Eminem Lit Crit
Nick Salsone
Professor Ned Johnson
Comp 2
18 March 2013
Actor, Singer, Songwriter Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born on October 17, 1972 in St. Joseph, MO. He began life rough and that is how it stayed. As a child he frequently moved around from place to place because his mother could not secure a home to stay in and/or could not keep up with the payments and would be evicted. He did not always want to be a rapper, in fact, as a child he wanted to be a comic book writer. At the age of twelve he heard one of his first rap songs, Ice-T’s Reckless and fell in love with it. Marshall went by two nicknames in high school, Matrix and M&M, from M&M came Eminem and that is what has stuck ever since. At the age of sixteen he worked as a cook in a restaurant named Gilbert’s Lounge. If he was ever working and thought of a few lyrics to write but had nothing to write on he would take an old receipt and jot it down. Also when his friends would come in to fetch something to eat he would often rap them the menu. He attempted to pass ninth grade three times but failed every time so he just decided to drop out. Around this age is when he started on his infamous rap career. The piece of literature that I chose from him is his song Stan. Eminem released Stan on December 9, 2000 as a single to his album The Marshall Mathers LP. The song boomed everywhere as his songs usually do, but this song topped the charts in Britain and Australia because it features British singer Dido. In addition, Stan was performed by Elton John and Eminem at the Grammys. (Eminem F/ Dido "Stan" (2000)) There are four verses written in this song along with the chorus which, when all put together, makes the song a total of six minutes and forty-four seconds long; that’s a fairly long time for just one song. The first three verses are of the character, Stan, venting about his problems and as the song progresses he proves to be a mentally unstable, crazed fan that does not only want to hear back
Professor Ned Johnson
Comp 2
18 March 2013
Actor, Singer, Songwriter Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born on October 17, 1972 in St. Joseph, MO. He began life rough and that is how it stayed. As a child he frequently moved around from place to place because his mother could not secure a home to stay in and/or could not keep up with the payments and would be evicted. He did not always want to be a rapper, in fact, as a child he wanted to be a comic book writer. At the age of twelve he heard one of his first rap songs, Ice-T’s Reckless and fell in love with it. Marshall went by two nicknames in high school, Matrix and M&M, from M&M came Eminem and that is what has stuck ever since. At the age of sixteen he worked as a cook in a restaurant named Gilbert’s Lounge. If he was ever working and thought of a few lyrics to write but had nothing to write on he would take an old receipt and jot it down. Also when his friends would come in to fetch something to eat he would often rap them the menu. He attempted to pass ninth grade three times but failed every time so he just decided to drop out. Around this age is when he started on his infamous rap career. The piece of literature that I chose from him is his song Stan. Eminem released Stan on December 9, 2000 as a single to his album The Marshall Mathers LP. The song boomed everywhere as his songs usually do, but this song topped the charts in Britain and Australia because it features British singer Dido. In addition, Stan was performed by Elton John and Eminem at the Grammys. (Eminem F/ Dido "Stan" (2000)) There are four verses written in this song along with the chorus which, when all put together, makes the song a total of six minutes and forty-four seconds long; that’s a fairly long time for just one song. The first three verses are of the character, Stan, venting about his problems and as the song progresses he proves to be a mentally unstable, crazed fan that does not only want to hear back
Cited: "Eminem F/ Dido "Stan" (2000)." Complex.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. "Eminem Stan Lyrics." Rap Genius. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. "Stan Lyrics." MetroLyrics. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.