Eminem: The Stories Behind Every Song [Paperback]

David Stubbs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 2006

Emerging from a poor, stereotypically white-trash childhood in Detroit, this vengeful hip-hop devotee soon turned his anger into an art form and shot to global notoriety. Eminem has written two multi-platinum bestselling albums of surreally inventive, vicious, scattergun brilliance and become the world's premier rapper and and icon for disaffected teenagers everywhere. Along the way, though, he's been accused of homophobia, endorsing drug abuse, encouraging violence against women, and flirting with incarceration — a fate many see as inevitable for this psychologically flawed modern antihero. So where does Marshall Mathers end and Slim Shady begin? Who, in short, is Eminem? This fantastic biography is a celebration of the uniquely provocative and complex rapper who advises his young fans, "Don't do drugs, have unprotected sex, or be violent — leave that to me."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Stubbs has written for Uncut, the Times (London), the Guardian, NME, GQ, Spin, and Arena among others, profiling and interviewing figures including De La Soul, Public Enemy, R.E.M., Morgan Freeman, Tony Bennett, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Steve Coogan, and Tim Robbins. He lives in Blackheath, London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (September 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560259469
• ISBN-13: 978-1560259466
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,021,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Absolute garbage, August 5, 2008

By 

samsonthesaxman (Simi Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Eminem: The Stories Behind Every Song (Paperback)

A total time waster. I was expecting it to have interviews with Em where he would hopefully offer insight into his lyrics and describe the process by which he came up the words and messages. At the very least, I would expect accurate and detailed summaries of not only the lyrics, but the production as well.

Instead, what the writer does is paraphrase the songs HORRIBLY, even negatively reviewing classics such as "Sing for the Moment", stating that it "sprials into dizzying realms of guff", or take "My Dad's Gone Crazy", where he claims that 6-year-old Hailie Jade sounds "disturbing, the way she's looped into the mix".

Look, if I wanted to read someone's personal opinion of every Em track, I'd make sure it was someone who actually understood and appreciated the substance of the content. This writer makes it so apparent that he's just trying to collect a check that he even misspells certain tracks, like "Drugs Ballad".

As Em's #1 fan, I can say in all honesty that I could have written a more concise, thoughtful, and respectful account of his songs with more interesting facts and details on things other than just literal paraphrases. What about the production? What about the process? What about the multisyllabic structures?

Speaking of Drug Ballad, there is a snippet quote from Em stating he "turned it out in 20 minutes". If there was ever an interview that took place between these two personas, I hope the writer realizes Em was totally messing with him the whole time.

I read 1/3 of this book and then wiped my a** with page 107 and hung the color photos from the center of the book on my fridge.

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Very Good, December 22, 2010

By 

jessica - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eminem: The Stories Behind Every Song (Paperback)

I'm a HUGE Eminem fan, and I didn't really enjoy this book, because it was just slightly talking about his songs, but it didn't really give full details, kinda went off topic a lot. It got boring, too. I had to keep skipping around the book to get to more interesting parts, although there were few, if any. Not really recommended, unless you have enough patience for a book like this, which obviously I don't. It could have had a more creative interface, also. Not a very good author. Try other books like Eminem: The Way I Am.