Eminem’s lyrics are sometimes outrageous, but they can just as often be thoughtful and introspective

Marshall Mathers was a gifted lyricist and wordsmith on the Detroit underground scene.

His lyrics are sometimes outrageous, but they can just as often be thoughtful and introspective.

This made him a somewhat unusual figure on the notoriously macho American hip-hop scene and helped him reach an audience beyond the genre’s traditional fan base.

The roots of hip-hop in African-American culture date back to the rhythmic songs sung by slaves in the antebellum era.

Eminem 's music was more introspective and self-critical than most of the boastful gangster rap of the ’90s.

He invited his listeners to see themselves with the same dark humorous objectivity with which he saw himself.

Eminem is one of the most influential rappers of all time.

His work offered the very best of cultural appropriation and captured something profound, not just about American culture and identity but also about the human condition itself.

In 2002 , Mathers starred in 8 Mile , a fictionalised account of a week in his life directed by Curtis Hanson .