Eminem

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Rolling Stone

After paying dues through battles, freestyle frenzies and independent releases, Eminem crashed the mainstream in the late 1990s, the white boy rapper so many marketing execs in the record industry had been waiting for. With super-producer Dr Dre behind the boards, Eminem scored mega-hits thanks to absurdly catchy MTV fodder like My Name Is and Guilty Conscience. Combining cartoonish rage, ear-tickling beats, a distinct flow and gushing rhyme skills, he soon became one of the most famous/infamous celebrities on the planet, simultaneously a hero to adolescent boys everywhere and the scorn of rap-hating politicians and assorted gay rights and women's groups. His second album was noticeably darker but still immensely popular, loaded with moody singles like Stan and The Way I Am. Eminem's private life soon mirrored his bad-boy image and he found himself getting divorced, sued by his mother and arrested for gun crime all in the same year. After teaming up with Elton John at the 2001 Grammy Awards (to quiet the resounding charges of homophobia), he spent much of the following year working on new material and shooting semi-autobiographical film 8 Mile. Eminem's third record, The Eminem Show, came out in the summer of 2002 and his fourth, Encore, in autumn 2004. Five years passed before his next release, Relapse, whose sole purpose seemed to be to shock and re-establish Eminem as pantomime villain du jour - it worked. Whatever his politics and motives though, his impact has been huge and it remains to be seen if he can continue, from this new vantage point, to write music his fan base will care about and relate to.