he writes about life being one big obstacle put in front of you in order to slow you down, and whenever you think you are past it, it always comes back to get you. Mathers released his first album entitled Infinite in 1996. This album was accused of sounding too much like other rappers who were already in the industry, and presumably black. Mathers claims that he was just at a stage where he did not know how he wanted to sound on the microphone, and how he wanted to present himself. He considered it a growing stage and says that in no way was he attempting to copy these other artists. (Eminem.Com 2) “I think my first album opened a lot of doors for me to push the freedom of speech to the limit.” (Eminem2000.com)After hearing Eminem freestyle on a Los Angeles radio station, Dr. Dre, also known as the founder and father of rap, liked what he heard, and tried to locate Mathers. He then signed Eminem to his Aftermath imprint and the two began working together and became very close friends. (Eminem.Com 2) Together, Dre and Mathers released the album titled Slim Shady.Arthur 3I believe that Dr. Dre had a large influence on how Mathers turned his life around from poverty to success. Because of Dre’s status in the rap industry, and because of the color of his skin, he is respected and therefore, if he believes that Eminem is a good rapper, others will too. “It was an honor to hear the words out of Dre’s mouth that he liked my *censored*,” said Mathers, “Growing up…I wanted to be Dr. Dre.” (Eminem.Com 2) According to Pratt, Dr. Dre would be considered as the cultural mediation in this contact zone. A cultural mediation is the medium in which two cultures communicate. Dr. Dre brought Eminem into the rap industry and allowed other rappers to do the same, by seeing that Mathers was good at what he did and that his color has little to nothing to do with it. Pratt talks about how p...
