Is Eminem Over?

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Eminem's Curtain Call

Eminem is set to release a greatest hits album on December 6 which is suggestively titled "Curtain Call."

Could this indeed be the end of Eminem's career as a recording artist? My guess is that, for the most part, the answer is yes. I'm sure he'll continue as a producer and may appear on someone else's songs here and there, but as a solo artist his career has probably run its course.

I know he has a lot of fans, but he has always struck me as a Dr. Dre sponsored Vanilla Ice. Did he grow up poor? Sure, but so have a lot of people and his life story is no more compelling than that of a million other people if you look at it objectively. Every bit of "street cred" he ever got came directly from Dre without whom no one would have ever taken him seriously. He should build a shrine to Dre in his house...

To give him credit, he parlayed a talent for trashing people he never knew who never did him any wrong for no particular reason (see his multiple songs insulting fellow celebrities) into a multi-million dollar career. But that just shows an ability to be unnecessarily cruel, it doesn't show any particular talent other than for self-promotion.

But he's being smart and getting out while he's on top. Hopefully, he'll get himself straight, off the pills, and be able to be successful as a producer because his time to get off the stage has come...