English 101 - Eminem

Xiaoye Zhang

Bobby J Meyer

English 101

02/10/2016

                                                    Eminem

        Who would have ever thought that a white guy, who was growing up in slums, would become the famous rapper all across the globe? Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born on November 17th, 1973 in Kansas City, Missouri. He was born in a single-parent family that is because his parents got divorced when he was 6 months old. Actually, what made him become famous as now came from his miserable childhood. From his story, I began to touch the true meaning of the “Adversity is a good discipline”.

        He changed the original thought of rap with an explosive voice. “You know how a person is made for something? Eminem is made for hip-hop. The best rapper is a white man.”(Curtis Jackson). Obviously, Eminem changed the traditional views of the rap music and the rappers, it’s normal to think of the black rappers and their music when it comes to these topics; however, he don’t think so, he wanted to become the best rapper and he made it. You actually can make it, no matter what. I truly am a firm believer in that. Eminem's living proof. (Brittany Murphy). From then on, more and more young people began to believe it’ worth to have a dream, because it will be achieved even if there is a piece of chance.

        Many people these days do believe Eminem made a negative influence on the world, however, there are much more voices standing at the side of supporting. The truth is you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed. (Eminem) We can get the thoughts from others from their words, thus, we could know how stubborn and rebellious he is. His music is filled with anger, the some about violence, drugs, bitches, women, gay or lesbian, death, conspiracy, and love stories. Each story is
the true reflection of the sorrow of this generation of young Americans born in 1970s-1980s. In a short time, he built his own – EMINEM phenomenon in songs.” He could do something that people usually know but don’t dare to speak publically. He gave a brand new life to a generation of teenagers, meaningfully, he did much more than the music history, and furthermore, he changed the minds and spirits.

        From above, we could think objectively he is an influential people, even though he encouraged so many crime, he pointed so many ugly human meanness at least.

        People who are familiar to him should know his personality, he will not give his mind up because of his highly anticipated status. He is a maverick person, he could insist his mind as always, such he still did the same things he used to do like fighting with others and having drugs as well.

American Dream provides the opportunity to go somewhere where no one has ever been before and make history. Eminem is commonly referred to as “the latest white rip-off of black culture, the Elvis of our time” (Verstegen). Eminem was always compared to Elvis because he took the soul roots of the black community’s music and incorporated in into his own just like Eminem does today. Eminem and Elvis both made history by becoming the first in their genre and putting their own spin on it. After Eminem started gaining popularity Eminem brought a whole new demographic to the listener of rap music, it brought the “suburban white contexts by the millions” (Versetegen). Before Eminem, rap wasn’t popular in the suburbs, but once they saw white person they started listening to it. If it wasn’t for Eminem, rap wouldn’t have such a big fan base and would probably still only be in the ghettos. For many years white rappers was not taken seriously, but that all changed when Eminem broke through the barrier and was able to change the rap world.