The trick was that Eminem made the performance of his own pop-cultural role the subject of his music. Instead of music about violence, he made music about our awkward, hypocritical relationship with violence. Instead of music with swear words, he made music about the moralizing around bad language. He summed this up best on ‘The Real Slim Shady,’ where he rapped, ‘Will Smith don’t gotta cuss in his raps to sell records / Well I do, so fuck him and fuck you, too.’
—from ‘Rhymes With Aguilera’ on n+1
