Composer/Performer Paper

Music Appreciation

Your Name (First M. Last)

School or Institution Name (University at Place or Town, State)

Eminem

Introduction:

Marshall Bruce Mathers III professionally known as Eminem is said to be the “King of Hip Hop”. Born in America, Eminem is a Rapper, Actor, Songwriter, Record Producer, Film Producer. He is considered one of the most influential artists of all time.

In his career, he got nominations for 355 awards among which he has won 155. His album, The Marshall Mathers LP, became the fastest-selling solo album in the history of United States. He won a total of 15 Grammy awards in his career. In 2010, MTV ranked Eminem as the 10th greatest icon of pop music. Eminem is the only artist who has nine consecutive debut albums at number one on the Billboard 200. He is one of the best-selling artists of the world of all times.

Life History:

He was born on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph Missouri. He is the only child to his parents Marshall Bruce Marthers Jr. and Deborah Rae “Debbie”. Eminem’s family already had musical strings attached to them as they were playing in a band called Daddy Warbucks. The band used to play in Ramada Inns. His parents parted their ways and his father, Bruce moved to California. It is said that Eminem used to write letters to his father when he was a teenager but the letters came back marked "return to sender". Eminem used to be a happy child but a bit loner and was bullied at times. He was often beaten by black youths as he belonged to a working-class for lacks. He wanted to be a comic-narrator and a storyteller before he was introduced to Hip Hop. He was not good in studies and hence was dropped off from Lincoln High School when he was 17. He worked at several places to help his mother earn a livelihood.

At the age of 14, he developed his interest in rapping. He used to do it with his high school friend Mike Ruby. His name “Eminem” also emerged from the names they adopted for themselves. He used to participate in underground Rap-battles which made him popular among the underground hip hop audiences. His first album was titled “infinite” but it sold less than a thousand copies. He was flat broke and was surrounded with the tension of not having a place to live and that is when her daughter, Hailie Jade Scott, was born from her girlfriend Kim Scott ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ZC61KWas","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Eminem n.d.)","plainCitation":"(Eminem n.d.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":124,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/6hWtnKoy/items/IMZ9B22F"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/6hWtnKoy/items/IMZ9B22F"],"itemData":{"id":124,"type":"webpage","title":"Eminem","container-title":"IMDb","abstract":"Eminem was born Marshall Bruce Mathers III in St. Joseph, Missouri, to Deborah R. (Nelson) and Marshall Bruce Mathers, Jr., who were in a band ...","URL":"http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004896/bio","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",4,11]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Eminem n.d.). Eminem reached to the heights of success when he developed a violent, sadistic alter ego character for himself which he names as Slim Shady. He developed this character to portray his rage for the circumstances he had faced as the lyrics are mostly about rape, drugs, and murder. He came into the sights of Dr. Dre. After he secured second place in Los Angles Rap Olympics in 1997. A copy of Slim Shady EP was sent to Record Producer Dr. Dre, from where Eminem met his teenage ideal and signed the deal with him. His album The Slim Shady LP was released in February 1999. It was the most popular album of the year but Eminem was accused of copying the style of underground Rapper Cage. His next album The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May 2000 which was the record breaker solo album of all times as 1.76 copies of this album were sold in its first week of release. This was the time when Eminem earned his name in the field of hip hop and was known worldwide for his unique style and persona of Rapping.

The era of Eminem:

His first album “Infinite” was released in 1996, which included songs depicting his struggles as a beginner. His second album “ The Marshall Mathers LP" was released in 2000 which was a record-breaking album. It broke the records of Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle which was the fastest selling hip hop album and Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time which was the fastest selling solo album. The most famous song of this album was "The Real Slim Shady" which topped the music charts. In the era of the 2000s, due to the spread of Globalization and Capitalism, the music changed its form and became quite westernized. Styles such as rock, pop, hip hop, EDM, indie, etc became dominant in this era. Usher, Rihanna, Backstreet Boys, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne dominated the Billboard Music charts. Hip hop became the most popular music genre of the 2000s. Many Rap movements proceeded in that era like Crunk, Hyphy, Alternative Hip Hop ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Z9JGlfXK","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Popular Artists - 2000 | Billboard n.d.)","plainCitation":"(Popular Artists - 2000 | Billboard n.d.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":126,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/6hWtnKoy/items/2FWUHUHT"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/6hWtnKoy/items/2FWUHUHT"],"itemData":{"id":126,"type":"webpage","title":"Popular Artists - 2000 | Billboard","URL":"https://www.billboard.com/artists/top-100/2000","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",4,11]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Popular Artists - 2000 | Billboard n.d.).

Type of Music by Eminem:

Eminem basically “raps” about the short-comings of his life and the circumstances that he has been through. His lyrics are all about foibles of his life and the minor triumphs he faced. His lyrics are reality oriented with the rhyming scheme having hardcore music and drum beats ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"OkuGlwDy","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(What Is Eminem\\uc0\\u8217{}s Music Style? - Quora n.d.)","plainCitation":"(What Is Eminem’s Music Style? - Quora n.d.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":130,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/6hWtnKoy/items/KXFIV9VZ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/6hWtnKoy/items/KXFIV9VZ"],"itemData":{"id":130,"type":"webpage","title":"What is Eminem's music style? - Quora","URL":"https://www.quora.com/What-is-Eminems-music-style","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",4,11]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (What Is Eminem’s Music Style? - Quora n.d.). His rhyming style consists of multisyllabic rhymes, complex rhyming schemes, and clear enunciation. He writes his lyrics on a paper and then crafts them. The most important element in his music is his alter ego. He narrates his dark and violent side in most of his songs. Even in his early days, it is said that he wrote long lyrics on a page and then worked for their rhyme on syllables. He is known for his hip hop music.

Most Well Known Works:

Lose Yourself:

The most iconic song of Eminem for which he received the prestigious Academy Award for Best Original Song. The song reigned the Billboard for quite long and was one of the most heard song of 2000. This song had the most mesmerizing lyrics and the most jangly-guitar production of the chorus.

The Real Slim Shady:

This was the song that made Eminem greatest rapper of all time. It is the song that crowned him with superstardom. It was his collaboration with Dr. Dre whom he had idealized since his childhood. This song had how hard Eminem had worked through the tongue-tied acrobatics of chorus.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Eminem N.d.IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004896/bio, accessed April 11, 2019.

Popular Artists - 2000 | Billboard N.d. https://www.billboard.com/artists/top-100/2000, accessed April 11, 2019.

What Is Eminem’s Music Style? - Quora N.d. https://www.quora.com/What-is-Eminems-music-style, accessed April 11, 2019.

References