♫ On the 8th day...

...of Christmas, my Zombie gave to me: ♫

8 Mile Marshall
7 minute music
6 ft. tall Grace Jones
Ben Folds Fiiiiiive
4/4 time
3 Pips and Gladys
2 Live Crew
and Tom Waits living in a treeeeeeee!

Eminem, AKA Slim Shady, AKA Marshall Bruce Mathers III is an American rap artist that got his start by hustling his self-made tracks to record stores.  He was discovered in the 1997 Rap Olympics (who knew that kind of thing existed?! Amazing.) in LA by producers from Interscope, who gave his demo disc to Dr. Dre.  Dr. Dre tracked him down and the rest is proverbial history.  In 2002 he starred in a semi-autobiographical movie called 8 Mile about a struggling rap artist. 

I've always had a bit of a fascination with rap music.  It isn't my go-to music on an ordinary basis, but it is interesting to hear the inventiveness from some of the best rap artists.  Their ability to free-form in rhythm and rhyme (all the while making their story coherent) is not unlike what a skilled jazz musician can do.  And Eminem is one of the best, for sure.