Eminem: A Racial Enigma

Eminem has been redefining the rap/hip-hop industry since he began making music. While a lot of that redefinition had to do with his shockingly insensitive lyrics, much of it came from the fact that a white person could have so much success in an industry so heavily dominated by black artists. In this picture, he is doing more trailblazing: He is the first white person to ever be featured on the cover of The Source magazine. He often references his whiteness in his music, but is surrounded in the industry by black artists, which makes it tough to decide if he is being "raced" as white or black by society.
The first thing I noticed in the picture is Eminem's facial expression. He looks furious and as if he is screaming. I'm not sure if this says anything about race, but it certainly plays on the idea that Eminem is angry at the world, an idea that is cultivated in countless songs of his. Just a bit above his mouth you can see a glare coming from his forehead. This shiny light really accentuates his naturally pasty skin. The editor of the photo is emphasizing his physical whiteness.
The chainsaw and overalls give the impression that Eminem is a lumberjack. To me, a stereotypical lumberjack is a thick white man with a scraggly beard. This serves to further Eminem's portrayal as being white. I decided that his tattoos are neutral because they are very common for all races. It took me a little while to notice that he is not wearing a shirt under his overalls. This is very deliberate because if he was wearing a shirt it would have been much harder to notice how white his skin.
Up in the top left corner you can see that his chainsaw is cutting the logo of the magazine. This is symbolic of Eminem cutting down barriers, or doing away with old traditions. He is destroying the magazine's unwritten policy of featuring only black artists. While some may see the act as destructive (similar to the destruction of a forest), others may see it as beneficial to the hip-hop world (similar to the gains from deforestation), as the caption implies.
I did not have much of a reaction when I saw the photo. The only noteworthy physical reaction was the widening of my eyes. The image is a bit startling. Chainsaws always deserve a little adrenaline rush because of the scary connotation they have acquired in Hollywood. The image is meant to startle, so the chainsaw works well. Eminem startled the music world and most likely startled readers of The Source when they saw a white man on the cover.
This magazine tries very hard to demonstrate the whiteness of Eminem. The most likely reason for this is that novelty sells, and a white person on the cover of The Source was unheard of at that point. By contrasting him from the typical hip-hop artist, The Source can not only can sell the magazine to hip-hop fans but to white people intrigued by a white person's presence on the cover (or any person intrigued by a white person's presence on the cover). By playing on Eminem's whiteness they can potentially sell more magazines and make more money.
This further proves that society judges people much more by appearance than by action. Instead of advertising Eminem as a talented hip-hop artist, the magazine decides to market him as a white hip-hop artist. It does not say it in words, but it can be very easily implied by the visual clues on the cover.