No Rap on Eminem: He Gets His Shot, His Opportunity, and Doesn't Let It Slip

Even with an overall slump in the music industry, rap remains a commercial and cultural power, generating an estimated $1.6 billion in domestic record sales. Eminem's three albums -- filled with lyrics that critics call misogynistic and homophobic -- have sold 19.8 million copies in the U.S. That's more than rap's other biggest stars, including the late Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg or Jay-Z. Eminem's latest album, "The Eminem Show," is expected to be the top-selling record of the year, and the soundtrack from "8 Mile" entered the pop chart last week at No. 1.

Just five years ago, Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, was searching for credibility by competing in rap contests and circulating recordings of his clever, penetrating and, at times, hostile riffs. While growing up, he had been influenced by such acts as the Beastie Boys, a white rap act that achieved a degree of street credibility in part by touring with rap trailblazers Run-DMC.

The credibility Eminem needed with black audiences came from Dr. Dre, the acclaimed record producer and rapper, who had been handed one of Eminem's demos. Dre began touting Mathers as his protege and produced three tracks on his breakthrough album, "The Slim Shady LP."

That kind of cultural entree also has benefited the only other white rapper to make a respectable, albeit modest, run at rap radio audiences.

Rapper Bubba Sparxxx, born Warren Anderson Mathis, had the backing of a celebrated rap producer, Timbaland. He stewarded the Georgia rapper's CD and appeared in Sparxxx's first video, which received heavy play on MTV and featured the burly newcomer with farm boys wrestling pigs.

The album, "Dark Days, Bright Nights," has sold 600,000 copies, a fair showing for a new artist, but well below the projection of his label, Interscope Records, which also releases Eminem's albums. Sparxxx's second CD is due out early next year.

Without the support of rap's biggest names, the odds of failure are high for white rappers, who must still have the skills to win fans on rap radio stations.

Hot Karl was a USC communications major who planned to write movie scripts when he was signed by Interscope. The rapper, whose real name is Jensen-Gerard Karp, was raised in Calabasas and decided to pursue a music career after winning a local radio station contest in which he called in each day and ad-libbed a few rhymes.