We may ask : what makes Eminem appear as such a phenomenon in rap music ? What are the main reasons of his success in the music industry ?
If you ask me, I’d say : Eminem himself.
His personality, his high level of verbal skills, his attitude (he never does anything just to please you), his originality, his great understanding of the youth (the mishandled youth in particular), his criticism against the American government’s policy.
Some people may argue that his success is due to his skin color which is only partially true. Eminem owes his first success to a black man : Dr Dre. Eminem is also surrounded by the right people who know how to intelligently market his products like his friend and producer Dr Dre, his manager Paul Rosenberg.
But he owes his success much more to his talent and to his hard work.
The fact that he’s a white M.C certainly contributes to attract a larger audience. I was myself surprised to see a white M.C rapping ( so well) when I first discovered him in his ‘ Stan ‘ video. That increased my curiosity and made me want to know more details about his music and his biography. But what really impressed me in the end were his verbal plays. Not even his worst enemies could deny Eminem is a talented wordsmith and those who deny his talent usually do it out of jealousy.
From the beginning of his career, Marshall has been very clever in attracting the public’s attention. He has this great ability to captivate people and the public exposure of his life as a show make of him the most talked about rapper.
Marshall has never been afraid of speaking his mind and the fact that he has the courage of his opinions made him win a lot of hearts, but it also increased his enemies’ list for a large part. The exposure Eminem gives of his life is also a big reality show and we all know the world is in need of truth and reality. Since i was a child, I grew up despising artists and people of the show business, because most of them looked so fake and so superficial. When I first discovered Eminem, I was amazed : here is a man from Detroit, who is not ashamed of his past, of being ‘ white trash ‘. He calls things by their names and shows pictures of himself carrying a big garbage bag on his back. Here is a man, who has the courage to say that poverty does not only exist among Blacks in America. He points out the existence of the ‘ white trash ‘. Here is a man who is not ashamed of coming from the white poor classes. Here is a man who also has the courage to defy the Bush administration !
Eminem’s great personality alone explains his success for a large part. Eminem is real, he never fakes himself, he doesn’t ‘ give a fuck ‘ about what you think, he doesn’t ‘ give a fuck about a Grammy ‘. Eminem is not conventional, he hates ceremonies. Even some fans felt offended because he didn’t attend to a Grammy or an Award ceremony this year in May 2003, because they knew he preferred spending some time with Hailie than going to the ceremony. Offended fans, how can you be so selfish and say Eminem was disrespecting you ? Do you realize that he barely spends time with his daughter ? It’s rather a good sign that he privileges Hailie to a ceremony.
But you must see Eminem on stage and he will convince you totally : no TV live retransmission of his concerts will make you feel the same. Eminem on stage is amazing : he is such a good entertainer. The athmosphere of his concert is divine, you can feel like an extraordinary alchemy between Marshall and his audience. At Paris Bercy, he performed for an hour and a half, and I was captivated from the beginning to the end. And I am not the only fan who felt like this. We were around 17 000 persons to feel like this. All the artists performing at Paris Bercy were great, but when Eminem came in, he was acclaimed like nobody else and the athmosphere was electrifying, we didn’t want the show to end, we could have spent the whole night listening to him.
What is Eminem’s receipt of his success ? The answer is clear : the man himself !