An Oasis

Eminem's Scottish Heritage

Via Isabelle (the Eminem freak :-) ) at Gavin's Blog a link to a Scotsman story that talks of a TV programme exploring Eminem's Scottish heritage. Apparently he descends on both sides from Scots. The TV programme apparently makes a comparison between Marshall Mathers and Robert Burns with some former Professor of English saying they can stand side by side.

I know a poet who writes in Scots and occasionally does workshops in schools as part of some 'keeping alive the language' scheme. We discussed Eminem last new year. She told me that she had taken an Eminem CD into one of the schools for one such workshop and the class responded like crazy, immediately able to see the direct relationship between rap and poetry, whether in English, American-English or Scots. She thought Eminem was a genius too.

I don't suppose it should be a surprise that he's "a Scot", all the best ones are.

Posted by Paul at November 21, 2003 12:59 AM |