in Eminem has his own version of commonplace system containing words that rhyme. : commonplacebook ()
“Stacking ammo” is my new phrase for “gathering resources”.
@chrisaldrich i’m seeing an artist tonight who’s reported to have beaten Em in a battle rap. I’ll try find out whether he collates like that too | for what it’s worth, for my music I use messy notebooks for early scribbles, but more quickly digitise: first Apple Notes, then on AirTable whose community found pleasingly original
Jeremy Strong’s rebranding of the idea of commonplacing in commonplace books as “hymns” isn’t as on-brand as Eminem’s calling it “stacking ammo“.
Chris Aldrich mentioned this annotation on boffosocko.com.
Do you suppose she’s using a zettelkasten or simply “stacking ammo” like Eminem?
If Eminem used an index to organize all of his thoughts/ideas/rhymes, he would be able to produce so much more. He is a lyrical genius!
Chris Aldrich mentioned this annotation on boffosocko.com.
Syndicated copies:
Chris Aldrich mentioned this annotation on boffosocko.com.
Syndicated copies:
tl;dr: A 500+ year tradition of excerpting & writing ideas down on slips of paper, sometimes w/ a bit of organization. Think indexed and cross-linked commonplace books. Your 6th grade teacher may have shown you w/ index cards.🗃️
Eminem has a basic one:
Chris Aldrich mentioned this annotation on boffosocko.com.