DIGIPAK ANALYSIS By Jamie Tilsley

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.

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.

Digipak: Front CoverThe 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

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.

SpineThe 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.

InsideThis 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

Disc