Month: October 2003

In his song ‘Hailie’s song’, Eminem says: I love my daughter more than life in itself.” Those are not only words put on a song, those are the expression of true feelings.
Eminem is well known for his vulgar vocabulary, his references to drugs and his dark humor. But there is one subject on which he never jokes: his daughter.
His feelings for his 8 year old daughter are authentic. In ‘Say Goodbye to Hollywood’, he states:’ All I wanted was to give Hailie the life I never had.’
He’s a dedicated Daddy to his daughter, even if he barely spends time with her.
He also explains how she gave him the strengh to believe in himself and to fight for his dream to come true:

I think that in a roundabout way she did save my life. I always had drive coming up and I always wanted to make it as a rapper. That was my dream. But when she was born, it was the reality of “I have to do this.” I had nothing else. I had no high school education. I want her to be able to grow up and look back on this and be like ‘ whether people agree with it or not ‘ “My dad put me on a song. My dad wrote songs for me, my dad said my name all over the place.” I want her to be able to look back in magazines and everything and just know. I don’t ever wanna be like my father was to me.’

It seems like Hailie actually saved her Daddy’s life.
Eminem also tries to protect his daughter from the media as much as possible. He wants her to live a fairly normal life. He always feels concerned about the well being of his daughter. He talks about a typical day with Hailie in a ‘Rolling Stone’ interview:

‘When I’m home, I wake her up in the morning. I feed her some cereal, watch a little TV, take her to school and pick her up.Lately, I’ve been taking her to the studio, because that’s where I spend most of my time. She has fun there, there’s video games for her and stuff.
Coloring books and crayons- thank God for those. We watch a lot of movies, just typical shit. She’s real into The Powerpuff Girls and Hey Arnold! And Dora the Explorer-ever seen that one? It’s the same episode all week long because it teaches kids numbers and how to speak Spanish; By Friday, you know it by heart. I watch that with her, then I go listen to my songs over and over. I’m gonna fucking jump off a bridge.’

Eminem also makes clean versions of his CD’s and allows Hailie only to listen to the clean versions of his songs. But he’s got a liberal attitude to education and he doesn’t hide people’s bad mouth.He doesn’t want his daughter to grow up in a close world, which is a good thing.
He takes his role as a responsible father very seriously. He’s conscious to be a father before being a rapper. He says :’I’m a father before I’m Eminem.’
Hailie goes first. He also saves a lot of his money for his daughter, because he wants her life to be different from his. He wants her to be a graduate.
In an interview from November 2002 in Vibe Magazine, he declares :”So all I can do is to be the best father and try to instil Hailie the best values, because I do care about what is said around her and done around her.”
To those who still think Marshall Mathers is a criminal, he replies in ‘Sing For The Moment”: “It’s all political, if my music is literal, how the fuck can I raise a little girl?’
This text is dedicated to Marshall Mathers III who will be 31 on October the 17th. Happy birt

Many supporters of the magazine think it has made a big mistake by taking sides in the Benzino-Eminem battle.
Last February, David Mays, CEO and founder of The Source, and I talked on the phone for almost an hour. He was trying to explain to me why he had decided to put the power and reputation of his 15-year-old magazine behind rapper Benzino’s fight with Eminem. Mays described the battle in racial, ideological terms.
”Hip-hop made me respect black people,” said Mays, a white man who started The Source while a student at Harvard. “Eminem’s impact is reversing that entire trend. White kids are growing up claiming hip-hop as their own. That’s the agenda Eminem’s machine is passing.”
What he failed to see is what’s plain to even the magazine’s supporters: That it’s an egregious conflict of interest for The Source to take sides, since, under his given name, Raymond Scott, Benzino is a co-founder and executive of the magazine.
”Benzino needs to be more professional with it,” said Wilkine Brutus, a college student who came down from Tallahassee for the Source Awards show on Monday. “He shouldn’t knock a performer as high class as Eminem.”
Everyone I talked with last week, from some of the music industry’s top leaders to young fans, think The Source has made a big mistake. The Benzino-Eminem battle has now mushroomed into a ”battle royale,” as former Source editor Selwyn Seyfu Hinds put it in February. On The Source’s side: the record label Murder, Inc. camp, including rapper Ja Rule. Many other acts, such as producers of the year The Neptunes, also turned out for the awards show and gave the magazine their respects.
”It’s unfortunate everybody can’t be a part of it,” said Cam’ron, who won the Source’s best-acting award. “But the world doesn’t stop.”
On Eminem’s side: 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Interscope Records, and XXL magazine. 50 was the night’s big winner, but he, Em, and such top artists as Jay-Z and Missy Elliott were M.I.A. in MIA.
”It would have been great if there had been more support from artists out here,” said one executive involved in the show, who requested anonymity. “But acts are wary of lining up with a supposedly unbiased publication that’s clearly choosing sides.”
HISTORIC MOMENT
Mays won’t talk to me anymore. Upset with my February article, The Source’s publicist refused my requests for an interview and denied me credentials for covering the show — a remarkably unprofessional way for a magazine to treat journalists. So instead of being stuck in a press room, I watched from a seat bought by The Herald. Though the show was a logistical nightmare, it was also a lot of fun.
The Source’s historical timing was excellent. Last week, for the first time, the top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 were by black artists. Hip-hop is to today’s youth what rock was in the ’60s: the defining music of a generation (or two).
”I love it, mostly because hip-hop has not gone pop; pop came to hip-hop,” says Stephen Hill, the senior vice president at BET who supervised the taping (to be broadcast 8 p.m. Nov. 11).
But this historic chart moment also disproves Mays’s argument: Eminem isn’t whitewashing hip-hop; instead, pop is blacker than ever.
It’s strange that 50 Cent won three trophies. The awards are determined by a panel of DJs over whom Mays could presumably exercise influence. Did he let 50 win as some kind of olive branch? Or did he have to bow to the demands of the hip-hop community, which stands behind 50 despite The Source’s efforts to discredit him? Whenever 50’s name was announced as a nominee, the crowd cheered. Ja Rule was booed.
What’s sad about The Source war is that Mays constantly says hip-hop is a unifying music — and he’s fostered the biggest schism since the East Coast-West Coast rivalry of the ’80s.
SOCIAL WORK
The controversy also takes away from the important political and social work people in hip-hop are doing. Last Saturday, the Source Youth Foundation, which gives money to inner-city organizations, and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, an activist group founded by Russell Simmons, held a concert and meeting. The event was moved at the last minute, received little promotion from The Source, and was the most poorly attended summit in HSAN history.
Thousands have shown up in Detroit and Philadelphia; there were about 100 people at the Caleb Center in Liberty City. Too bad, since if there’s an area that could benefit from the organization’s drive to register black voters and improve public education, it’s South Florida.
”We’re trying to build an infrastructure around a new kind of consciousness,” Simmons said Saturday. “It’s becoming in style to pay attention to social issues.”
Mays says it all the time: Hip-hop is at a historic moment. He sees it as a crisis, the cooptation of a black art form by Eminem’s ”mainstream media” minions.
But Darryl McDaniels, the DMC of legendary rap group Run-D.M.C., put it differently when he accepted the DJ of the year trophy for his slain band member, Jam Master Jay:
“This hip-hop thing is gigantic. It’s big, it’s ridiculous — and we are all in this together. We’ve got to take this hip-hop s – – – and change the world.”
The Source’s statements are becoming more and more ridiculous. We all know that hip hop is a genre created by Blacks.Eminem is very conscious of his skin color and of being a white man growing up among Blacks. I think Eminem has opened a new path to the youth…thanks to him, hip hop is becoming more universal. There is nothing bad about, if non- Blacks love black music.Moreover it is a strong weapon against racism. Eminem reunites the black and white underclasses.
According to me, music doesn’t belong to a specific ethnic group,even if it has been created by it. Music belongs to anybody , music is universal. There shouldn’t be any racism in hip hop. The Source owner’s arguments are even not credible.

NEW YORK – Afeni Shakur, the mother of rapper Tupac Shakur, says she’s touched the hip-hop community continues to be supportive, seven years after her son’s death.
“I always feel like I get special treatment. I never felt that I couldn’t ask anyone for anything,” Shakur told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.
“I respect them, I have a lot of respect for them. I like them. They’re nice to me, and they’re good to my son.”
Shakur created Amaru Entertainment-Amaru Records after her son was shot to death in 1996, and the company has put together albums of his unreleased work.
She’s also an executive producer of a film documentary on his life, “Tupac: Resurrection,” and oversaw a book of the same name, which will be published later this month. The movie will be released in November.
Shakur says she’s relied on help from rappers including Dr. Dre and Eminem to help keep her son’s name, and music, alive.
“I’m conscious of the fact that I’m 56 trying to do my son’s work,” she said. “I don’t know that we would have been able to keep an ethical, quality project without the hip-hop community caring almost as much as me.”
On Sunday, The Source Youth Foundation will honor Shakur for her charitable work, including the creation of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation Inc., which encourages children in the arts. The awards dinner in Miami, to be hosted by Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton, will also honor LL Cool J, Nelly, boxer Roy Jones Jr. and dancer Crazy Legs.
Shakur says receiving the award is bittersweet, because it reminds her that her son isn’t around.
“Who knows what would have happened (had he lived)?” she said.
“I’m sad that he can’t see how much people appreciate his work. I think he would have been pleased. I think he would be pleased to know how much people appreciate his mom, too.”

The whole movie’s success is mainly due to Eminem’s great charisma and ability to act, but some other actors like Mekhi Pfifer have shown great talent too.
Eminem plays the character of Jimmy Smith Jr (Bunny Rabbit) who works at the Detroit stamping plant.He lives in a trailor park with his mom (Kim Basinger) , her abusive boyfriend Greg and his half sister Lily after being dumped by his
girfriend.
The movie shows the harsh conditions of living of Jimmy and the fun he has with his friends and co workers.Moreover, it shows the hard struggle of a white MC to be recognized at the rap battles that take place once a week. He first gets boed on stage because he is so much impressed. The words just don’t come out of his mouth.
The first scene of 8 Mile, in the restroom clearly shows B.Rabbit’s weakness, his stagefright.
When B. Rabbit shows up on stage, his facial expression is an expression of fear, he is so much impressed in front of the crowd, despite the support of his friends.Papa Doc has won one battle, but he has not won the war at all…B.Rabbit will shut him down at the end of the movie by exposing some private details of his life (like the fact that he went to the private school Cranbrook) in the last rap battle.This is a well known principle of the rap battles. You have to diss your enemy and to reach your goal you are allowed to use any detail of his privacy to make him look ridiculous in front of the whole crowd.Winning a rap battle is like winning a battle in real life, it has a real meaning for an M.C. Eminem pointed it out in an interview about 8 Mile.
8 Mile exposes the life of Stephanie(Bunny Rabbit’s mom played by Kim Basinger) who is always drunk and addicted to bingo (like Debbie Mathers).Her life is a succession of dramas, she risks to get evicted from her trailer because she’s late in paying her rent.Her son Jimmy fights Greg and manages to get rid of him as he begins to become violent towards Stephanie.
Her boyfriend is constantly drunk and violent.Lily, Jimmy’s half sister lives in a constant atmosphere of insecurity and violence.Jimmy is the only person who really takes care of her.
The relationship Jimmy has with his mom is complex. His mom’s behavior bothers him a lot, he sometimes feels ashamed in front of his friends, but inside of him he still got a lot of tenderness for her.
Two friends are trying to push Jimmy in two different directions:
-David Porter ‘The Future’ played by Mekhi Pfifer, who wants him to face lyrical battles and to get recognition at the local scene.
-‘Wink’ rather believes in connections to important people.
8 Mile is moving, it refers to real life in Detroit, even if the movies is semi autobiographical.
In one scene (which is also my favorite), we can see Rabbit in his trailer home sitting on his chair, looking for some inspiration. You can see how he uses each space of the paper sheet, writing on each space, each corner, on the left, on the right of his page, until the page gets filled.
While writing and smiling in direction of his half sister, the melody of ‘Lose Yourself’ is popping into his head. The words ‘Lose Yourself’ and ‘If you only had one shot’ resound in his head like an echo while Rabbit is writing his rhymes on each corner of his paper sheet. You can see a genius at work.
The relationship between Bunny Rabbit and Future symbolizes the friendship between Eminem and his best friend Proof in real life.
Alex (played by Brittany Murphy) plays Jimmy’s love interest. Alex and Rabbit’s characters have something in common: they both want to reach their goals, but in different directions with a main difference: Rabbit never loses his integrity, but Alex is ready to cheat on him in order to reach her goal.
The context of 8 Mile might be different from Eminem’s life story, but musically we find Eminem’s style in the rap battles as well as in the songs he composes in the movie.
An excellent and authentic movie, the lyrical battles are worth seeing.

From all his albums, the Marshall Mathers Lp has raised the most controversy. Eminem’s rhymes have shocked a lot of people . Among them, the GLAAD (Gay And Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation who have spoken against his lyrics. Eminem has also been protested against by the same association. The whole controversy can be summarized in three points (in the Glaad’s point of view):
-the inserability of Eminem’s music and his violent lyrics
-the refusal of Eminem, Interscope Records and Universal Music to take personal responsability for the lyrical content of the Marshall Mathers LP
-the Grammy nominations: on the 21st of February 2001, they protested against his nomination in L.A.
The big problem is always the misinterpretation of Eminem’s lyrics. The GLAAD in particular took exerpts of his lyrics to make a real monster of Mr Mathers. If he really was that homophobic, why would he have performed ‘Stan’ with Elton John?
I am an adult woman who enjoys very much tracks like ‘Kill You’. I don’t feel insulted nor humiliated by those lyrics.Why? Simply because I know Eminem is joking during the whole song.He adds ‘I’m just playing ladies, you know I love you’ at the end of his song.Why did the Glaad and other conservative people just ignore this sentence?
To me, Eminem’s lyrics are not more dangerous than watching ‘Scary Movie’ or playing some violent game on the playstation.
Slim Shady is a fiction…Slim Shady is mean ,violent in his words, but he is NOT Marshall Mathers.
Like he expresses it himself, Eminem’s music is his therapy.’Kill You’ helped him to work out his problems with his mom as well as the song ‘Kim’ helped him to express his problems with his ex wife Kim. Moreover, the song ‘Kim’ is a deep expression of (unhappy ) love.
Among the provocative songs, you can count ‘The Real Slim Shady’ where Eminem disses people like Christina Aguilera for her personal comments about Kim and the content of Eminem’s lyrics.In this fake pop music world, Eminem has the honesty to show when he doesn’t like somebody.
‘The Real Slim Shady’ has also shocked a lot of people because of its sexual content. A Colorado radio station has been condammned to pay 7000 $ for playing the uncensored version of ‘The Real Slim Shady’. Mtv also censors words like ‘clitoris’ in that song as if it wasn’t a part of the human body.
‘The Way I Am’ expresses Eminem’s pressures on the way to the top.
In his song ‘Who knew’, Eminem points out that he is not the one to be held responsible for some teenagers crazy behavior. It’s the parents’ responsability to take care of their kids.And for the parents who are really worried about the ‘Marshall Mathers Lp’ lyrical content, clean versions do exist. Why not buy them?
Eminem is all about Freedom of Speech. People shouldn’t deny him the right to say what he wants, even if they strongly disagree with him.
The First Amendment of the American Constitution allows the Freedom of Speech to any citizen. Marshall Mathers has the right to use it, and even to be politically incorrect.

I have written a biography on Eminem which has not been published yet. My manuscript is currently in Paul Rosenberg’s hands and I am asking for Eminem’s permission to publish this book.
I would like to share the synopsis of “The Real Story Of Eminem” with you.
SYNOPSIS
CHAPTER 1:EMINEM A.K.A MARSHALL MATHERS A.K.A SLIM SHADY
The first chapter describes Eminem’s childhood,the harsh circumstances he went through,constantly moving from Kansas City to Detroit.
The fact that he was constantly switching schools made it difficult for him to build up true frienships. His only close friend was his uncle Ronnie.
When he finally moved to Detroit in a predominantly black neighborhood with his mom, he was constantly bullied at school.
Chapter 1 also explains how much Eminem suffered from his mom’s illness. Debbie Mathers suffered from Munchhausen’s syndrom.In this kind of desease,the mother makes her child believe that he is sick when he is not,just to get some attention and in order to prove she’ a caring mother. This kind of desease can even lead to the child’s death.
Debbie Mathers can be considered the first person responsible of Eminem’s drug addiction.She put him on Ritalin with no reason, which is a medication for hyperactive kids.
Eminem’s love hate relationship towards his wife has always been complicated d has finally lead to their divorce in 2001. He is a devoted father to his daughter Hailie Jade who is the most important person in his life.
CHAPTER 2 : MARSHALL’S WAY TO THE TOP
Chapter 2 is about Marshall’s rapid assumption from the bottom to stardom. It clearly shows his struggle to succeed.
During his rapid way to the top, Marshall Mathers has been facing financial and personal difficulties.
The start of his career put a lot of pressure on him.
CHAPTER 3: THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL RAPPER
Chapter 3 exposes the mind of a brilliant artist and lyricist and also tries to do away with the stereotypes attached to Eminem.
Its offers an analysis of his lyrics and of his sense of humor.
People who know Eminem talk about him.
CHAPTER 4: THE DIRTY DOZEN: EMINEM’S GROUP
D 12 is Eminem’s group. The D12 album shows a perfect reflection of the ghetto life in Detroit.
It has a thug life. It shows the harsh daily reality ofthe Detroit ghetto, that is a dark place where murder is law and where black people are constantly discriminated against.
CHAPTER 5 : 8 MILE, EMINEM’S MOVIE
8 Mile is a semi-autobiographical movie. 8 Mile refers to 8 Mile Road in Detroit , which is the border between the black neighborhood (7 Mile Road) and the white neighborhood (9 Mile Road). This border is also psychological: it represents the border between two different cultures.
But it represents even much more: it is also the border between our current situation and the place where we want to be,our dreams and our goals in life.
The message contained in ‘8 Mile’ is very positive: if you believe in your dreams and if you work hard enough at it,you will manage to succeed.
CHAPTER 6: HISTORY OF RAP
If you want to understand Eminem, you must understand where his roots are. He is a white man who totally integrated hip hop culture. His struggle to be recognised as a white M.C. in a black audience has been far from easy. A brief examination of the rules of rap game can make people understand Eminem’s behavior as a hip hop artist. Many negative critics come from a total misunderstanding of rap culture.

BOO YAA! That’s the sound of a shotgun. Like a sneak attack, the Boo Yaa Tribe is back for the kill with a bangin’ new album, West Koasta Nostra. So let’s go down to the outfit’s Santa Monica offices and catch up.
Ever meet a small Samoan The Boo Yaa tribesmen are 6-foot, 300-to-500-pound, tatted-up, braided-down, white-T-shirted, sagging-khakied, Chucks-shod, street-talking dawgs. Growing up, these seven sons of the Reverend Tauilima Devoux learned by ear to handle the instruments their dad bought them. He preached; they played. But growing up in the eight-ball city of Carson, the brothers exchanged the house of worship for the harbor streets: They got jumped into the O.G. Piru West gang and became Damus (Swahili for Bloods), known in order of age as Godfather, Murder One, Youngman, Kobra, Ganxsta Ridd, Monsta O, and the baby of the family, 500-pound Gawtti.
During the 80s N.W.A era, gangbanging and doing time became a way of life for the brothers. Ganxsta Ridd, who had always written dirty poems to beats, decided he’d turn to rap. The Tribe put their money together, hooked up with DJ/producer Tony G., and in 1987 self-released the 12-inch single ‘One Time’ which drew A&R attention at Island Records.
In 1988, as the Boo Yaas were about to get signed, Youngman (Robert, the youngest to attend Folsom) was shot to death by rival gangsters, their uncle was smoked by a Shermed-out homeboy with an AK-47 as he watered his grass, and their grief-stricken grandmother followed. Three deaths in one month ‘ but the Tribe kept their focus, inked with Island, and in 1990 busted out with New Funky Nation.
The day before the Boo Yaas were to board the bus for the 1992 Lollapalooza tour, says brother Gawtti, he was caught ‘slippin’ as he took out the trash in front of his house, and was shot at close range six times with a .45; doctors said he survived only because of his size. Once again the group turned to the music, and on the tour played the style they call ‘ghetto metal’ a mix of rap and rock they’d come up with before Ice-T’s Body Count went that way. Kobra and Ridd say that all the main acts, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, were coming down to the second stage to check them out. The Tribe got offers to perform with the headliners, but they weren’t into ‘alternative’ acts; they just wanted to bang backstage.
Between then and now, great stage shows haven’t helped the Boo Yaa Tribe in the studio: A number of small labels have seemed unable to get beyond the image and let the brothers rapping, singing, playing and dancing shine. ‘They let the intimidation overshadow the talent, says Kobra. So the Tribe invested in a new label, Sarinjay Records; G-funk producer Battlecat (Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg) marinated Boo Yaa’s sounds in the studio; and 11 bumping tracks resulted.
One cut, ‘911’ was produced by Eminem; according to Kobra, he ‘saw the struggle, the blood in the eyes of the Boo Yaa Tribe. The number is a warning call: Hip-hop is in a state of 911, rap Eminem and Cypress Hill’s B-Real to the sound of gunfire (‘ la Tupac’s ‘Against All Odds’). A regular gangsta gumbo, West Koasta Nostra also ended up including Mack 10 (on the flamed-up single and DVD video ‘Bang On’), WC, Kurupt, Crooked I, Knoc-Turnal, Kokane, Short Khop, Eastwood and Gail Gotti.
No set-trippin here; do the ghetto math: red + blue = green. We’re tired of pointing guns at each other, when we could go make this money,’ says Ganxsta Ridd.
You’ll feel a familys pain on this album, but just listen to the funky last cut, ‘Beautiful Thang’ (a remake of Chaka Khan’s ‘Sweet Thing’), featuring Baby-Down; it will take you back to old school, when times were simpler. With the brothers playing live bass, keyboards and drums, Ganxsta Ridd sings: ‘Boo Yaa Tribe till I die/In a all-burgundy Bentley/It’s a beautiful music flowin’/Three-part harmony blowin’/And you can tell that they’re churchgoin
Tupac put impact in our life, now we’re trying to hit an artery; Boo Yaa goes straight into your heart,’ says Ganxsta Ridd. ‘I’ve been telling my little homies in the hood, it’s all about divide and conquer. They put labels to divide. Fuck that, music is music.’ Brother Kobra jumps in: ‘Chaos brings order. Boo Yaa’s been through every fuckin’ chapter, and it was the music that saved us.

Source becomes an origin of controversy

Every month across America, more than 400,000 people go to newsstands or their mailboxes for copies of a magazine called The Source. What they find in its pages is a lively update on the fast-moving, often combative culture of hip-hop. And lately they are finding something else: Along with the expected rapper profiles, topical essays and album reviews comes coverage of a feud — the one The Source has engaged in with some of the biggest names in the multibillion-dollar rap trade.
So as players and hangers-on gathered in Miami this week for the Source Hip-Hop Music Awards, the ceremony found itself competing with subplots for the attention of hip-hop consumers.
Launched by The Source in 1998, the awards show takes place on Monday at Miami Arena and will be taped for broadcast next month on BET. Whether the candidates for, say, album of the year generate as much buzz as the magazine’s de facto enemies list — the latter led by rap star Eminem — is anybody’s guess.
“From where we sit, it is clear that our culture is being destroyed, and The Source is the only media outlet that will step up and try to save it,” says a letter to readers in the latest issue. It’s written by Source Enterprises CEO David Mays and his second-in-command, Raymond Scott — also known as rapper Benzino. “We aren’t afraid to speak the truth, and expose the fake, plotting, scheming, selfish people in the industry.”
But some observers wonder whether the magazine is not engaged in some diversionary scheming of its own. The baiting of Eminem, a past winner of Source Awards and former recipient of favorable coverage, started shortly before the release of a new album by Scott under his rap alias of Benzino. Scott mocked Eminem as “the rap Hitler, the culture-stealer” in a song called “Die Another Day,” while his magazine weighed in with stories questioning Eminem’s legitimacy in a genre with roots in urban black poverty. Scott and The Source have argued that Eminem’s success and critical acclaim — no rapper has sold more records in the past decade — are due to his skin color.
Critics fear that Benzino is using his position as a journalist to further his rap ambitions — picking a fight in The Source’s pages to generate interest for his album and in the process endangering the magazine’s reputation as a fair, trustworthy voice on hip-hop. Benzino’s “Redemption” reached stores in January and has garnered a Source Award nomination: single of the year by a male solo artist for “Rock the Party.”
Eminem, a male solo artist, received no nominations despite critical raves and box-office success for “8 Mile,” the soundtrack and movie that starred the rapper and spawned the hit single “Lose Yourself.”
The Source flatly denies that its impartiality has been skewed by the magazine’s relationship with Scott. “Benzino and The Source are not interchangeable,” wrote Source.com editor Gotti Bonanno in an online editorial. “The Source has always made it a point to keep Benzino’s music career and the magazine business from interfering with each other.”
The Source declined a request to make Mays, Scott or any editorial staffer available for a discussion of these issues. But some observers say the magazine’s behavior over the years contradicts its claim of editorial separation.
In 1994, Mays wrote an article about Scott’s rap band at the time, The Almighty RSO, and ran it over the objections of his colleagues. Eight staffers resigned in protest.
The magazine more than survived that scrape. Its circulation only grew as the parent company expanded into Web publishing, compilation albums, a youth foundation and the awards show.

Benzino and the Source owners have proven to be big racists. How can they accuse Eminem of stealing a culture in which he grew up? Eminem embraced black culture, his roots are hip hop. He grew up in the black hood of Detroit.
He didn’t choose his skin color and he is conscious to be white and to do music owned by black people. Eminem has struggled very hard to be recognised as a white M.C. among a mainly black audience, he’s brilliant in rhyming and doing his music. The fact that he’s so successful causes a lot envy in the world of hip hop.
Marshall Mathers is the first to be conscious about racial discrimnation, he knows that he probably would have sold less records if he was black.He has proven to be a non racist person, his best friends, like Proof from the D12 group are Blacks.
To me, Benzino is a gangsta wannabe who wants to make easy money off Eminem’s back. He is not even famous, he is jealous of his rival’s success.
In my opinion, the Source has lost its credibilty by making racist statements against Mr Mathers.
Critics should focus their interest on the artist’s talent or work, but not on his skin color…

This album ,which was released in 1999, relates real life dramas along with fictional murdering and rape fantasies. Eminem talks about drugs, alcohol and violence. It also refers to a period where Eminem was facing a lot of financial and personal problems.
The Slim Shady LP gives birth to Eminem’s alter ego who is a mad character, a psychopath killer. Slim Shady also represents our hidden thoughts, each person’s dark side.
“Brain Damage is a mixture of autobiographical facts (it’s the story of Marshall Mathers getting bullied by D’Angelo Bailey at school) and fictional facts (like his retaliation). The discerning listener will understands easily that the killing and murdering fantasies are not serious.
“Bonnie and Clyde 97” is a fantasy about killing Kim. Some sensitive people may be shocked by the lyrics of Bonnie and Clyde, but they should try to understand the context in which it was written: Kim had dumped Marshall and she tried to separate him from Hailie. This song is a retaliation and Hailie whose voice is used in the track, is his accomplice.
If you have ever experienced financial and personal difficulties, you will probably be able to relate to “If I had” and to “Rock Bottom”. “Rock Bottom” is a song that moves me deeply and reminds me of a very dark period of my life.
“Rock Bottom” is themost realistic song of the whole album… It was written the night Eminem attempted suicide. He addresses to people who have comfortable lives and who don’t realize the hard conditions of living of poor people. This dedication is sarcastic. Usually those people who live so comfortably are blind to pain and misery.
When you’ve hit the bottom, you’ve been humbled to the point that you know “we are all going the same way when we die”. You are much more closer to this metaphysical truth. “Guilty conscience” which was co-written with Dr. Dre, envisions the reality of the American society.
As you probably all know, Eminem doesn’t mind offending you.
But if he did: Good! Cuz he still “doesn’t give a f…”!

As Giles Foden espressed it before, ‘Stan’ is a masterpiece of work. Mr Foden says that ‘Stan’ has the depth of the Shakespeare verses. I totally agree with him on the fact that ‘Stan’ is great poetry.
As a French citizen, I dare comparing ‘Stan’ to Rimbaud’s ‘Le Dormeur du Val’. Even if the story is different, the structure of both works is similar. Rimbaud’s poem first pictures a sleeping man, lying down in the grass near a river.
Gradually the reader understands that the young man is a dead soldier: ‘he’s white as a sheet and he’s got two holes on his right side’.
The pictures drawn in Stan’s story are similar. It’s the story of a fan writing to his favorite singer : he shares pains and sorrows with him, tells him that his girlfriend is pregnant.
Of course, he’s disappointed, because Eminem is late in answering his letters.
Gradually, the listener understands that Stan is sick (‘sometimes I cut myself to see how much it bleeds, it’s like adrenaline, the pain is such a sudden rush for me’) and his passion for Eminem becomes more and more obsessional.
The last picture is terrifying : Stan driving his car off the bridge with his pregnant girlfriend inside….
Stan is also a warning for each fan and listener not to misinterpret Eminem’s words and this song really proves Eminem doesn’t want his words to be taken litterally.
For those who still think he’s a violent mysogynist, remember who ties his girlfriend up : it is Stan ,not Eminem. Eminem tells Stan to treat his girfriend better ‘I really think you and you girlfriend need each other/Or maybe you just need to treat her better).
He never encourages him to act foolishly (‘I’m glad I inspire you,but Stan why are you so mad,try to understand that I want you as a fan. I just don’t want you to do some crazy shit.”)
Who said Eminem is a bad influence?