novelty.
However, while the singer will probably always remain open to charges of appropriation of an authentically black form of music, he will also in general be seen as someone who was able to break into a genre defined as much by race as by talent and succeed, perhaps in part because of his race, but certainly also because of his talent. Indeed, the rapper emphasizes that he wants his music to appeal across racial lines:
"I'm not alone in feeling the way I feel," he says. "I believe that a lot of people can relate to my sh*t--whether white, black, it doesn't matter. Everybody has been through some sh*t, whether it's drastic or not so drastic. Everybody gets to the point of 'I don't give a f**k.'" (elisions in the original) (http://www.eminemworld.net/bio.shtml).
Eminem's rise to popularity and commercial success began when Dr. Dre - one of the most important forces in the world of rap and hip-hop, heard him freestyling on a Los Angeles radion station and tracked the singer down. Dre signed Eminem to his Aftermath imprint and began working with Eminem, who had in many ways modeled what had existed of his career up to that point as well as his ambitions on Dre's own work (as well as the work and careers of a number of other black rappers).
"It was an honor to hear the words out of Dre's mouth th
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