Amber Smith

Amber Smith

Draft on Final Essay

Writing 1111

Due 03/302017

When using a celebrity as a topic for a research paper there are many avenues you can

take. One could talk about celebrity status, how they became a celebrity, stage performances

and special effects they used, the list is endless. Being from the Detroit area I decided to choose

a topic which has affected Detroit. I chose to research Eminem because he is legendary in

Detroit culture, and I wanted to know just how much of an impact he has made on our society.

Monster, Rap God, Addict these are just a few of the names given to Marshall Mathers

aka Eminem by the public and his peers. Really, Eminem is not a monster, he may be a Rap god

or a recovering addict. He is one the most controversial and influential rappers of our time, and

has changed the way we look at rap music today.

Marshall Mathers III was born in St. Joseph, Missouri on October 12, 1972. His father was

absent from his life since he was an infant, Marshall was raised by his mother, Deborah. She was

never able to hold down a job and had an addiction to prescription medication, this resulted in

the family moving frequently between Detroit and Missouri. He spent most of his childhood in

public housing. In an interview Marshall stated that the roughest part was changing schools two

to three times a year. He attended Lincoln High School, where he dropped out of at age 17,

because of failing classes. In the same interview on biography.com he says No matter how bad I

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was at school, like, no matter how low my grades might have been at sometimes, I always good

at English I just felt like I wanna be able to have all of these words at my disposal, in my

vocabulary at all times whenever I need to pull em out. You know, somewhere, theyll be stored,

like locked away.

Marshall Mathers aka Eminem is a man who grew up in a broken home in the on the

East side of Detroit. His dedication and perseverance, and his ability to direct his negative

circumstances into lyric, not only as a personal outlet, but a way for him to relate to the world.

Eminem began listening to N.W.A, a controversial gangster rap crew from LA. Coming out in the

late 80s N.W.A, known for their violent and sexist lyrics, is a five man crew whom celebrated the

violence of criminal life. Among members of N.W.A. are Ice Cube, Eazy-E, and Dr. Dre.

In the early 90s, rap music was (almost) exclusively produced by black people, however

Eminem, being a white male, tried to make his name in the rap scene by competing in rap battles

in Detroit. Rap battles are where two competitors use insults as an aid to improvise rap lyrics on

a stage, and the audience chose the winner. After becoming a frequent competitor, Eminem was

able to prove his verbal skills, and became respected in Detroits underground rap scene despite

being one of the only white rappers to battle. Eminem proved highly skilled at such verbal

sparring and, despite his race, quickly became one of the most respected figures in Detroit's

underground rap scene. (biography.com Editors). Once he started to become popular he took

the stage M&M, a play off his initials, which then turned into his name today, Eminem, the

phonetic spelling of M&M.

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While Eminem was competing in rap battles, trying to land a record contract, he was

working odd jobs trying to make ends meet. Eminem and his girlfriend, Kim, had a daughter,

Hailey in 1996. They lived in a crime ridden neighborhood in Detroit and their house got broken

into several times. This inspired Eminem to try to make a career out of his talent and release his

first independent album, Infinite. Sadly, this record failed to attract much attention and was not

profitable.

When Infinite was unsuccessful, Eminem decided to produce some music using his alter

ego, Slim Shady. When producing the Slim Shady EP, Eminem created a persona in his songs;

dark, violent and had a comic twist. The Slim Shady EP was discovered by the former producer of

his favorite rap group, Dr. Dre. After being evicted from his home in a crime ridden

neighborhood, Eminem went to LA and participated in the 1997 Rap Olympics MC Battle.

Eminem landed runner-up in this battle, following this Dr. Dre and the his executive Jimmy

Lovine listened to the Slim Shady EP cassette and were so impresses they signed Eminem to

Interscope Records.

Eminem wasnt the first white person to enter the hip-hop world. Vanilla Ice, a white hip-

hop artist from South Florida, was on the scene with a top hit, Ice Ice Baby hitting billboards by

1990. Vanilla Ice was known for his breakdancing and raping skills. Also the Beastie Boys (this

group originally formed in 1978 as a hard core punk band) were making a transition to hip-hop in

1983. The main difference between Vanilla Ice and the Beastie Boys compared to Eminem was

there rap genre and fan base. Vanilla Ice and the Beastie Boys were considered to be in a white

rap genre, using surburbanism and being white to create their music and followers. Eminem on

the other hand is crossing boundaries between races and cultures.

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Eminem went on to release his first single My Name Is in 1999. This single has a wide

range of content; it mentions his childhood, his beginning to fame, his mother and more. The

tone of this single is a comic, childish rant using truth and exaggerated fiction. This was much

different than anything that had been produced in the rap world. With the explosion of My

Name Is, the controversies regarding Eminems obscene lyrics, and him as a person began.

Eminem uses his alter ego Slim Shady to project an immature, violent person, who uses drugs

and blame to cope with stresses of life. The Slim Shady LP is basically a whole album of Eminem

telling everyone he doesnt care what they think about him, and if you dont like it, dont listen.

Later in his career when he was no longer using Slim Shady as his alter ego for the main

source of projection, his lyrics were still causing controversies. VH1, a TV network for music,

ranks Eminem as one of the most controversial lyricists of all time. Some topics in his lyrics

causing controversy are gay rights, racism, crime, degrading women, drugs, and abuse. Many of

the controversies Eminem has made a point to correct through lyrics in either the same song, or

in a song he later produced.

Anyone who has heard any song by Eminem, would know that there are intense

controversial topics, with profane language in his lyrics, and people wonder how he gets away

with this, even today. Patrick Ryan, a writer for USA today wrote an article specifically

addressing this called Its 2014, So why are Eminems violent lyrics still OK? Ryan discusses the

controversial lyrics with Brittany Lewis, who is a senior editor at GlobalGrind, a pop-culture site.

They say that Eminem has such a large fan following, they are unlikely to stop following him no

matter what kind of music Eminem produces. He gets away with talking about killing women, for

example, because he did it under his well-built alter ego Slim Shady. Eminem carefully

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incorporates the persona of Slim Shady into many of his songs, sometimes he will even talk

about Slim Shady as a separate person from himself through his lyrics, other times Slim Shady

will voice his opinion through lyrics. For people who follow Eminem it is clear when he is

speaking as or to his alter ego in a specific song. The ability for Eminem to balance the alter egos,

and merging between fiction and reality is something that no other rapper has ever done.

During the interview, Brittany Lewis said "Hip-hop's moving into a more accepting space,

but the recurring themes of misogyny and violence are always going to be a part of the culture.

The culture was born in the streets, so that's always going to be an element (of that). Until every

single rapper comes from a two-parent household in suburbia, hip-hop music will have violence

and misogyny in it."(R.Patrick USA Today) Like I previously stated Eminem is not the first white

rapper, however, he is the first person to integrate black and white culture into his music and

lyric.

Eminem was a minority in several ways, he grew up in an area being one of few white

people, he began a career, and was again one of few white people, also he has been unattached

with social norms thus proving he has been a minority within different aspects of his life making

him able to relate to other minorities. Eminem uses his life experience to bridge the gap

between cultures. as an integrator, he calls attention to issues concerning inner-city residents.

He thus has the potential to bring them together under the banner of the urban poor rather

than the more common (and segregated) black or white descriptor. Eminem highlights the

social disintegration in urban America that most would rather not face, and that in rap music, the

form is often a more telling indicator of talent than the content of the rap songs. Refusing to

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position himself with either side, Eminem simply goes about his business of producing songs

about this very issue that stir up further debate. (taboo p.38.)

In the popular song Without Me, Eminem brought back his alter ego Slim Shady to deal

with the controversies regarding his choice of lyrics, and the impact it (could be) having on

youth. The song begins, Guess whose back, back again, Shadys back, tell a friend as an

introduction, his way of giving the heads up that he has an issue to rant about, and its going to

be obscene. Referencing some social controversies, Eminem raps about creating a monster (Slim

Shady) who has more theoretical respect than Eminem himself as an artist.

Ive created a monster, cause nobody wants to see Marshall no more. As the song

continues Eminem creatively places the issues he has come across into lyric, raping about others

being shocked hes not cooperating, Youve waited this long, now stop debating, cause Im

backso the FCC wont let me be, or let me be, so let me see, they try to shut me down on MTV

but it feels so empty without me. Eminem also addresses the youth, Little hellions, kids

feeling rebellious, embarrassed their parents still listen to Elvis then, through lyrical mastery

he acknowledges that his words do have an impact; A visionary, a vision is scary, could start a

revolution polluting the airwaves, a rebel, so just let me revel and bask in the fact I got everyone

kissing my ass, and its a disaster, such a catastrophe Lastly, he raps about other controversies

before him, . No Im not the first king of controversy, I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley.

With the chorus, this looks like a job for me, so everybody just follow me cause we need a little

controversy cause it feels so empty without me Eminem is pressing the point that he is the

most interesting thing in media and society has nothing better to do then to use him as an

example.

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Despite all the negative political views on Eminems music, he has never been one to

publicly announce when he went out of his way to help the community. Over the years, he has

participated in many fundraisers, where he spoke, preformed, and/or donated substantial

amounts of money to. The Marshall Mathers Foundation was created to benefit charities in

Michigan, mainly Detroit. Eminem is active within the foundation and is a part of the decision

process when dispersing grants. The Marshall Mathers foundation, funded primarily by Eminem

himself, donates to local human services, at risk kids, Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, and other

youth programs.( http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20151026/NEWS/310259977/eminem-

prefers-his-philanthropy-to-be-done-quietly-and-privately)

Eminem has had a great influence on American culture, with his primary followers being

middle and urban class white men and being respected among music industry he was able to

build himself not only as an artist, but also as a brand. Because Eminem produced songs that

were so different from what was previously known as rap, radio stations that didnt play rap

music played his tracks, exposing him to many more listeners. He was able to pioneer a new

version of rap, so it is not in just a hip-hop genre, he created such an individual sound which

crossed over many genres; rock, rap, hip-hop, pop, even country.

Controversial? Yes! Eminem is extremely controversial, and he knows it. Behind the bad

language and the sometimes-obscene fillers, there is a real story behind each song. Eminem

found a way to relate to the world, which in turn made the world relate to him. Worldwide he

has sold over 172 Million albums. Over time his music has changed, as with any artist, but his

keeps getting more real. Through his more recent albums he talks about deep emotional issues

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without using his alter ego to cover him for obscenities, but he also apologizes for young youths

who heard his music when they were too young for the content.

Influential? Yes! To be a rapper on a rock radio station was unheard of before Eminem

entered the scene. He was able to use his uniqueness to relate to all people, and his influence on

Detroit is resounding. Eminem is honest, he bridged gaps between black and white music,

crossing over genres with ease. His lyrics gave insight to the world what it was like to be poor in

Detroit, or poor and struggling in general.