Eminem, Marshall Mathers, Slim Shady, no matter what music you're into, whether you absolutely despise all rap music, you know who is being talked about when any if those names are said.
I'm just gonna put it out there, Eminem is by far my favorite music artist, always has been, when I was 6 I had an FYE gift card and went with my mom. I picked out The Marshall Mathers LP, The Slim Shady LP, and Curtain Call: The Hits, on CD, and I still have them to this day.
Eminem would not be around if it weren't for Proof, Eminem's best friend growing up, and biggest motivation to make music. They worked together, were great friends, just like family to each other. The two along with four other friends formed The Dirty Dozen, better known as D12, around 1996. The six rappers together plus each of their egos made 12, which is what the 12 in D12 is for.
Since this is about Eminem,we'll focus on Eminem. His ego if you hadn't guessed or known by now, is obviously, yes, Slim Shady.
But where did Shady come from? Well, Em and Proof one night were out doing stuff hoodlums do, all drugged up on different things, and Eminem, not knowing, doused his hair in peroxide. Wakes up the next morning not even knowing how it happened. Obviously devastated. But Dre, (you know the story of Dre and Em, if not, move that rock you're under and enter the world.) Dre loved it. He says to Em as Em enters the studio one day, "That's it! We found your image!" And Slim Shady, name and character, was born.
Eminem's older music is known for having many different approaches. He's serious, jerky, an asshole, loving, anything and everything, good or bad. (Bad as in offensive, which is another thing he is known for, being offensive.) Em quotes: "Lets just say 'Just Dont Give A Fuck' is Slim Shady, Eminem is 'Lose Yourself' and Marshall is 'Mockingbird.'" Now he says this because these are his three personalities, Slim Shady in Just Dont Give A Fuck, the name says it all, not giving a fuck, Eminem, rapping about rap and what it takes to do what he does, in Lose Yourself, and Marshall, with a heart touching song about his niece and daughter and two time ex wife Kim. He can mess around, but he can be serious. It may seem strange, but it's amazing and how he is. Listen to The Way I Am, that'll set this paragraph straight. (Another ego Em has is Ken Kaniff, who is just a gay guy Em uses in skits, and makes fun of his own songs with.)
Just a fun fact, not many people know this I feel like, but he is release an LP in '96 titledInfinite, which didn't even sell 100 copies. Then came The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP, The Eminem Show, Encore, Relapse, Relapse Refill, Recovery, and a new album going to be released with the name not out yet this fall 2013. He also had side albums, Curtain Call: The Hits, The Re-Up, a duo album with Royce Da 5'9, called Bad Meets Evil, Royce being 'Bad' and Em being 'Evil.' (Album made as a sequel to the song Bad Meets Evil off The Slim Shady LP.) I personally would love if Em and Royce made another Bad Meets Evil album, not one song let me down. But this isn't about me so back to the man of the story, Mr. Mathers.
Eminem is known for being controversial. Always making fun of big stories in the media at the time he's making his music. Common known ones are Michael Jackson in Just Lose It, along with Pee Wee Herman, Madonna, and countless others in the video/song. He has made fun of Lindsay Lohan many times, it's honestly hard to name who he's taken shots at because there are so many. Including himself. Yes he makes fun of himself, all the time, which just make him even more unique over every other artist ever. His song My Name Is, was altered twice to be radio and tv appropriate, and the FCC still complained about it having inappropriateness in it, if that's a word.
Encore was Eminem's last album before going to rehab for his drug addiction to prescription pain killers such as Valium and Vicodin which he mentions In a number of his songs also, example, My Mom, off of Relapse. He didn't release an album after Encore for over four years, and when he did, Relapse was what he came out with. And even tho he seems to have hated it, personally I loved it, and thought it was an amazing comeback album.
After coming back into the rap game, he was a changed Eminem. Now, people always say, "I miss the old Eminem where he was funny and made fun of everyone." Well on Relapse which was released in '09, he did make fun of everyone still. He had one obvious song where he made fun and shit on tons of people, even more in the video, called We Made You. But besides that, songs like My Mom, Bagpipes From Baghdad, Insane, etc, he did take stabs at people such as Mariah Carey, his mother and father, himself. But it was just delivered differently, and a lot of his songs were still funny. Then there was the sensitive side, with songs like Beautiful. It had it all, and is my second favorite Em album, after Encore.
Recovery, his latest album, my least favorite, after Infinite. Actually I don't even know which I find worse. I just didn't like Recovery. Not Afraid and Love The Way You Lie were great songs till they got overplayed and blown up by bandwagon Em fans. Songs like 25 To Life, and Cinderella Man, I just couldn't get into. No Love was good, and so were a few others. But lets just say I hope his new album coming this fall isn't like Recovery.
Now, I mentioned D12 and who they were, but didn't really explain their music. They released an Extended Play in '97 called The Underground EP, two studio albums, one in '01, Devils Night, and one in '04, D12 World. Also two mixtapes, Return Of The Dozen in '08 and Return Of The Dozen Vol 2 in 2011. Eminem's name stuck out most in this group because he had been signed by big name Dr. Dre, and made most success.
When Proof was killed, Em was lost. He mentioned in his book he could barely get out of bed, nevermind write a rhyme. And it was like that for about a year before he got back to making music, knowing its what Proof would've wanted.
(I'm sorry I've skipped around so much, I could write so much about Eminem I don't know where to start or where to go next, and I end up jumping around.)
So to sum it up, I'm sure 80% of people would agree the best rapper alive is Eminem. Okay, 80% of people out of 100% who know him, his life, his stories, and everything else like I do. What makes him great is he's able to be hilarious, and the next second be serious if needed. He can rhyme like none other, fast paced. His puns make you have to think. Example: a line from Fast Lane by Bad Meets Evil: "I'm aggravated to the point you don't suck my dick then you're gonna get decapitated other words you don't fucking give me head ten Ima have to take it!" His lines always have multiple meanings to them, I feel bad for whoever explains them on Rap Genius. But yes, Eminem is Greatest Of All Time, he is a GOAT, just like one of his leaked songs off a leaked mixtape.
He has changed in ways, but is actually the same Eminem from when he released The Marshall Mathers LP, same guy, different lifestyle, no drugs. If people are complaining that they want the old Em back, they're basically saying, "I want Eminem to be 40 minutes away from death again because he does so much drugs." So, stop saying it. We all miss it, but he's changed for the better. Funny Eminem or serious, if you're a true fan, you'll love anything he brings to us.
This is about all I have to say about his music and some of his life, if this was about his life, it would be triple this length, so be thankful I stuck to mostly his music career.
(I wrote this on July 27th, 2013, and it is now August 26th, 2013, and Slim Shady is indeed back, I just had to update it. Blonde 40 year old Em is back, aka Slim Shady, back and without the drugs, thankfully.)
