Mishra, 1

EMINEM

(Project Report)

Project Submitted to :

Mrs. Alka Mehta

(Faculty of English)

B.A.L.L.B (Honours)

Project submitted by :

Aniruddha Mishra

Section: B

Serial no.: 7
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Declaration

I hereby declare that this research work titled 'Eminem’ is my own work and

represents my own ideas and where others’ ideas or words have been

included, I have adequately cited and referenced the original sources. I also

declare that I have adhered to all principles of academic honesty and integrity

and have not misrepresented or fabricated or falsified any idea/data/fact/source

in my submission

____________

(Aniruddha Mishra)
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Acknowledgements

I, Aniruddha Mishra, would like to humbly present this project to Mrs. Alka

Mehta. I would first of all like to express my most sincere gratitude to “Mrs.

Alka Mehta” for her encouragement and guidance regarding several aspects of

this project. I am thankful for being given the opportunity of doing a project on

‘EMINEM’. I am thankful to the library staff as well as the IT lab staff for all the

conveniences they have provided me with, which have played a major role in the

completion of this paper.

AniruddhaMishra

Section: B

Serial no. : 7
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Abstract

Eminem is undoubtedly is the biggest and the most influential musician of all
times. He has a humungous fan base and also a very impressive record of selling
albums. He has been the best selling Rapper of all the time & is the 7th best selling
rapper of 2017 inspite of not introducing a new album since 2013 February.

He has lived a life struggle from his birth. As,at the time of his birth his mother
was of 14 years of age, and his father abandoned him just after his birth. He was
brutally bullied and beated black and blue by his black neighbourhood. He never
had any close friends and when he married his first wife, she divorced him just
after the birth of his first daughter.

Inspite of such struggles and difficulties he never lost the will to live and writes all
his songs on his life experiences. His 3 songs are in the “World’s 10 most
Motivational songs ever”. He inspires the youth to follow their passion and has
only one notion of his, i.e. , “I’m Not Afraid”.
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Table Of Contents

Serial no. Contents Page no.

1. Introduction 6

2. Background 7

3. Career Highlights 9

4. Impact on Society 13

5. English Language & 18

Eminem

6. Legacy of Eminem 19

7. Conclusion 21

8. References 22
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Introduction

Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally

as Eminem (often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor.

Mathers assumed the stage name M&M, a playful reference to his initials, which he later

began writing phonetically as "Eminem." He released The Slim Shady LP in early 1999, and

the album went multi-platinum, garnering Eminem two Grammy Awards and four MTV

Video Music Awards. Eminem is the best-selling artist of the 2000s in the United States.

Throughout his career, he has had 10 number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and five

number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. With US sales of 45.1 million albums and 42

million tracks as of June 2014, Eminem is the second best-selling male artist of the Nielsen

SoundScan era, the sixth best-selling artist in the United States and the best-selling hip-hop

artist. Globally, he has sold more than 172 million albums, making him one of the world's

best-selling artists. Rolling Stone ranked him 83rd on its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All

Time, calling him the King of Hip Hop.

Eminem is known as the RAP GOD, and performs under his

many of the other stage names, like Slim shady (his alter ego), Marshall Mathers, Em etc.

Eminem is considered one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. In 2010, MTV Portugal

ranked Eminem the seventh-biggest icon in pop-music history.

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Background

Marshall Bruce Mathers III born on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri. He never

knew his father, Marshall Mathers Jr., who abandoned the family when Eminem was still an

infant and rebuffed all of his son's many attempts to contact him during his childhood. As a

result, Eminem was raised by his mother, Deborah Mathers. As a teenager Eminem wrote

letters to his father; according to Debbie, all came back marked "return to sender". His

mother never managed to hold down a job for more than several months at a time, so they

moved frequently between Missouri and Detroit, Michigan, spending large chunks of time in

public housing projects. Friends and family remember Eminem as a happy child, but "a bit of

a loner" who was often bullied. This itinerant lifestyle left a large impact on his personality.

He had no close friends, kept almost entirely to himself and was treated like an outcast at

each new school. "Beat up in the bathroom, beat up in the hallways, shoved into lockers," he

remembers. Eminem heard his first rap song ("Reckless", featuring Ice-T) on

the Breakin’ soundtrack, a gift from Debbie's half-brother Ronnie Polkinghorn, who later

became a musical mentor to him. When Polkinghorn committed suicide in 1991, Eminem

stopped speaking for days and did not attend his funeral.

As a teenage dropout, Eminem found a way to express his passion for language, as well as to

release his youthful anger, through the emerging musical genre of hip-hop. He identified

with the nihilistic rage of late-1980s and early-1990s rap music, and he was especially taken
 Mishra, 8

with N.W.A., the popular and highly controversial gangster rap crew from Los Angeles.

Although at the time rap music was almost exclusively produced by black people, Eminem,

who has pale white skin and bright blue eyes, nevertheless entered into the Detroit rap scene

as a frequent competitor in rap "battles"—competitions in which two rappers take turns

insulting the other through improvised rap lyrics. Eminem proved highly skilled at such

verbal sparring and, despite his race, quickly became one of the most respected figures in

Detroit's underground rap scene.

At age 14, Eminem began rapping with high-school friend Mike Ruby; they adopted the

names "Manix" and "M&M", the latter of which evolved into "Eminem". Eminem sneaked

into neighboring Osborn High School with friend and fellow rapper Proof for

lunchroom freestyle rap battles. On Saturdays, they attended open mic contests at the Hip-

Hop Shop on West 7 Mile, considered "ground zero" for the Detroit rap scene. Struggling to

succeed in a predominantly black industry, Eminem was appreciated by underground hip hop

audiences. When he wrote verses, he wanted most of the words to rhyme; he wrote long

words or phrases on paper and, underneath, worked on rhymes for each syllable. Although

the words often made little sense, the drill helped Eminem practice sounds and rhymes.
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Career Highlights

As Eminem's reputation grew, he was recruited by several rap groups; the first was the New

Jacks. After they disbanded he joined Soul Intent, who released a single on their 1995 self-

titled EP featuring Proof. Eminem and Proof then teamed up with four other rappers to form

The Dirty Dozen. Eminem Eminem was soon signed to Jeff and Mark Bass's FBT

Productions, and recorded his debut album Infinite for their independent Web

Entertainment label. The album was a commercial failure upon its release in 1996. Eminem

attracted more attention when he developed Slim Shady, a sadistic, violent alter ego. The

character allowed him to express his anger with lyrics about drugs, rape, and murder. In the

spring of 1997 he recorded his debut EP, the Slim Shady EP, which was released that winter

by Web Entertainment.

A year later, however, Eminem released The Slim Shady EP, which was discovered by Dr.

Dre, the legendary rapper and former producer of Eminem's favorite rap group N.W.A. After

Eminem traveled to Los Angeles and became runner-up in the 1997 Rap Olympics MC

Battle, Dre listened to the rapper's cassette in the basement of executive Jimmy Iovine's

home. Dre was so impressed that he signed Eminem to his Interscope Records label. In 1999,

after two years of working with Dre, Eminem released The Slim Shady LP. The heavily

hyped record became an instant success and went on to sell over three million copies.

Eminem's first single, "My Name Is," mixed a childish humor and energy with rampant
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profanity and flashes of violence—a potent and fascinating combination that felt different

from anything else in rap. Marshall and Kim Mathers married later that same year.

Eminem released his second studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP, in May 2000. The

album showed off Eminem's poetic talents as well as his emotional and artistic range. His

songs vary from manically funny ("The Real Slim Shady") to heartbreakingly poignant

("Stan") to explosively violent ("Kim") to disarmingly self-critical ("The Way I Am"). The

Marshall Mathers LP sold over 19 million copies worldwide, won the Grammy Award for

Best Rap Album, received a nomination for Album of the Year and is widely considered

among the greatest rap albums of all time.

Nevertheless, The Marshall Mathers LP also came under a firestorm of criticism for its

excessive profanity, glorification of drugs and violence and its apparent homophobia and

misogyny. While Eminem attempted to mitigate such criticism by maintaining that his raps

simply use the rough language he has been surrounded by since childhood, and later by

performing a duet with Elton John at the Grammy Awards to demonstrate his openness to the

gay community, Eminem nevertheless remains widely reviled in some quarters for his

offensive lyrical content.

In 2001, Eminem reconnected with several of his friends from the Detroit underground rap

scene to form the group D12, recording an album calledDevil's Night featuring the popular

single "Purple Pills." A year later, Eminem released a new solo album, The Eminem Show,

another popular and critically acclaimed album highlighted by the tracks "Without Me,"
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"Cleaning Out my Closet" and "Sing for the Moment." His next album, 2004's Encore, was

less successful than his previous efforts, but still featured popular songs such as "Like Toy

Soldiers" and "Mockingbird." In 2005, industry insiders speculated that Eminem was

considering ending his rapping career after six years and several Multi-Platinum albums.

Rumors began early in the year about a double album to be released late that year,

entitled The Funeral; the greatest hits album, entitled Curtain Call: The Hits, was released in

December. In July the Detroit Free Press reported a possible final bow for Eminem as a solo

performer, quoting members of his inner circle as saying that he would embrace the roles of

producer and label executive. In 2005, the rapper was ranked 58th in Bernard Goldberg's

book, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America. Goldberg cited a 2001 column by Bob

Herbert of The New York Times, in which Herbert wrote "In Eminem's world, all women

are whores and he is eager to rape and murder them", and the song "No One's Iller" from

the Slim Shady EP as examples of the rapper's misogyny.

His seventh album, “RECOVERY” was released on June 18.In the US Recovery sold

741,000 copies during its first week, topping the Billboard 200 chart. Eminem's sixth

consecutive US number-one album also topped the charts in several other

countries. Recovery remained atop the Billboard 200 chart for five consecutive weeks of a

seven-week total. Its first single, "Not Afraid", was released on April 29 and debuted atop

the Billboard Hot 100; its music video was released on June 4. "Not Afraid" was followed by

"Love the Way You Lie", which debuted at number two before rising to the top. Although

"Love the Way You Lie" was the bestselling 2010 single in the United Kingdom, it did not

reach number one (the first time this has happened in the UK since 1969). Eminem
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announced on May 24, 2012 that he was working on his next album, scheduled for release

the following year. Without a title or release date, it was included on a number of "Most

Anticipated Albums of the year”. its lead single, "Berzerk", was released on August 25 and

debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Three more singles followed:

"Survival" (appearing on the Call of Duty: Ghosts trailer), "Rap God" and "The Monster"

(with Rihanna). In February 2017, Eminem appeared on "No Favors", a track from Big

Sean's album I Decided. In the song, Eminem calls the newly elected President Donald

Trump a "bitch", and also raps about raping conservative social and political

commentator Ann Coulter, who is a Trump supporter.

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Impact on Society

Thirteen years ago, Eminem offered this modest self-assessment: “Whether you like to admit

it, I just shit it / better than 90 percent of you rappers.” Numbers would come to tell a

different story—Eminem is the best-selling rapper of all time, by a wide margin. He’s also

got 13 Grammys, an Oscar, and as of Sunday night, an “Artist of the Year” trophy from the

first-ever Youtube Awards. Of course, charts and accolades don’t mean everything. But

Eminem is surely one of rap’s most capable practitioners, fond of breathtaking verbal

displays frequently delivered at manic speed. In his prime, his brand of gleeful vitriol seemed

to have infinite reach—no one was safe.

The trilogy of albums he released between 1999 and 2002, each dedicated to one of his

personas (Slim Shady, Marshall Mathers, and Eminem), captured the rapper at his most

unhinged and most effective. He ranted, joked, vented, and cleverly offered a vision of a

silent but angry army at his back—“every single person is a Slim Shady lurking,” “there's a

million of us just like me / who cuss like me, who just don't give a fuck like me / who dress

like me, walk, talk and act like me.” It turned out there were a lot more than a million, and

they liked to buy albums.

The man’s sound changed as he moved—he became increasingly aware of his own impact,

and got more serious, more predictable, less deranged. He contributed several of the

definitive songs of the early ‘00s, and they reflect this progression. “The Real Slim Shady,”

released in 2000, has that exaggerated, Halloween-worthy keyboard riff, goofy asides,
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strange vocal quirks, cackles, sex noises, and moose jokes. By the time Eminem reached the

peak of his powers, with 2002’s “Lose Yourself,” he’s the most serious guy around. The

song is made for layup lines and Gatorade commercials, opening with a question—“If you

had one shot… to seize everything you ever wanted… would you capture it or just let it

slip?”—that a younger Eminem would have laughed off, made fun of, and sworn at.

Seizing the moment is one thing, holding on is another. Eminem has maintained his ability to

make people buy his work, but the three albums he released between 2004 and 2010 are a lot

less inspired. He covered the same topics as before, but with less vigor and amusement. His

once sharp references fell behind the times. He also struggled with drug addiction.

A lot has changed since Eminem started tantalizing and scandalizing the world with his

combination of jaw-dropping ability, humor, and belligerence that frequently veers into

misogyny, gory fantasy, or homophobia. Rap’s in a strange place right now, with the long-

ruling elite in disarray or disavowing the genre’s current direction. When Jay Z gave away

free copies of Magna Carta Holy Grail, it seemed as though it was because the album

couldn’t stand up on its own. Kanye with Yeezus made a brave, defiant break with his

commercial side—and was outsold in two weeks by an uninteresting album from J. Cole. Lil’

Wayne, once reliably surprising, has settled into more conventional, less-thrilling patterns.

What about the youngsters? Drake’s had success with Nothing Was the Same, but he mixes

rapping and singing, moving rap in directions purists aren’t always comfortable with. Nicki

Minaj hasn’t released an album this year, and she’s also made genre gate-keepers anxious by

occasionally singing and by not being a man. Kendrick Lamar has called himself the King of
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New York and last year released the much-lauded good kid, m.A.A.d. city, but so far he’s

only had one top-20 pop hit. He talks big, but he’s not yet a superstar.

Enter Eminem, with his new album The Marshall Mathers LP 2. He always drew strength

from having enemies—the more parental handwringing and public outcry he caused, the

more dominant he became. After “Lose Yourself,” he wasn’t the disturbed crazy guy

anymore. He was now the guy who overcame obstacles and adversity to earn fortune and

fame, basically a model citizen. On two of his Marshall Mathers 2 singles, however,

Eminem seems to draw energy from a new source—his anger about the current state of hip-

hop. (A lot of rappers are in openly “anti” moods these days, epitomized by Pusha T’s

comment to NPR: “Hip-hop to me right now is really easy listening … there's nothing

abrasive about it.”) In “Berzerk,” Eminem suggests, “let's take it back to straight hip-hop and

start it from scratch,” and in “Rap God,” he points out that “rappers are having a rough time

period.” So Eminem embraces a back-to-basics approach. In opener “Bad Guy,” Eminem

raps meanly over a handful of squeaks. “Berzerk,” produced by Rick Rubin, features what

might have been a discarded Run DMC beat, with crude percussion and cruder guitars. “Rap

God” and “Evil Twin” are slightly more luxurious, involving piano and synthesizer, but the

arrangements are merely functional, not compelling on their own—“Rap God,” for example,

serves only as a vehicle for what Slate recently referred to as the Fastest Rap Verse You’ve

Ever Heard, serving up roughly 100 words in 15 seconds.

Eminem also shines in his clever use of ‘60s samples. “Rhyme or Reason” (Rubin assisted)

finds Eminem transforming the Zombies’ “Time Of The Season,” with its simple bass line

and signature exhales, into a nihilistic battle. Zombies: “What’s your name?” (Exhale.)
 Mishra, 16

Eminem: “Marshall.” (Exhale.) Zombies: “Who’s Your Daddy?” (Exhale.) Em: “I didn’t

have one / my mother reproduced like a Komoto dragon … I'm loco it's like handing a

psycho a loaded handgun.” Another Rubin-produced track samples an earlier ‘60s pop tune,

Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders’ “Game Of Love.” Tales of dysfunctional relationships

like this one have often inspired Eminem to greater lyrical heights. Here, with the help of

Kendrick Lamar, Eminem sprays tight volleys of musical analogies. “Here goes that broken

record cliche, it's all my fault anyway / she's turnin' the tables, I'm a beat-break / … back

together but forgot today was her b-day, she cut me off on the freeway.”

Not everything on Marshall Mathers 2 works as well. In particular, Eminem’s songs tend to

lose momentum during the chorus. Whether he carts in someone else to sing them or belts

them himself, it often has a deflating effect. (This makes him work twice as hard during the

verses of “Rap God.”) There’s song about forgiving mom (“Headlights), which rejects

Eminem’s long-held anti-mother stance—see the third verse of 2002’s “Cleanin’ Out My

Closet”—and shows how much more interesting he is when causing trouble, rather than

making amends. Rubin produces four songs on the album, and his tracks are consistently the

most exciting. When he isn’t involved, Eminem tends to favor piano-driven beats without

much to recommend them.

But with his selling power and a handful of energetic tracks, he might be able to inject

abrasion (the type Kanye and Pusha T are pulling for) into the mainstream—“Rap God” is

gaining on Lorde’s “Royals” for the top singles spot. Here Eminem raps, “to be truthful the

blueprint's / simply rage and youthful exuberance / everybody loves to root for a nuisance.”
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He’s lacking youth. But he can still play a fearsome nuisance, while selling like an American

idol.
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English Langauge &Eminem

Eminem has been passionate about the English language (although he never read

the English literature) but read comics, wrote small poems and penned down his

thoughts, whenever he got some spare time. Although he is a school dropout but

his command over the language is admirable.

He has learnt by-heart the Oxford English Dictionary, 2009 edition, so that he

can include new words in his music and increase the scope of language in

his works.

Also He has given a Word to the English language , “STAN” , Which means

an over obsessive fan or supporter, which derives it’s origin from Em’s

famous single STAN from Marshall Mathers LP (2009). In this single Eminem

is shown writing back to his over-obsessive and psychopath fan, named Stan,

and here comes to know that Stan kills himself and his spouse just over his

obsession over Eminem himself.

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Legacy of Eminem

Eminem is considered one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. He was 83rd on Rolling

Stone's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. and 79th on the VH1 100 Greatest Artists of All

Time list. In 2010, MTV Portugal ranked Eminem the seventh-biggest icon in pop-music

history.

He is the bestselling artist from 2000 to 2009 on the US Nielsen SoundScan; with estimated

worldwide album sales of over 172 million, Eminem is one of the best-selling musical artists

in the world. The rapper has over eight billion views of his music videos on his

YouTube Vevo page. In 2010, Eminem's music generated 94 million streams (more than any

other musical artist), and in May 2014 Spotify called him the most-streamed artist of all time.

According to Billboard, two of Eminem's albums are among the top-five bestselling albums

from 2000 to 2010. "Love the Way You Lie" (11× platinum) and "Not Afraid" (10×

platinum) are certified diamond by the RIAA, making him the first artist with two digital

diamond-certified songs in the US. In the UK, Eminem has sold over 12.5 million

records. As of June 2014, Eminem is the second-bestselling male artist of the Nielsen

SoundScan era, the sixth-bestselling artist in the United States and the bestselling hip-hop

artist, with sales of 45.1 million albums and 42 million tracks (including 31 million digital

single certifications). Eminem has had ten number-one albums on the Billboard 200: seven

solo (five original albums and two compilations), two with D12 and one with Bad Meets

Evil. The Eminem Show, The Marshall Mathers LP, and Encore were ranked the third-,

seventh- and fortieth-bestselling albums of the 2000–2009 decade, respectively, by the

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magazine. The rapper has had 13 number-one singles worldwide. Eminem has been credited

of rising the careers of rap proteges such as, 50 Cent, Yelawolf , Stat Quo, Royce Da

5’9”, Cashish, Obie Trice Bobby Creekwater, and rap groups such

as D12 and Slaughterhouse.

In August 2011, Eminem was called the King of Hip-Hop by Rolling Stone, which analyzed

album sales, R&B, hip-hop and rap chart positions, YouTube views, social media, concert

grosses, industry awards and critical ratings of solo rappers who released music from 2009 to

the first half of 2011. His second major-label album, The Marshall Mathers LP, was the

fastest-selling solo album in US history and was ranked one of the greatest hip-hop albums

of all time by Rolling Stone, Time and XXL. Rolling Stone ranked it the seventh-best album

of the first decade of the 21st century. The album's third single ("Stan") is one of Eminem's

most critically acclaimed songs, with Pitchfork calling it "a cultural milestone".

A number of artists have cited Eminem as an influence, including The Weeknd, Crooked I,

Tech N9ne, Logic, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, T.I., B.o.B, Jhené Aiko, 50 Cent, Usher, Earl

Sweatshirt, Ab-Soul, Freddie Gibbs, Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, Big Sean,

J. Cole, Skylar Grey, Bubba Sparxxx, Asher Roth, Machine Gun Kelly, Yelawolf, Hopsin,

Tyler, The Creator, Hollywood Undead, Kiiara,Chris Webby, Chance the Rapper, Stalley,

Royce da 5'9", Joe Budden, Tony Yayo, and The Game.

Rappers David Banner, Wiz Khalifa, Talib Kweli, Kool G. Rap, Redman, Kurupt, Dr. Dre,

N.O.R.E., Rakim, Busta Rhymes and Jay-Z have each called Eminem one of the greatest

rappers of all time.

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Conclusion

On analyzing completely one may find that Eminem is one of the most impactful

musicians that this planet will ever see. His dedication towards his music, his love

for the English language, his intense vocabulary, his straight – forwardness all add

up to his personality traits. And his mettle is reflected by the accolades he has

achieved till date. Summing up, I would like to say that Eminem is a person who,

by the means of his music, motivates and elevates a person to fight for surving &

never ever giving up. And being a sincere STAN of his, I personally like everyone

regard him as RAP GOD. He is Culture ,Religion, EVERYTHING.

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References

1. www.eminem.com

2. www.wikipedia.com

3. www.biography.com

4. www.imdb.com

5. www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/11/why-eminem-matters-
right-now/281137/

6. 8 Mile:The movie