Joseph, Missouri, as Marshall Bruce Mathers III, his life’s been marked by physical, relational and spiritual poverty. Looking more deeply at the Eminem history, music and appeal is not a comfortable task, but it is necessary as it offers deep insight into the collective and individual values, attitudes, and behaviors of today’s children and teens.Īs with most pop stars whose music is marked by anger, the man known to his fans as Eminem has not had an easy life. But why? What is it about this young man that’s made him the darling of so many young ears, eyes, minds and hearts? What’s the message and worldview communicated in and through the Eminem musical package? What can we learn from his growing influence and rapidly expanding audience? To find answers to these questions, we need to look beneath the music and lyrics to discover who Eminem really is and what has driven him to write and sing this music that resonates with so many kids. The music and message of Eminem are gaining volume and influence in today’s youth culture. One concert reviewer saw first-hand how kids take to Eminem’s music during a live show: “the filthier the music, the louder the cheers” (Anthony Bozza, Rolling Stone, 4/29/99). Some find it “funny.” Others find it reflective of their own life experience. What does Eminem’s young audience think of all this? Ask them about Eminem and they’ll tell you how much they love his music. Riggs Morales of the hip-hop magazine The Source describes him as “a 5′ 9″ purveyor of mayhem whose middle finger never seems to bow down” (7/00). Rolling Stone’s Toure’ says Eminem “has a macabre imagination to rival Satan’s” and calls him “a rage-filled, drug-addled, homicidal, charismatic talent and bona fide megastar” (7/6-20/00). Even the most progressive music magazines recognize the fact that Eminem has stretched the mainstream musical/lyrical envelope to new limits. When you listen to Eminem’s music while considering the definition of “compelling” (“To cause a person or thing to act or move in spite of resistance.”), the picture of this pop pied piper leading our kids through adolescence and into adulthood is terribly unsettling. The bleached-blonde kid with blue eyes who’s redefining the image of the “All-American Boy” has been labeled by Newsweek as the “most compelling figure in pop music” (5/29/00). Known by our kids as Eminem, he’s hanging out with them and peddling his angry, gut-wrenching worldview through his chart-topping albums and frequent airplay on MTV. Judging from his meteoric rise from nowhere into the center beam of the pop culture spotlight, the 26-year-old white kid from Detroit who’s become the new “King of Hip-Hop” has gained a huge young following for his “gleefully pathological” ( Newsweek, 7/19/99) music and message. You won’t see him hanging around the schoolyard or at your neighborhood playground, but there are probably few kids inNorth America who haven’t encountered him and his lessons on life. He’s been described as controversial, demented, vulgar, violently warped and offensive. ©2000, The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding

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