But the album has been hitting headlines of a different kind abroad for its lyrics. Eminem's eighth solo album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, was released on November 5 and debuted on the United States charts with the second-largest opening sales of the year so far, going to the top of the weekly Billboard 200 music chart on November 13. This is a glaring omission in a country where homophobia continues to be a heated issue.Īcross South Africa's media, mention was made of the rapper's 13 Grammy and Oscar wins, and of the 80-million albums and 120-million singles he has sold.

As the news of ­American rapper Eminem's February/March 2014 tour of South Africa spread through media outlets recently, press releases rushed to list the ­artist's successes, but made no mention of renewed accusations of homophobia following the release of his ­latest album.