The musicians who had a major influence on Marshall Mathers are Ice T, the Beastie Boys, LLCoolJ and Run DMC.
Ice T was Eminem’s first musical influence. When his uncle Ronnie brought Marshall the tape of Ice T’s ‘ Reckless ‘ Marshall was so much impressed with Ice T’s music that he made up the decision to become a rapper :
” That day I figured it’d be good to become a rapper.”
You gotta love Ice T’s wicked gangsta pimpy style. He is impressing as an artist and also as an actor.
More info about Ice T can be found on his official website :
http://www.icet.com/
” When I was 9 years old, my uncle put me on to the Breakin’ soundtrack. The first rap song I ever heard was Ice-T, ‘Reckless.’ From L.L. to the Fat Boys, and all that shit, I was fascinated. When L.L. first came out with I’m Bad, I wanted to do it, to rhyme. Standing in front of the mirror, I wanted to be like L.L.”
When Marshall met Kim, they were both listening to LL Cool J songs and dancing on them.
About the Beastie Boys, Eminem says :
“I would never fucking put them in a rhyme. I don’t even want them wondering if I was trying to dis them. I got a lot of love for them. I grew up on that shit. The other rappers, whatever.”
The Beastie Boy’s style is crazy, original and you will probably enjoy their sick videos that have a funny and wicked style at the same time.
You will learn more about them here :
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/beastie_boys/bio.jhtml
It is also known that Eminem was a big NWA fan. He recalls about his first meeting with Dr Dre :
“It was an honor to hear the words out of Dre’s mouth that he liked my shit. Growing up, I was one of the biggest fans of N.W.A, from putting on the sunglasses and looking in the mirror and lip-synching to wanting to be Dr. Dre, to be Ice Cube. This is the biggest hip-hop producer ever.”
The listener who has studied a NWA tape has probably noticed how many rich its musical composition is :you will so many different black musical genres : soul, blues, jazz, reggae ‘
Since his uncle Ronnie has introduced him into rap music, Eminem’s dearest wish was to become a rapper. Rap ‘ and mainly gangsta rap- has been a real passion for him and has influenced him for a large part.
Of course, he has also been influenced by artists (who pretend that he has copied them, an easy way for them to escape to the bitterness of their unsuccess) like underground rapper Esham.
But his ear has always been opened for other musical genres like rock. Eminem appreciates artists like Aerosmith and his wish to sample one of his songs has become true with the creation of the song ‘ Sing For The Moment ‘.
Eminem’s quality is to be very creative and to be opened to different musical styles. He manages to combine and to improve the elements he chooses to use from his different influences. Since his debut career, Eminem’s albums have been in constant evolution, always improved in quality.
He is a word and sound technician. A perfectionnist who has had a major impact on the Detroit music history.