Going back to the aspect of an artist’s image, I would like to talk about ‘impressions.’
Let’s look at a photo of Eminem:
Now what observations could you make from looking at this photo?
Let’s make a possible list:
1. He’s a tad crazy (or more)
2. He is obsessed with knives
3. He thrives off of ‘shock value’
Okay, now let’s confirm the first observation:
First off, this is one of the photos that was taken in order to promote his newest album Relapse. In 2002, his former group-mate Proof from D12 stated that Eminem had ‘sobered up,’ but he still was addicted to zolpidem sleeping pills for relief from sleeping troubles. In result of this new addiction, he had canceled his Anger Management Tour in Europe in August 2005, and eventually went to rehab to be cured for “dependency” on sleeping pills. During an interview with Jonathan Ross, Eminem admitted that at the height of his addiction, he considered suicide, saying, “I just wasn’t taking care of myself, at times I wanted to just give it up.” He also confirmed that he is now sober, commenting that “rap was my drug… Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that. Now rap’s getting me high again.”
So he’s sober…even though the cover of his album is a sketch of his face made out of pills, he is sober. Not crazy! All good. Get that out of your head.
Moving on…
Observation 2 & 3:
An obsession of knives is possible, but isn’t it ironic that the knife he uses is similar to the one Jason Vorhees has? And isn’t it just more of a coincidence that Eminem brings him up in almost every song:
‘Evaluation, fuck Jason it’s Friday the nineteenth’
‘Hit Jason Vorhees with a 40’
See? Celebrities can be fans too.
Last thing:
Shock value?
Oh please, who doesn’t use it?
…uh huh.