There comes an unfortunate moment in the career of many an artist when the music they create is largely irrelevant to the way they are publicly perceived. For better or worse, celebrity and not substance is this person's driving force, and it is not they, or the music-buying community, but the media who decide their ultimate fate. At this moment, they become more compelling as public figures than as musicians, and there is little they can do about it.
Late Registration (2005)
The word "genius" gets batted around far too much these days. Forget Shakespeare, Stephen Hawking and Einstein... according to Rolling Stone, Eminem qualifies. And so does Charlie Weiss, the head football coach at Notre Dame, due to his ability to call the right plays at the right time. And then there was Ray Charles, God bless his soul, who really didn't do much but marry church music with secular lyrics, and inspire a very good movie starring Jamie Foxx.