Eminem: The Real Slim Shady

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More than a decade after Eminem "The Monster" (aka Marshall Mathers, aka Slim Shady) disrupted mainstream hip-hop culture, he is even more hated, contested, and celebrated. His albums, autobiographies, and motion picture catapulted him into the upper echelon of American cultural icons. In Eminem: The Real Slim Shady, Dr. Marcia Alesan Dawkins, award-winning author of Clearly Invisible: Racial Passing and the Color of Cultural Identity, offers a fresh way of looking at Eminem that will excite those who already love the artist and inform those who want to understand him.

RAVE REVIEWS

Eminem is a remarkable character study of one of the most notorious public figures of our time. It is well-researched, beautifully written, and thoroughly engaging. Dawkins's musical knowledge is encyclopedic and the portrait she paints of Eminem—as performer, father, son, spiritual force, cultural critic, and polyethnic American—is as compelling as it is multifaceted. Unafraid to address head on the key issues that make Eminem such a lightning rod for controversy, Dawkins launches her critique from the boldest place possible.”

Jennifer Lynn Stoever, PhD
Director, The Binghamton University Sound Studies Collective
Associate Professor of English, SUNY Binghamton

“Combine the beautifully paced rhythm and flow of meticulous research with family dysfunction and divine intervention. Stir in “digital reparations” and remixed racial politics. The result? Dawkins’s secret recipe. Her engrossing new book about the seismic social change inside the music of Eminem is an absolute page turner. Forget Oprah’s 2013 book club, Eminem: The Real Slim Shady has been my favorite summer read!”

La Forrest “Lala” Cope, MFA
Grammy Award Nominated Songwriter, Producer, Performer
Faculty in English and Performing Arts, CUNY York College

"Dawkins disrupts the status quo by dissecting an equally disruptive figure in hip hop. Fusing darkness with light, she chronicles Eminem as "the monster," taking on the breakdown of American familial, sexual, gendered and religious traditions alongside his breakthroughs in arts, technology and the business of innovation. Intense and compelling."

Syb Bennett, PhD
Author, Innovate: Lessons From the Underground Railroad
Emmy Award-Winning Journalist and Professor, Belmont University

"Eminem sorts listeners into those who are and are not cognoscenti. Dawkins’s sparklingly new work suggests that coveting a deeper acquaintance with Eminem may well lead to better comprehension of the age. Her nuanced scholarship shatters stereotypes with detail. Her skill exposes his several voices, discreetly and contextually. Hauntingly, she excavates his expression of the misery of the forgotten; of desperate, if ill-conceived, cries for justice; of anguish and its distorting excesses. History alone will confirm or refute Dawkins’s compelling identification of Eminem as an important prophet of our age. My head is turned to look again. More carefully."

The Reverend Janet M. Cooper Nelson,
Chaplain of the University at Brown University

READ AN EXCERPT



FAVORITE SHADY MOMENTS

And it's not just this book! Mr. Porter drops a hint about Em's forthcoming album too.

Let's face it... EVERYBODY, no matter how famous, is an Eminem fan.


Maid of Honor Loses Herself, Jennifer Gabrielli, in Eminem-Inspired Wedding Toast.


Em for kids? 'Despicable Me 2' Trailer ='Kim' + '97 Bonnie & Clyde.' Whoa!!


Rihanna Talks About Working With Eminem on 'Chelsea Lately.'


Eminem's Latest - 'Symphony In H.'




must read.

i must have this book. im a HUGE Eminem fan and have been over 10 years. Im really interested to read the authors input!