IT IS one of the most spectacular makeovers in the history of American pop culture. Eminem, the white rapper who once terrorised the country with his violent and scatological lyrics, has been hailed as the next Elvis Presley thanks to his role in the film 8 Mile.

Followers of his career have been dumbfounded by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to 8 Mile, which went on general release yesterday. Elvis Mitchell, film critic of The New York Times, said that the rapper’s move into the mainstream was “more unbelievable than the prospect of launching a member of N’Sync into orbit” — a reference to the recent failed attempt by Lance Bass, a member of the boy band N’Sync, to become a “space tourist”. America seems to have forgotten that Eminem made his name with material such as Kill You, a number about raping his mother. These lyrics resulted in Eminem being sued twice by his mother for defamation, although the legal actions netted her only $1,600 (£1,040).

Reviewers have almost uniformly praised 8 Mile, the plot of which is based loosely on Eminem’s adolescence in the industrial rust-belt of Detroit. The film, which has been compared with the hit 1980s film Flashdance, shows how Eminem slowly gained acceptance in that world by entering rapping contests.

The rapping in these competitions, which are still held in Detroit, is a variety of improvised musical comedy, where contestants try to win the crowd over by making up sharp-witted lyrics on the spot. In real life, it was Eminem’s shocking but technically flawless performances at these shows that caught the attention of Dr Dre, the black hip-hop producer and rapper.

In spite of criticism from other black rappers, Dr Dre used his power in the music industry to launch Eminem’s career. The white rapper has sold more than 30 million albums.

Even Eminem appears to have been taken aback by the reaction to 8 Mile. He told one interviewer that his fans “used to range from ten years old to 25”. Now, he said, “it seems to be from five years old to 55”.

Eminem is also starting to use his real name, Marshall Mathers III, rather than his stage name, which was inspired by M&M sweets.

Even Newsnight, CNN’s conservative current affairs show, declared the film to be a success this week, and compared Eminem with Elvis and James Dean. Other praise has come from Stephen King, the author, who said on his website: “The guy is funny, smart, and sometimes shocking. Those are all things I look for in rock’n’roll.”

Although the transition from cultural renegade to mainstream icon often takes decades, Eminem, it seems, has made the transition within the three years since the release of his first commercially successful album, The Slim Shady LP.

Eminem has said that he is a product of the Sixties culture. According to the rapper, his mother embraced that lifestyle completely: she was welfare-dependent, a drug addict and had many boyfriends. Many critics found it ironic that Eminem was attacked by America’s white Christian middle class when they would have agreed with the spirit of his lyrics, if not the way that they were presented.

This appears to have changed: the consensus of America’s Right, after 8 Mile, appears to be that Eminem is an intelligent social critic who happens to have a filthy mouth.

The comparisons with the King may seem bizarre, but they are not new. Eminem is, after all, a white man who took a black cultural product, in this case hip-hop, and sold it to a white audience, making hundreds of millions of dollars in the process.

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