Slim Shady Is Back
11 years of fame, 18 albums. Is Eminem only in this for the Dirty Money?
Eminem is the first white rapper since the Beastie Boys to garner both sales and critical respect. Being one of the greatest MC’s of his generation, Eminem is described as rapid, fluid, dextrous and unpredictable! As he is able to pull of long-form narrative whilst delivering a withering aside! He even received 10 Grammy Award nominations (2011). After Eminem’s public battle with drugs and booze in 2009 he tries to get clean and sober and released his first single “Not Afraid” and announced he was returning to form. In his newest album, Recovery, Eminem sings duets with Rihanna, Kobe, Pink and Lil Wayne. It’s vintage, Eminem is back at the top of his game.
Born on 17 October 1973, Kansas City, USA, Joseph, Marshal Bruce Mathers (Eminem) spent his childhood between Missouri and Michigan. During his teens, he settled in Detroit and at the age of 14 he began rapping with a high school friend, they both adopted the names “Manix” and “M&M”, which later changed to Eminem. So, he entered battle rapping competitions and was recruited to join several rap groups such as the New Jacks and Soul Intent.
Struggling to establish his career, Eminem and his girlfriend Kim had a daughter, forcing him to spend less time rapping and more time providing for his family. This led him to release his new album “Infinite”, which captured a lot of attention in 1996 but not all it is positive. And thanks to his mentor Dr. Dre, he had music to match thick, muscular loops that evoked terror and paranoia Em’s music conjured. Also, during the turn of the millennium, Marshall Mathers was known to be the greatest pop cultural bogeyman because of his violent fantasias which were often directed to his mother or his wife. His hit albums back then were “My Name Is” and “The Slim Shady”. He appealed to all kinds of audiences including young listeners who were too young to absorb the psychodramas. Eminem once said “It’d be stupid for me to sit here and say that there aren’t kids who look up to me, but my responsibility is not to them. I’m not a baby sitter!”
Today, Eminem is back with his newest album Recovery and is better than ever! Fans are rising by millions and only the top 4 from the UK got a chance to share their opinions with Beat. “I love it! I think that some of the songs have more singing than previous albums. I like the collaboration he did with Rihanna too” says Hannah Thompson. Nicolle Miller adds “I love his new album, my favourite song in his new album is 25 to life”. Ashley Neslon says “It is good, I like it, he’s got some good duets in there”. Abigail Willcock adds “I prefer his older work to be honest but there are some good tracks in there!” and adds “He’s not afraid of what the media will say about him, he raps about what he wants and gets his feelings. I respect that”.
Eminem’s created a huge impact which certainly exceeds in confining distinction. Hannah: “He’s an amazing rapper and I like the message that his songs give. I like the fact that he’s had a hard life but he doesn’t get hung up about it, he uses it to make music that helps other people”. Ashley: “I like his style, his lyrics and just him!” Nicolle adds: “He’s a brilliant rapper!”
Fave songs by Eminem? Abigail: “Till I Colapse”, Hannah: “Cleaning out my Closet”, Ashley: “When I’m gone”, Nicolle: “Mocking Bird”. Eminem’s dramatic life is an inspiration! “His lyrics are really inspiring to me” says Nicolle. Abigail: “The issues he speaks about motivates me to try and do something about them, or to develop my own opinion on them”. Ashley: “He says what he thinks and embraces everything that he’s got and I can relate to him”.
In his new album, he sings a mixture of solos and duets and every track has a different emotion. So does Eminem sing better when he’s solo or in a duet? “I think he’s better as a solo artist. His music is about his feelings and its better when you can focus on just one person’s feelings”, said Abigail. Hannah: “When he collaborates with someone else, their vocals help to make the song better, but his songs are great too”. Eminem and JayZ once rapped together in the Renegade and even performed live in the US Yankee stadium. Would his fans want to see him live? Sure they do! “I want to. I really want to. I’m going next year!” said Ashley, and Nicolle says “I really want to, with Lil Wayne and JayZ!” Abigail also adds “It would be quite an experience to go see him live”.
A one of a kind rapper, Eminem is loved by billions! We asked the fans, how is Eminem unique from other rappers? Abigail: “He has a different background from everyone else on the scene and doesn’t really make a name for himself by showing himself up in the media. True, he does have a negative portrayal, but this is from the music genre rather than himself”. Hannah: “I think the fact he writes his own lyrics and they come from the heart, really makes his music unique. He’s not afraid to tell people about the bad things that have happened to him”. Ashley: “Other rappers just sing about girls and money, but Eminem sings about his experiences in life”.
Eminem came in second at the 1997 Rap Olympics MC Battle in Los Angeles and Dr. Dre proved eager to work with Eminem. So they quickly got Em’s Interscope debut in the fall of 1998, which was when Marshal reconciled with Kim and married her. After that he appeared in 1999 with a new single “My Name Is” and revieved a lot of attention for his violent, satirical fantasias. Soon after, in the summer of 2000 he followed The Slim Shady LP with The Marshal Mathers LP. By this point, Eminem was known to be the one of the most famous rappers of his time selling almost two million copies within the first two weeks of release!
Hannah: “The first time I heard Eminem was probably when I was about seven, so I’ve kinda been brought up with him”. Abigail: “The first time I heard him I was about ten and I really wanted to listen to him more!” Nicolle: When I was about ten, my friend had posters up of him so I asked her who he was, and she told me, and I was like wow, I wanna be with him!” And Ashley says “I wasn’t really into Eminem that much when I was younger, but when I started hearing his songs, I gradually started getting obsessed”.
So, this album Recovery, which was initially titled Relapse 2, was debuted on top of the Billboard 200 chart and remained this way for five consecutive weeks, while its leadoff single “Not Afraid” debuted on top of the magazines Hot singles chart!
DOWNLOAD
· Love The Way You Lie
· Space Bound
· Where I’m At
www.beatmag.co.uk/downloads
