Finding out that Eminem has authored a new book called The Way I Am, I went to Amazon to find out some info on it. I found this interesting piece of hyperbole, presumably from the pr department of his publisher, Dutton Books:
"Providing his millions of fans with a personal tour of Eminem's creative process, it is poised to be hailed in much the same way as Tupac's The Rose That Grew From Concrete, Bob Dylan's Chronicles, and Journals by Kurt Cobain."
Well, good to know that Eminem the Author, as opposed to Eminem the Rapper, is now "poised" to have his literary talents favorably compared to those of Tupac Shakur and Kurt Cobain--especially since both of them just happened to be dead at the time their books were published. (Out of respect for all concerned, let's not even touch the Dylan reference).
This has turned out to be quite the month for Marshall Mathers, who turned 36 last week right on the heels of being named "Best Rapper Alive" in Vibe magazine's bizarre NCAA-styled "tournament" of freestylers that our fellow Yahoo! blogger Billy Johnson Jr. so properly called out upon its appearance. (Out of respect for all concerned, let's not even touch the subject of best rappers who are dead.) And Em's book is emerging just as a portion of a new single, "The Way I Am," has hit the Internet as a taste of what's in store when his new album, the rapper's first in four years, drops sometime soon.
While I haven't read the new book--for the record, this is Eminem's second print venture, following 2002's Angry Blonde, a collection of lyrics, photos, etc.; a preamble, so to speak, for this one--The Way I Am reportedly finds Eminem letting his bleached hair down, literally, recounting how a few hits of Ecstasy led him to pick up a bottle of peroxide which, in turn, helped "create" his Slim Shady character.
Eminem also apparently uses this book to refute (kind of) some of his old ways, mainly on the sexist/homophobic fronts, where, of course, a good deal of the more controversial material that made him so infamously famous tended to so blatantly reside. Don't know if there any specific apologies to Moby, or Limp Bizkit, or any of the many he's trashed in the past--especially since much of the collateral damage involved with spreading so much intolerance and hate around through his raps and videos has already been done. Then again, better late than never.