Star Analysis - Marshall Mathers/Eminem/Slim Shady

Eminem

Eminem is an artist whose impact on the hip-hop scene has been mammoth, and his unique style has opened the door for white rappers to be taken seriously in a genre that has previously been exclusively black. With his inimitable flows and his powerful thought-provoking lyrics, Eminem will go down in history as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Whether its' his darkly humorous depictions of violence, his brutally honest auto-biographical ballads, or his uncompromising critique of his country's Government, you'll be hard stretched to find a more widely popular recording rapper in the World right now.

Influences


Em has identified various rappers, some well known some obscure, as influences for his style. Lyrically, Eminem notes old-school MC Big Daddy Kane as one of his biggest inspirations. Kane's experimental style of rhyming and use of multi-syllable rhyming has been taken to another level by Em. He also notes that The Beastie Boys were an influence in developing his techniques. Other rappers he includes are Run DMC, Ice T, Newcleus, Kool G Rap and many more.

In a book entitled 'How To Rap' Guerilla Black says "Eminem listened to everything and that's what made him one of the greats". Having such a diverse taste in hip-hop allowed him to take various aspects from these artist's success and put his own twist on them, creating a style that is already being imitated by emerging recording artists.

The Personas

Eminem has created three unique personas and these have been heavily assisted in their establishment is his use of music videos. These three personas are Slim Shady, who is the drug-taking murdering side of Eminem. Marshall Mathers, whose songs are generally autobiographical and are about Marshall's hard upbringing and poverty-stricken life. Finally there is Eminem, who is Marshall's commercial persona and his songs are usually the ones that end up being released.

The first video I will look at is the video for the song Without Me.

This song and video is typical Eminem, with its' ruthless ribbing of various deserving and undeserving celebrities as well as mocking some who have spoken against him in the media. This is something Eminem utilises in public arguments brilliantly, as the comments against him are generally in interviews whereas his damning verdicts on his critics are immortalised in songs that are usually high-ranking chart hits.

Another aspect of Eminem's videos is that he is never afraid to send himself up as well as his adversaries. I think that this is another recognisable feature of Eminem's personality compared to the other two characters who are both more aligned with much darker themes. It also endears him to the public more as they recognise that although he does insult other people he isn't afraid to taste his own medicine, even if it is self-administered!

A video for an Eminem song in the persona of Slim Shady is the video for the song Role Model.

Slim Shady is the darkest persona Eminem has in terms of content and humour, yet his songs are some of Em's most lyrically brilliant and he experiments a lot more with different rhyming schemes, sometimes borrowing from artists as far back as Big Daddy Kane. Although his songs are much less well-recieved than any songs in the other personas. This is because whilst Eminem gains notoriety for roasting his critics in his songs, Slim Shady courts controversy in a much more direct way in both lyrics and videos. This video features him frequently rapping in a vicar's robes and reinforcing negative stereotypes that were very much in the newspapers around the time of release. This screenshot shows him on a bed with a small boy lifting his robe up. This particular video is the uncensored version but it was easily viewable on late night music channel request shows and on the internet and it caused a massive media and public backlash. It is one of Eminem's earliest releases and videos as well as being one of the most controversial.

 In this screenshot Eminem is rapping in the video and he says the lines: "me and Marcus Allen went over to see Nicole (Brown-Simpson), when we heard a knock at the door, must've been Ron Gold, jumped behind the door put the orgy on hold killed them both and smeared blood on her white Bronco". This is a very controversial part of the song which was unsurprisingly ommited from the radio edit, and references the killings of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Gold and Slim Shady claims he killed them with Marcus Allen, who was a professional footballer. It's a line that even the most controversial of pop-stars could ever have dreamed up and even if they had they would never have used it, but Eminem is not afraid of lawsuits, bad press or even the scathing criticisms he got from various publications and groups.

The third video, which is for a song very much in Marhsall Mather's territory, is the one for the song Cleanin' Out My Closet.



This is one of Eminem's most popular releases and it captures the emotions of Marshall Mathers very well. It is an autobiographical song which is mostly about his mother but does also reference the problems he has had with the media and the public over his more controversial songs. The style in which he raps his lyrics is a lot more emotive and his voice is raised, which is a style that dominates his latest releases.

This shot shows a real protest that happened concerning Eminem's music being a bad influence on children. These protests were a regular occurrence when Eminem first started out as some young criminals cited his music as the reason for their misdemeanours. When he references these protests in the lines "have you ever been hated or discriminated against ? I have, I've been protested and demonstrated against" he says them as though he is hurt by these protests. The whole 'does rap music instil violence in to its' listeners' is summed up brilliantly in this quote from Colorado Springs rapper B. Serious, in which he says "if two cowboys got into an argument in a saloon, went outside and had a draw, nobody blamed the music that was playing in the saloon." Eminem's influence on children has always been a hot topic, although he dealt with it in his own way with the Without Me video in which he plays a superhero who sets out to stop a child listening to his album without his parent's permission.

The other topic of this song, the main topic, is Marshall's relationship with his mother, Debbie. He has always written songs referencing their highly dysfunctional relationship, but this song sets out to tell the whole story as a very public battle had been ongoing between them in which Debbie was trying to sue Em for $10,000,000 for his various songs against her. By the time this song was recorded the lawsuits had been settled, giving Eminem more freedom to talk about his childhood in candid detail, such as his description of when his mother used to give him pharmaceuticals without him knowing. This is illustrated in the lines "victim of Munchausen syndrome, my whole life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn't 'til I grew up now I blew up it makes you sick to your stomach doesn't it." This is a veiled reference to Eminem's accusations directed towards his mother that she used to put prescription-only painkillers and sedatives in to his food or she simply forced him to take them. Eminem has gradually become more and more daring in his attacks on his mother and this reached a crescendo on the Relapse album in songs such as My Mom and Insane. 

The Image/s

Marshall Mathers/Eminem

Marshall's style is centred around a deal with Nike, who used to sponsor him, hence him often being seen in Nike tracksuits, tanktops, trainers and hats. This is known as streetwear, and Eminem would have worn these sort of clothes growing up on the tough streets of Detroit. Due to him feeling more comfortable in this style it is no surprise to see that his outfits for concerts frequently see him wearing this style of clothing.

Slim Shady

Slim Shady likes to use his clothes as another tool for courting controversy and ripping his rivals, and is never afraid of looking a fool in the process. An outfit he wears often on stage is the hockey mask, dungrees and chainsaw ensemble. He comes on revving the chainsaw and is sometimes splattered with fake blood before belting out a Slim Shady song. When he first used this outfit he was lambasted in the media and it was a very successful tool in gaining more media attention.