Eminem: Crossing the Line

by Martin Huxley

"God sent me to piss the world off," Eminem boasts on his breakthrough hit "My Name Is." A grandiose claim to be sure, but it's hard to imagine another rapper generating as much controversy and outrage as this bleach-blonde Detroit MC outlaw while still selling millions of records and becoming a hero to pop fans and hardcore hip-hop purists alike. The sharp-tongued product of crushing poverty and an unstable homelife, Eminem is much more than the goofy smartass he usually portrays himself as. Beyond the artist's inventive rhyming skills and appealingly warped lyrical persona, the multi-platinum major-label albums The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP present a dark, psychologically complex character whose vivid, vengeful rhymes embody a timely collision of Midwestern white trash and urban hip-hop cultures, while portraying an unpredictably violent yet absurdly hilarious world. Adopting the cartoonish yet unsettling persona of Slim Shady, Eminem spins colorfully absurd narratives involving sadistic violence while reflecting the tortured psyche of a deeply conflicted character whose real-life pain lurks beneath the surface of his outrageous alter ego.

It's those contradictions that help make Eminem a uniquely compelling artist whose primal appeal transcends boundaries of race and musical genre. Crossing the Line , the first biography ever written of this unique pop-culture icon, offers a fascinating peek into the strange and twisted world of Slim Shady.

Genres: Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 2000

Reviews

[milica · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author basically just took info from the internet and interviews and made a book and I truly don't see the point? Also, it was written in 2000, only a year after Eminem became famous. So... yeah, this sucked.

[Wendy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author had no first hand information. Wikipedia is more informative.

[Ivy Mae · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only biography I ever finished, so I guess it was good :)

[Cass]

Eh. Learnt more about Eminem, don't have much to say.

[Souheil Alaoui · Rating 5 out of 5]

the book that taught me english

[Sergio]

Inspiring enough, found a few good songs from the past.

[Dwayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good 2 me cuz eminem is my favorite rapper. But this book is about his life.