Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem by Anthony Bozza
(Disclaimer: this will be a short review!)
Hip Hop is a genre of music that I’m not a heavy listener of. It’s not that I hate. Far from it, actually. I just can’t relate to most of the artist of the genre and the message they’re trying to convey. Now, Eminem is one of the few hip hop artists I can proudly listen to. I mean…I do without the cussing but, you know, semantics. This was actually I was so excited to get started on his biography.
Marshall Bruce Mathers III, known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, film producer, and actor. But, before all of that, he was just a white kid trying to fit in. This part got me the most but it made sense: Eminem used to be bullied…ALOT. Terrible but made sense given the environment and his interest. Think about it! A white kid going into a realm of music that predominately black…yeah, I thought so. But, that wasn’t the only thing that was talked about. His startup and career path was also shined upon.
Anthony Bozza was one of the few people Eminem trusted to write about him and had no problem talking to him about his life and path. He opened up about coming up with his “Slim Shady” persona, turmoils with his family and how he met Dr. Dre for the first time. The rapper even opened up on how he interacts with his fans – both men and women alike. It was interesting how he shifted his demeanor between the two genders without changing his personality too much.
I think I might read more biographies on some of my favorite musicians to get a better insight into their choices and paths. Yeah, this is going to be an A from me.
