Marshall Mathers has talent...
Or at least earned a level of street cred in Detroit before he ever became famous and, near as I can tell, was accepted as the genuine article by the Black community.
I might be out of the loop, but I don't recall Mr. Mathers hiring himself a thug entourage and playing a bad boy either. Prob'ly didn't feel a need to.
As for talent, apparently he ad-libs well, like a good rapper should, but I dunno how rare that talent is. I mean I'm sure we have at least ten guys in our high school could do as well.
Birdwatcher