Eminem

The last time a blond-haired rapper used MTV as a springboard to the top of the charts, he was dismissed as a white wannabe by hard-core hip-hop fans. But Eminem -- 24-year-old Marshall Mathers -- is no Vanilla Ice. Not only was his album, "The Slim Shady LP," produced by gangsta rap architect Dr. Dre, but it has actually done better on the Billboard R&B charts than it has on the Hot 200.That's not to say everybody is cheering for Eminem or his alter-ego, Slim Shady. As Rolling Stone noted recently, "Eminem has been condemned as a misogynist, a nihilist and an advocate of domestic violence.

Mac Miller, the rapper on the rise from Pittsburgh, brings his Blue Slide Park Tour to Rams Head Live tonight. If you're unfamiliar with Mac, here's what you need to know: He doesn't take himself too seriously ("goofy" might be an apt description), he's built a strong following among college kids (the kind that like to smoke weed and party ... so, all of them), he's released a handful of mixtapes ("K.I.D.S.," loosely based on the '90s film, is the strongest) and his hype is peaking at the right time (his first full-length album, also titled "Blue Slide Park" drops Nov. 8)

NEW YORK - The Bronx River Houses are hallowed ground in the hip-hop world, one of the neighborhoods where young African-Americans and Hispanics helped create a new art form in the 1970s. From there emerged a founder of hip-hop, Afrika Bambaataa, and the loose-knit group of disc jockeys, dancers, graffiti artists and rappers called Zulu Nation. Three decades later, the No. 1 selling rapper is a 30-year-old white man, Eminem. But these days at the Bronx River Houses, there is no resentment, there are no complaints about Eminem's racial identity.

Which songs are you dying to hear, and which are played out? Z104.3's Jackson Blue weighs in with his handy Heat Meter. Gettin' hot: “Good Life,” OneRepublic We're getting a Ravens season, and that's reason enough for me to pick the most positive song I could find in this category this week. Oh yeah, it's a good song, too.  Warming up: “Lighters (feat. Bruno Mars),” Bad Meets Evil Bruno Mars does a good job balancing out Eminem's anger. If Em is a raging bull then Mars is an ice cream cone.

It's hard to believe it has been just six years since Marshall Mathers, a blond, unassuming, Detroit-bred rapper with a killer flow, stormed into pop. Known to the world as Eminem, he seems to have been around much longer, upsetting conservative media pundits, homosexual activists, black women and George W. Bush. His whiny tone and razor lyrical dexterity, his weird sense of humor and Dr. Dre's innovative beats have pushed his record sales past 65 million. He owns three Grammys. In less than 10 years, Eminem has become perhaps the most successful artist in hip-hop.

In the furor that surrounded this year's Grammy contenders for album of the year, it may surprise no one to hear that one of the nominated albums included a song whose narrator gloats over his affair with an underage girl and tries to pressure her into a threesome. Or that another tune from the album was about a man propositioning his young cousin. But those songs aren't on Eminem's widely denounced -- and ultimately also-ran -- "The Marshall Mathers LP." Actually, "Janie Runaway" and "Cousin Dupree" are two of the catchier songs on the album that took top honors this past week: Steely Dan's "Two Against Nature."

Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP (Aftermath/Interscope 069490629) On his first album, "The Slim Shady LP," rapper Eminem proved he was an equal-opportunity offender. He angered parents with his casual profanity and cavalier attitude toward suicide; outraged feminists by including raps about date rape and spousal abuse; and alienated record-industry types by refusing to adopt the soft, pop-friendly sound usually assumed by white rappers. With his second album, "The Marshall Mathers LP," Eminem is out to tick off everybody he missed the first time around.

"Even as a child, young Marshall exhibited a unique storytelling style." - Sarah Giles, Marshall Mathers' third-grade teacher Immediately after having the future rap star Eminem in her Detroit classroom, Sarah Giles retired from teaching. Officially, she cited "burnout" as the reason for her retirement at the age of 22. But recently released school records indicate Ms. Giles was "troubled" by the first songwriting efforts of young Marshall Mathers. Responding to media requests, school administrators have agreed to release some of Mathers' schoolwork - which, since 1980, has been the property of the FBI's Behavioral Sciences Unit.

Eminem isn't as crazy as he would have us believe. Essentially, hip-hop's favorite white guy has been using the same formula since he blew onto the national scene in 1999, making millions by exploiting his dysfunctional past. And on his new CD, Encore, in stores today, the Grammy-winning artist gives us more of the same. Because a stolen copy of the album has made it onto the Internet, with millions downloading the songs, Interscope Records issued Encore four days in advance of its original Nov. 16 release date.

Bruce Springsteen's The Rising has been the odds-on favorite to win a Grammy for album of the year since advance copies began circulating in the record industry last spring. Not only is the veteran rocker long overdue for the Grammys' top honor, but The Rising is also a heartfelt reflection of the nation's resilience after the horrors of Sept. 11. A Springsteen victory would be a classic feel-good moment in the Grammy Awards ceremony, which will be held Feb. 23 in New York. But don't start etching Springsteen's name on a statuette yet. Two other albums likely to be named in the category when the nominations are announced tomorrow had enough impact to emerge as serious challengers: Eminem's The Eminem Show and Norah Jones' Come Away With Me. Eminem's previous collection, The Marshall Mathers LP, deserved the best album award two years ago, but the violent, sometimes ugly side of the rap provocateur's music no doubt made many recording academy members feel uncomfortable giving him the Grammy seal of approval.

Baltimore's mayoral campaign of 2011 is finally starting to heat up (at least a little bit).  How do we know? The first negative ad was posted on YouTube today.  With Eminem and Rihanna's "Love the way you lie" playing in the background, the video shows a series of articles that (I suppose) are intended to make the viewer think negatively of current Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.  The video shows five articles in all:   • 72,000 Baltimore residents to find themselves in new City Council districts Friday.

DVD Valkyrie ** (2 stars) Starring Tom Cruise. Directed by Brian Singer. Released by United Artists. $34.98 (Blu-Ray $39.95). Tom Cruise, who once could seemingly do anything in the movies, tries to revive his reputation, resuscitate United Artists and kill-off Adolf Hitler, all in the same movie. Valkyrie details -- that is, excruciatingly details -- a 1944 plot by a handful of enlightened German officers to assassinate the fuhrer. Had it been made 50 years ago, when exciting, star-studded World War II films were al l the rage, Valkyrie would have been filled with colorful performances, multiple climaxes and lots of stirring, bombastic music.

The catch-22 of American culture is that, no matter how far you go, you can never totally escape it. It is, as rapper Jay-Z once opined, a gift and a curse. Yesterday in the media room, I was sitting next to a very pleasant, very polite Japanese reporter who spoke almost no English. We exchanged a few grunts and hand motions, but for the most part, we were unable to communicate. And then her cell phone rang. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I realized she had Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" as her ring tone.

It's hard to believe it has been just six years since Marshall Mathers, a blond, unassuming, Detroit-bred rapper with a killer flow, stormed into pop. Known to the world as Eminem, he seems to have been around much longer, upsetting conservative media pundits, homosexual activists, black women and George W. Bush. His whiny tone and razor lyrical dexterity, his weird sense of humor and Dr. Dre's innovative beats have pushed his record sales past 65 million. He owns three Grammys. In less than 10 years, Eminem has become perhaps the most successful artist in hip-hop.

Forget about Fantasia, Ruben and Kelly. Josh Groban is the real American Idol. He's a young overnight sensation with staying power. In 2004, sales of his albums ranked behind only Usher and Toby Keith among male artists. Even though the king of "classical crossover" sings formal love songs in foreign languages and looks deeply serious behind his chocolate curls, the 24-year-old is the open-minded music fan next door, as comfortable discussing Ashlee Simpson as he is arias. Why did you move so quickly from theaters to arenas?

Eminem isn't as crazy as he would have us believe. Essentially, hip-hop's favorite white guy has been using the same formula since he blew onto the national scene in 1999, making millions by exploiting his dysfunctional past. And on his new CD, Encore, in stores today, the Grammy-winning artist gives us more of the same. Because a stolen copy of the album has made it onto the Internet, with millions downloading the songs, Interscope Records issued Encore four days in advance of its original Nov. 16 release date.

In two decades as a rapper, Ray "Benzino" Scott has remained a minor player - no gold records, no hit video on MTV or BET - which makes it all the more fascinating that he is the most aggressive provocateur in an ugly war that pits rap's biggest star, Eminem, against the genre's most successful journal, the Source. Last week, Scott released an album that includes a track, titled "Lift Up Your Skirt," that portrays Eminem as a cultural carpetbagger, a white artist undermining a black art form.

WASHINGTON - Some 30 fans were injured, five seriously enough to be taken to area hospitals, when fans rushed a stage during an alternative music festival at RFK Stadium. One unidentified young victim went into cardiac arrest. Paramedics performed CPR on him and another fan, and the cardiac victim was taken to an area hospital, according to Washington, D.C., fire spokesman Alan Etter The concert, called HFStival, featured more than two dozen alternative, rock and rap musicians and was sponsored by WHFS, a radio station based in Lanham.

Top 40 Singles 1. Usher featuring Ludacris and Lil' Jon, "Yeah" 2. Maroon 5, "This Love" 3. D12 featuring Eminem, "My Band" 4. Britney Spears, "Toxic" 5. Hoobastank, "The Reason" Country Singles 1. Kenny Chesney featuring Uncle Kracker, "When The Sun Goes Down" 2. Keith Urban, "You'll Think Of Me" 3. Rascal Flatts, "Mayberry" 4. John Michael Montgomery, "Letters From Here" 5. Gretchen Wilson, "Redneck Woman" Rock Singles 1. Jet, "Are You...