2. Eminem: The Eminem Show
“The Eminem Show” is the fourth album
by the rapper Eminem.
It was released on the 21st of May 2002
It reached number 1 in nineteen
countries, including the United States
and the United Kingdom.
It sold 7.6 million copies at the time of its
release and currently has sold 11.6
million copies in America today.
3.
4. First Impressions
By first looking at the previous slide, it is clear that
there is a dark red colour scheme running through
the Digipak. This colour is generally associated
with things such as danger, and just a colour that
stands out. This may be to signify that there are
explicit lyrics on the songs, to go along with the
“Parental Advisory, Explicit Content” warning to
audiences.
The album comes with a CD containing 20 songs
and a lyric booklet containing lyrics for all the
songs and images to accompany them.
5. Digipak: Front Cover
The front image is a still of Eminem
at centre stage looking down with a
sad/serious look on his face. This
facial expression may represent the
mood Eminem shows about his
songs on the album and that they
have a serious meaning to them,
which may be true as songs such
as “Cleaning out my closet” have
very personal lyrics about the
rappers mother.
The way the curtains are
positioned makes it appear that the
are either about to close shut, or
open up. This could connote and
be ambiguous that Eminem
believes either his career has just
begun, or is coming to a close.
The denotations of this
albums front cover is that
Eminem is portrayed as a
performer and is upon a
stage. There are curtains on
either side of Eminem and he
is placed at centre stage
which is where the eye
naturally resides when
looking at the album, giving
him a greater presence on
the album.
The front cover doesn’t really give
away to unknowing audiences that
it is a rap album. This may link to
Eminem's humour within the
album, which relies on unorthodox
sayings. The fact there are no tells
that it is in the rap genre and a
traditional performance stage may
reside with the target audience for
the album, which would be former
fans of the artist
6. Back Cover The denotations of the back
image is that it is a stage, the
same or similar to the one on
the front, however Eminem is
not shown. This is possibly to
place the focus on the songs
list as it is what people
should be reading to see if
they like the songs on the
album.
The dark red
background is still
displayed , keeping with
the theme but this dark
colour also allows for the
white writing to stand out
and be easy to read.
The small print under the
song list says “Executive
producer Dr Dre”. This
may be familiar to the
target audience of the
album who know and
have heard of Dre and
his past as a producer
for NWA, another
famous rap group.
Small print at
bottom of
distributor, records
and dates are
shown.
The songs on the
album are named
and put in the
order they appear
on the CD.
7. Spine
The spine of the Digipak is
plain, with the use of about
2/3 colours. The spine takes
from the front image of the
curtain and crops it to the
spine of the album.
The White writing used
on the front also makes a
return to the spine of the
album so the writing
stands out against the
dark background.
Eminem’s name and the album name are displayed on
the spine in order to allow people to see the artist and
album clearly, where in places such as record stores the
albums are stacked.
8. Inside
This left side of the album is one of the only hints or
indications to unfamiliar people that it is in the rap
genre. The image is of a recording studio. A link can
be made from rap to recording studios as it is a genre
where generally all producing of records happens
and is recorded.
The left side denotes a picture of
Eminem standing and acting as if
he is performing in front of an
audience whilst singing/ rapping
into a microphone.
This could be an ironic take on
the rap genre, as rappers aren’t
perceived as people who
usually wear suits.
This left image could also be signalling that
Eminem, as a white rapper has more privilege and
is more accepted by society because he is white.
This would be in contrast to some black rappers
traditional rap album covers, with them wearing
more causal and suiting attire, whereas Eminem is
wearing a suit and is up on a classy stage
