Eminem is one of the best-selling artists in music history, easily the biggest crossover success ever seen in rap. To call him hip-hop's is correct to a degree, but it's largely inaccurate. Certainly, he was the first white rapper since to garner both sales and critical respect, but his impact has exceeded this confining distinction. On sheer verbal skills, Eminem is one of the greatest MCs of his generation: rapid, fluid, dexterous, and unpredictable, capable of pulling off long-form narratives or withering asides. And thanks to his mentor , he's had music to match: thick, muscular loops evoking the terror and paranoia conjured by Em's lyrics. To be certain, a great deal of the controversy Eminem courted -- during the turn of the millennium, there was no greater pop cultural bogeyman than Marshall Mathers -- came through in how his violent fantasias, often directed at his mother or his wife, intertwined with flights of absurdity that appealed to listeners too young to absorb the psychodramas Eminem explored on his hit albums, The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. With hits "My Name Is" and "The Real Slim Shady," he ruled the airwaves, but it wasn't long before some detractors acknowledged his depth, helped in part by singles like the mournful "Stan," written from the perspective of an obsessed fan. Eminem capitalized on this forward momentum by crossing over onto the big screen with 8 Mile, earning acclaim for his performance and an Oscar for the film's anthem, "Lose Yourself." A number of demons have led him to withdraw periodically, but he's always returned with mid-career rejuvenations like 2009's Relapse or 2017's Revival.