You know that saying: "The more things change, the more they stay the same"? It's true. This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court proved just that in its decision on affirmative action by noting that race "unfortunately still matters."

If you disagree, look no farther than Eminem, hip-hop's poster boy for diversity. He may speak about what's on the minds of disgruntled teenagers everywhere. He may inspire young white teenagers to rap, and he may work really hard to cultivate his talent, but Eminem is underwhelming as a rapper. In fact, he hasn't made a single song that's a poetic standout.

And yet, Nobel Prize poet laureate Seamus Heaney has likened Eminem to Bob Dylan and John Lennon. Rolling Stone deemed him "The Voice of America." You bet your baggy jeans race still matters -- the proof is in the praise.

"He has created a sense of what is possible," Heaney gushed to students at the Prince of Wales' summer school in Norwich, England. With "verbal energy," Heaney added, Eminem has "sent a voltage around a generation."

Feels more like static electricity to me.