Eminem burst onto the scene in the late 90s as an irreverant white rapper who was constantly angry at the world. Raised by a single mom who (allegedly) had an alcohol problem, Eminem (real name: Marshall Matthers) grew up in impoverished conditions.

Rap was the one single way to succeed in the world that Eminem knew. That, or dealing drugs. He developed a rapping style that was very unique, and arguably, very white. Eminem proved himself particularly good with beats and rhythms, and of course, his trademark wit.

If you listen to a great Eminem song like "Lose Yourself", if you pay attention, you'll notice how he puts the emphasis on the upbeat, or how he changes rhythm and volume when the snare strikes. His rhymes always stick out at the end of the beat, and that is pretty much the reason why he is classified as such a genius.

Eminem's first breakthrough hit was the "Real Slim Shady" with its catchy, if irrelevant chorus of "Please Stand Up, Please Stand Up". With this song, Eminem successfully created an alternate person of 'Slim Shady' who was wild, wacky and witty. The real Eminem, the angry Eminem remained largely a sideshow, at least in the popular mainstream, if only because the Slim Shady persona proved to be so successful.

At the same time, Eminem was also capable of writing some very deep and lyrically complicated songs. Best example of this would be the song 'Stan', which has some of the finest lyrics ever written in a rap song.

But my personal favorite when it comes to Eminem has to be 'Lose Yourself' from the movie 8Mile, which is largely about his own life. 'Lose Yourself' has a tremendous amount of energy and the vocal work on it is amazing to say the least.

I maintain a weblog/website about rap music at Rappers.org, and I've had constant feedback from most of my readers that their favorite Eminem song is 'Lose Yourself' too. If you haven't heard it, do listen to it as soon as possible. The movie isn't so bad either.