I first started listening to rap when i was in class XIth. The song was Real Slim Shady by Eminem, and apart from the explicit lyrics(all of which i eventually deciphered), it was the exaggerated finger and hand movement that attracted me to the song.
Eminem was born Marshall Mathers. Initially attracted to rap as a teen, Eminem began performing at age 14, performing raps in the basement of his high school friend's home. The two went under the names Manix and M&M (soon changed to Eminem), which Mathers took from his own initials. Due to the unavoidable racial boundaries that came with being a white rapper, he decided the easiest way to win over underground hip-hop audiences was to become a battle rapper and improv against other MCs in clubs. Although he wasn't immediately accepted, through time he became such a popular attraction that people would challenge him just to make a name for themselves.
A protégé of Dr. Dre, Eminem emerged in 1999 as one of the most controversial rappers to ever grace the enre. Using his biting wit and incredible skills to vent on everything from his unhappy childhood to his contempt for the mainstream media, his success became the biggest crossover success the genre had seen since Dre's solo debut seven years earlier.
A few weeks back i bought his latest CD, Curtain Calls The Hits. The record has a hangover about it of rumours that this is gonna be the last piece of shit from Eminem's factory. For someone like me, for whom eminem has been a staple source of rap diet, it came as a heart jerker. Despite this uncertainity over his career as a rapper, he continues to fuel the gossip with Curtain Call: The Hits, a collectors-edition greatest hits album. Here he includes all of the favorites, from “My Name Is” to “Cleanin’ Out My Closet,” plus new and unreleased material.
The CD starts with a small Intro. The song has an obvious reference about his daughter. The yin to Em’s yang of personal introspection comes in the form of next track “Fack,” a hilarious, yet mildly disturbing description of an extended sexual run-in which includes everything from shrieks of stimulation to chants of “shove a gerbil in your *ss through a tube.”
Next in the line is the song The Way I Am. This soul-baring songs reflects the intrsopective mood of M&M. How he desperatley wants that always elusive privacy, how much he hates the unwanted public attention. the lyrics say it all.."I’m so sick and tired of bein admired
That I wish that I would just die or get fired
And dropped from my label and stop with the fables
I’m not gonna be able to top on my name is..
And pigeon-holed into some pop-py sensation "
Next is my personal fav My name Is. Dont think any comments will suit this. Better grab a record and listen to it, form ur own opinion, mine wil be heavily biased in favor of eminem.
Other smashits include Stan(feat. Dido), Without Me, Like Toy Soldier, The Real Slim Shady, Mocking Bird, Just lose It and the bonus track Stan(feat. Elton John).
Another new song is Shake That which is 75% Nate Dogg.
Lose Yourself is one song that has always inspired me. The song describes Eminem's huge screen fear, how he fails again and again, rises from the ashes to deliver that knockout punch. It is song of a man racing so far ahead of his peers - both inside and out of hip-hop - that the competition must be embarrassed. The motto of the song says it all--"success is the only motherfucking option".
Sing For The Moment is another song worth special mention.
Guilty conscience featuring Dr Dre is a hilarious portrayal of the split personality of the protaganists. The presentation of good vs evil is really catchy, and guess in this case which side wins. This is rap dude, and evil always wins here.
The best of the pack is the new song When I Am Gone. Over somber strings, Shady vividly illustrates the inevitable struggle between being a father and worldwide musical luminary: “‘Daddy’s writing a song, the song ain't gonna write itself / I’ll give you one underdog, then you gotta swing by yourself’ / Then turn right around on that song and tell her you love her / and put hands on her mother who’s a splitting image of her.” This song stinks of an untimely retirement, why Shady, why?
After listening thru to the end of the album, you wuld wish u culd have had few more of his songs punched in. Then your thought diverts to what if this is the end of Real Slim Shady.
"And when I'm gone, just carry on, don't mourn
Rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice
Just know that I'm looking down on you smiling
And I didn't feel a thing, So baby don't feel no pain
Just smile back "
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