Eminem: An American Icon, Is He? or Is He Not?

WRITTEN BY BRADIS MCGRIFF!!!DO NOT COPY MY PAPER JUST USE IT 4 RESEARCH!!!!

April 3, 2007

History 196m

Prof Gus Lease

Eminem: an American Icon, is he? Or is he not?

Eminem is one of the most if not the most talented rap artist to ever step up to the microphone. Although he may be one of the most talented rappers to ever perform, he is also one of the most controversial. Teenagers and young children seem to really enjoy Eminem's lyrics but parents and the media are outraged. Eminem doesn't hold his tongue for anyone. In America we are given the right to freedom of speech. He uses this to his advantage and says what he has to say and this is part of the problem that the media has with Eminem. So in this essay I will explain why Eminem is looked at as an American icon, or is he?

Marshall Mathers III (Eminem) was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on October 17, 1974, and throughout his childhood went back and forth between Kansas City and Detroit. He was raised by his mother Debbie Mathers-Briggs who was a single mother. Mathers never knew his father; however his mother claimed that the two of them were married at the Time of Mathers's birth. Irritated by moving from city to city and having trouble making childhood friends, Mathers found by watching television and reading comic books. He attended Lincoln Junior High School and Osborn High School, where he started listening To LL Cool J and 2 Live Crew, which were to very popular rap groups at the time. During this time Mathers also made friends, and began to rap. He discovered he had talent and began challenging t other Rappers in contests. He began to excel in rapping, but not in the classroom. Mathers failed the ninth grade and eventually dropped out of school before earning a high school diploma. So while Mathers began to work, he also worked on his lyrical skill, and very shortly became a huge star, not only because of his skill, but because he was a white male in a black mans profession.

He began working with different groups that included Basement Productions, the New Jacks, and Sole Intent; Mathers finally went solo in 1997. The album, "Infinite", was released through FBT Productions, a local Detroit company. The local Hip-hop community did not take to him, but he ignored the criticism and tirelessly promoted himself through radio stations and freestyle competitions across the nation. He was finally recognized as a true talent and was mentioned in the Source Magazines, "Unsigned Hype," section which featured in the past other great hip hop artist such as Notorious B.I.G. and by the end of the year he had won the 1997 Wake up Show Freestyle Performer of the Year award from Los Angeles' DJ Sway and High Tech. Mathers also took second place in Rap Sheet Magazine's "Rap Olympics," an annual freestyle competition.

His Slim Shady LP in early 1998 not only made him an underground star,

It also got the attention of the famed Dr. Dre, the president of Aftermath Entertainment. Dr. Dre signed Mathers to his label, and within an hour after their meeting, the two were reportedly working on Eminem's "My Name Is" single. When Slim Shady finally came out, it debuted as number three On the Billboard album chart. Eminem also appeared on underground MC Shabam Sahdeeq's "Five Star Generals" single, Kid Rock's Devil without a Cause, And on other rap releases. His songs depicted rape, violence, and drug use and they disgusted most parents and the media around the world. Some of his lyrics were directed at His own mother, and at the mother of his three-year-old daughter. The song "97 Bonnie and Clyde" has Mathers fantasizing about killing the mother of his child.

Slim Shady Caused Uproar. USA Today editor Edna Gunderson reviewed the album that was causing the uproar. "The first release on Dr. Dre's Aftermath label is a marvel of entertaining contradictions," she wrote. "The white rapper ... vacillates between rage and apathy in razor-sharp tunes that visit a host of suburban Miseries and comedies. He's unquestionably offensive, but the antidote for that venom can be found in the music's stinging humor and tight grooves." Eminem's Slim Shady LP took home a Grammy Award on February 23, 2000, as The Best Rap Album of the Year for 1999. His solo, "My Name Is," won the Award for Best Rap Solo Performance.

Mathers defended himself and his lyrics to those who loathed his message,

But also to those who were still not prepared to welcome a white rap artist

Into a field that had been the domain of blacks since its beginnings. Mathers

Told the Source Magazine, "I do feel like I'm coming from a standpoint where people

Don't realize there are a lot of poor white people. He went on to say, "I'm white in a music started by black people. I'm not ignorant to the Culture and I'm not trying to take anything away from the culture. But No one has a choice where they grew up or what color they are. If you're a rich kid or a ghetto kid you have no control over your circumstances. The only control you have is to get out of your situation or stay in it."

Perhaps because of that, his music resonated with teens worldwide, regardless

Of their race or economic status.

Eminem's music was certainly unpopular with many people. In the spring

Of 1999 Billboard's editor-in-chief Timothy White accused Eminem and the

Music industry promoting him of "exploiting the world's misery." The harshest Criticism came in the form of a lawsuit filed by his own mother. In 1999 Mathers-Briggs filed a lawsuit in a Michigan Circuit Court, charging that her son had made "defamatory comments about her in interviews, including Descriptions of her as `pill-popping' and `lawsuit-happy. She also made claims which included Emotional distress, humiliation, and damages that included the loss of Her mobile home in the summer of 1999," according to Carla Hay, an editor for billboard magazine.

Eminem's American tour that began in the spring of 1999 met with mixed

Reviews as well. According to Jon Dolan in Spin in August of 1999, the tour did

Not