Eminem: A Poetic Form Of Hip-Hop

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Eminem. The name is internationally known, almost notoriously – and for good reason. Marshall Mathers, better known as Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady has outsold every other artist in a still predominately African American genre, hip-hop. Not only that, he’s one of the highest selling artists in any genre as a male solo artist (Allison, 2002). This feat is even more impressive when you consider the fact that his body of work, especially once he first got big was very controversial with critics stating that he was homophobic, sexist, and outright offensive (White, 2006). If you were a teenager growing up in the late 1990’s there was barely one as “hot” as Eminem in terms of hype and popularity. He has won several Grammy awards as well as …show more content…
At the time, lyrics were a big part of a rappers respectability (Molden, 2005). Eminem gained some respect in the hip hop world when he took second place at the 1997 Rap Olympics (Martin, 2000). The event was a tournament of rap battles, which is perceived by many as one of the most authentic forms of hip-hop (White, 2006). By proving his raw talent against a number of predominately African American hip hop battle artists, Eminem was able to prove that he wasn’t Vanilla Ice by any stretch of the imagination, that being a good thing. His skills as an emcee were further drilled into the minds of fans and potential fans alike when the movie 8-Mile was released as mentioned earlier (Fraley, 2009). It seemed like there was an expectation that a white rapper wouldn't be good in the movie, and by outperforming his peers, Eminem “cements his legitimacy” as described by author Todd Fraley (Fraley, 2009). The movies final scenes consisted of a similar scenario of battles as the Rap Olympics, with him destroying the competition verbally (White, 2006). Completely realistic or not, the film helped further create the mystique and believably authentic persona he had developed by this time. He was already fairly well known when the movie was released but it wasn’t widely known by the general listener that he was an …show more content…
Dre, a notorious and famous rap producer who had been in NWA, and had helped launch the careers of The D.O.C and Snoop Dogg (Armstrong, 2004) aided in crafting a perception of Eminem being authentic in a romantic manner. His association with the well-known producer also helped gain exposure that would he have possibly never hard. Having worked with a number of hugely respected rappers, and being instrumental in the first largely successful gangsta rap group NWA, Dr. Dre was viewed as an authentic figure in the hip-hop community. He could have potentially signed and worked with any number of un-signed artists out there, but the fact that he chose to work with Eminem showed that he had confidence in his ability and marketability. It also gave Eminem a chance to work closely with Dr. Dre on his 1999 release Chronic 2001 (Grealy, 2008), which also featured other artists Dr. Dre was trying to develop, but none shined or has lasted like Eminem. He was featured on the smash hit “Forgot about Dre” which featured him with Dr. Dre, and helped further cement his name and establish him as the real deal, if you will. The album is now considered a classic in most hip hop circles and definitely helped launch Eminem into super stardom. Interestingly enough, even though he is featured on a mere two tracks on the album, he has outlasted all of the new artists Dr. Dre featured more such as Hittman (who was often featured) who is not even
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