5 Mic Project

Artist EminemBorn on October 17, 1972, as Marshall Bruce Mathers III, Eminem became a household name at the very start of his music career in the 1990s. He grew up in Missouri but later moved to Michigan. Eminem is an American rapper, songwriter, and record executive manager for his label Shady Records. He grew up in a single-parent family as his father left the family when Eminem was born, and his mother was a substance abuser which subjected Eminem to a rough start in life. He dropped out of school at 17 years of age after failing the ninth grade thrice. Eminem worked as a short order cook at Gilbert's Lounge, a machinist at a machinery factory to make ends meet. He met his ex-wife Kim Mathers in 1987 and the pair dated from 1989 to 1996 before getting married and having a daughter Hailie Jade. Eminem says that the birth of his daughter motivated him to follow his dream of becoming a rapper. Rap is the most dominant force in the current popular culture with a significant percentage of the population globally admitting to rap being their favorite musical genre. Every country in the world features some specific mutations of this genre in its music.

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Eminem released his debut studio album, Infinite, in 1996 which did not do too well and only managed to go as far as local attention. This was followed by Slim Shady EP in 1997, after which he signed up with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment with his next album, Slim Shady LP in 1999, catapulted him to mainstream recognition. This album won him a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. His following projects were huge successes as well. For instance, the albums Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show were both certified diamond in sales in the U.S, and they both won Eminem Grammy Awards for Best Rap Albums. This made Eminem the first artist to win three consecutive LP awards.

The album, Encore, followed in 2004 further solidifying his position as the highest selling rap artist in the world and the most famous gangster rapper as he had the hope of the music industry and a significant franchise. Today, Eminem is one of the most acclaimed rap artists in the world and hip hop's short history. Over the past decade, his work in rap resulted in the acceptance of hip hop as a mainstream genre. Even after putting out ten albums in seven years, he never ceases to amaze. Recently, Eminem reinvented himself as a rapper to reckon despite the shocking, appalling, and fascinating nature of his youthful records. For example, Eminem took only a few months to drop Kamikaze as compared to the hiatus of four years between his fourth and ninth study albums. No doubt, Eminem is among some of the most successful rappers in the world today as well as into the future.

In the albums Recovery and Relapse, Eminem alludes to his struggles with addiction. Among his successes is his semi-autobiographical film debut in 8 Miles that won him critical acclaim. The soundtrack for the 8 Mile movie, which is from The Eminem Show, topped the charts on the Billboards' top 100 for nine consecutive weeks. Eminem has been named the most celebrated rap artist of all time, with his albums gaining global appraisal and popularity as some of them became albums of the year. Other legendary titles under his belt include the king of Hip hop, the best-selling solo artist of the year and having the fastest selling album ever. His compositions are authentic as revealed by the dimensions taken by his creative works which are significant contributors to the vast success of his career

In addition to his solo music career, Eminem is also a member of the groups D12 and Midwest hip hop which have also experienced significant successes. Other artists in the same league as Eminem include Royce da 5'9", Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre. However, Eminem's story and determination to not succumb to his shortcomings and challenges include the primary motivation for reviewing him instead. He also is the most influential artist of all time inclusive of his immense success as well with a total of ten studio albums, five video albums, five compilation albums, and one EP.

On November 12th, 2004, Eminem dropped his fifth studio album much to the chagrin of his detractors who thought Encore marked the first stage of failure of Eminem's career. Following the opinions prevalent after the Eminem Show flopped, Encore is a pleasure to the ears (ILLROOTS, 2019). Despite the media blitz surrounding the release of this album, in Encore Eminem reaffirmed the longevity of this genre. For example, Vomit (a production of Eminem and Luis Resto) begins with the sound of someone vomiting, which makes the song awful. Besides that, Eminem sings the whole verse, a departure for his usual angry, provocative, and imbecilic self. No doubt any dedicated hip hop aficionado would residual Eminem on his performance on this song (Pitchfork.com, 2019). Eminem continues the same trend in My First Single, where he raps over a trash beat and a lackluster hook. His second verse on this song is irrefutably infantile "Hickory-Dickory Dirk Diggler, look at me work wizardry. With these words - am I a jerk or just jerk chicken? Alternatively, change chigga-chin-chig-jer-chig-jer jerking your chain, twenty-two jerks in a jerk circle, or is it a circle jerk?" (Resto & Eminem, 2004).

However, Evil Deeds never cease to amaze given Eminem's emotional performance on Cleaning Out My Closet. In this track, Eminem addresses his absentee father accompanied by a southern crunk beat, an indicator of Eminem's Southern upbringing (Pitchfork.com, 2019). After hearing this song, on leaves with a feeling that Eminem's closet is finally clean. Encore has more gems waiting for the avid rap addict. For instance, the fourth track on this album, Yellow Brick Road, explains Eminem's buffer with The Source magazine reminiscent of the song Foolish bride. At the supremacist track. Now, Eminem critiques America's indifference to the racial indifference existing within America's political, social, and cultural establishment (Illroots, 2019). Listening to Eminem this day reminds one of who his first year in "in 9th grade, cannot forget that day at school It was cool 'til your man MC Shan came through, and he said that Puma is the brand cause the Klan makes Troops" (YouTube, 2019). Lovers of hip hop and black culture will understand the significance of his lyricism given the loyalty he exposes in Like Toy Soldiers intro "Step by step, heart to heart, left, right, left, we all fall" (YouTube, 2019).

It is evident that Eminem is a prominent member of D12 group as well as Midwest hip hop and his involvement has facilitated mainly the success of the group. However, his strong determination and story making helped prevent him from falling behind his challenges. This is because many people, as well as artists, have considered him as the most dedicated and influential artist hip hop music especially in his album Encore and many others. Encore is not a bad album; it has some bad tracks and some fabulous ones too! However, Eminem's lyricism is impressive if one can only eliminate several tracks 'Weenie, Ass Like That, Ricky Tic Tot, We AS Americans, and Lose It, the rest is just a good corpus (Illroots, 2019).

References

Illroots. (2019). Encore: Why Eminem's Most Controversial Album Is His Most Interesting.

[online] Available at: http://illroots.com/read/encore-why-eminems-most-controversial

album-is-his-most-interesting [Accessed 20 Apr. 2019].

Pitchfork.com. (2019). Eminem: Encore Album Review | Pitchfork. [online] Available at: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/2772-encore/ [Accessed 20 Apr. 2019].

Resto, L. & Eminem. (2004). My 1st Single. [Recorded by Eminem]. On Encore [MP3 File]. Interscope Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Shady Records. Santa Monica, California.

YouTube. (2019). Eminem Encore (Full Album) - YouTube. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCiM8YZKsSco0bTPniWH7oPJEFVmBDpR3 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2019].