Marshall Bruce Mathers the third, is a very misunderstood man. Marshall, also known as "Eminem" has had a very successful rapping career. He has also had many troubles, everything from being poor to assault charges, from jail to having a many many court dates. He also has had drug addictions take over his life- hence why he left the scene a few different times for rehabs. As of now he states that he is sober, and his most recent album is titled relapse, then recovery. Marshall has created a lot of problems for himself, and has been to hell and back.
Eminem started his life on October 17, 1972 in St. Joseph, Missouri. His parents are named Deborah R. Nelson Mathers-Briggs and Marshall Bruce Mathers, Jr. His mother was 15 when she had him and his dad bounced out when he was very young. Growing up he was thrown between cities until his mother finally settled down in Michigan. He was 12 by that time and was always switching schools and meeting new people- all while following his love of rap. At the age of 14, he named himself "M&M".
With rapping and rappers being predominantely African American, Marshall had a hard time fitting in. He did many different rap battles against other students in his school and other bordering schools. He was not accepted as a rapper and he had to fight that much harder to make it. He joined a group and they called themselves "Bassmint Productions" and eventually changed their name to "Soul Intent". In 1995 they released their first hit called "Fuckin' Backstabber". In this time, he was also a freshman in high school and he eventually dropped out. Before he quit, he failed freshman year 3 times because he never attended and he also was failing his classes. When he dropped out, he was 17 years old. Eminem's closest uncle commited suicide in 1991 and it devastated him. Ronnie shot himself in the head and this incident is mentioned in many of Eminem's songs. After Marshall's release of infinite he tried to commit suicide. His drug and alcohol problem began around then as well. From there his problems only continued to get worse. A little after that, "The Slim Shady EP was released on cassette, vinyl, and CD." This is where 'Slim Shady' began. As soon as Slim began to write more music, he started discussing marital problems, death, poverty, as well as drugs and alcohol. "After being signed to Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records in 1998, Eminem released his first major studio album, The Slim Shady LP, heavily based on the production by Dr. Dre, one year later in 1999. Billboard praised the album as "light years ahead of the material he had been writing beforehand". It went on to be one of the most popular albums of 1999, going triple platinum by the end of the year."
From this point on, Marshall has had many custody battles, as well as battles with drugs and alcohol. He has been cleaning up his act, going to rehab and trying to make a life worth living. The song courtesy of VEVO, When I'm Gone, is one of Eminem's most famous and most influential songs to this day. With 13 Grammy's, and being voted "Best Rapper Alive" as well as "Best Rapper Ever", Marshall Mathers has left his mark. While there are no signs of him stopping yet, The Slim Shady rapper will hopefully one day go down in history as more than just another rapper who has a drug problem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminem
http://www.vevo.com/watch/eminem/when-im-gone/USUV70502343?source=ap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminem
http://www.vevo.com/watch/eminem/when-im-gone/USUV70502343?source=ap
Considering the importance of audience and our potential to impact them, why did you choose to title this article as, “Marshall Mathers: The real Experience”? When I first read the title Marshall Mathers, I did not know what this article would be about. All I knew was that Marshall Mathers could be someone who had a tough life. But as I read through the article I realized that Marshall was Eminem, the well known rapper. I think the title would have been better if you had put Eminem instead of Marshall Mathers. This way, your audience would have been able to know who Marshall Mathers really is. The use of Eminem would be better in the title because people would know the name Eminem a lot better and this way they are able to become more interested in what you are describing in your article.
ReplyDeleteThe organization could use some work because you could categorize Marshall’s life into subcategories about what had happened through his life from the time to he was born to present day. This way it would be a lot easier for your audience to search the information that they would like to get to know better.
You could also add more details once you categorized the information. For example, you could describe why Marshall had picked the “M&M” and go into more detail about that.
Overall this is a interesting article about a summary of the life of Eminem, but you should consider changing the title or adding Eminem into the title and you should try to categorize the information to make it easier for the audience to know more about Marshall Mathers.
This was a very informative article. I have listened to a lot of Eminem's older stuff (before Relapse) and so some history was quite helpful. There are however some things you should consider about your writing. I would suggest that you avoid language such as "has been to hell and back" and "his dad bounced out". While this adds to the interesting factor of the story, it just does not fit in an instructional article such as this. Since our assignment was to write a Wikipedia style article, try to compare it to one. You would not see this language in a Wiki article since it makes the text too personal. This is not a bad thing at all, but it does not entirely follow the assignment's guidelines.
ReplyDeleteOther than that correction, I really liked the flow of the story, and how you organized it by time rather than just random information. Also, the picture at the end helps since this is a type of biography. Perhaps try adding one or two more pictures integrated into the writing?
Also, something I have not seen in many of the blogs that are up, you have an interesting title. I still do not have one myself, but I like the one you chose for this particular piece.
Hello, Julie.
ReplyDeleteYou do a nice job a presenting your topic in a contemporary sense, but I would like to see you establish a bit more context in your opening regarding Marshall Mathers and his entry into the music industry. Also, think about the placement of your picture and consider if it would be more effective if organized elsewhere.
D. Kopp
This is a great article. It is very informative and insightful.
ReplyDeleteA few things worth mentioning:
(1) "from jail to having a many many court dates"
Using the word "many" twice makes it sound very informal.
(2) "his dad bounced out" You could just say his dad left him.
(3) "he failed freshman year 3 times" I would spell out 3
(4) The end of your article is almost like the end of Sopranos. You think there is more coming, but in fact you just read the last sentence.
Other than these few suggestions, it looks great. It is well organized and well thought-out. The sentences are short and simple which makes it easy to understand. If I had to add more content, I would certainly talk a bit more about his music genre and how it differs or similar to other artists.
Overall it's a great article. And great job! Very imporessed.