Eminem and “stacking ammo” in the commonplace book tradition

Annotated Why We Love Eminem by Anderson Cooper (60 Minutes (YouTube))
Eminem shows Anderson Cooper his form of commonplace book in a 60 Minutes interview. It’s a large box with stiff sides containing a menagerie of papers including several yellow legal pads, loose sheets of paper, scrap papers, stationery from hotels, etc. upon which he’s written words, phrases, songs, poetry, etc.

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.

u/sorrybabyxo in Eminem has his own version of commonplace system containing words that rhyme. : commonplacebook ()

👓 Elon Musk drops surprise rap single about Harambe | The Hill

Read Elon Musk drops surprise rap single about Harambe (TheHill)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, weeks after the Securities and Exchange Commission asked a judge to hold him in contempt, has dropped a surprise rap sing
Because I’m reading it on April Fool’s Day, it could be insane, but then again so is Elon Musk, so we’ll have to do some research to see if this is actually true. Though it is also most likely an Elon Musk joke that’s getting widespread attention.

The tune is kinda catchy though…

👓 Gil Scott-Heron, Revolutionary Poet and Musician, Dead at 62 | Rolling Stone

Read Gil Scott-Heron, Revolutionary Poet and Musician, Dead at 62 by Andy Greene (Rolling Stone)
Scott-Heron was best known for 1970’s ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’
I remembered reading about his passing several years back, but something this morning got some of his poetry, music, and writing stuck in the back of my head. Perhaps it was something about the revolution not being televised. In any case, what a creative soul we’ve lost…