Ugly Kid Slug

And if anything, Slug is an Eminem with hope, which is to say, not Eminem at all. Unlike Slim Shady, who just wants you to feel his pain and doesn't give a fuck about yours, Slug wants you to feel his pain because it is, in essence, your pain. The alienation, awkwardness and lack of purpose Slug raps about isn't that far off from the alienation, awkwardness and lack of purpose most of his fans feel. Is it any wonder disillusioned suburban kids dig him more than the average hip-hop head? "I just think that I'm an artist," he explains, "and I think that I'm like that because, let's face it, my favorite rapper in the world is KRS-One, and even when KRS was full of shit, he sounded honest. And so, I think that's where a lot of that comes from in my music. I always wanna be honest -- I don't wanna lie."

A rapper who's honest with himself -- why, that's almost unheard of.