8 Mile: That’s A Rap.

8 Mile is in cinemas on Thursday.

Believe the hype. 8 Mile may well be one of the year’s biggest films. Not only is the film scoring near universal critical acclaim, there’s word Eminem may well be in the running for an Academy Award for his role as Jimmy Smith Jr.

8 Mile Road borders the perimeter of Detroit, a line separating urban from suburban, and with the massive racial struggles the city has faced, it also serves as a line between black and white.

Jimmy Smith Jr and his friends have created their own family, and dream of escaping their mundane existence with a big record deal.

“8 Mile separates the city from the suburbs,” Eminem recalled recently. “To grow up as a rapper, to grow up on the Detroit side as opposed to the suburban side gives you credibility. It’s a big deal. And if you don’t listen to hip-hop, you just don’t care; it’s not a big deal to you. But if you’re in, let me tell you, it very much is.”

At night they find their way into Detroit’s hip-hop clubs, and take part in lyrical battles between the cities best rappers.

“I remember when I lost a battle, it would be like my world was crumbling,” he continued. “A lot of people would say ‘What’s the big deal? Get over it. You lost, try again’. But I would feel like my whole life was over. It’s competition; it’s like a sport that is somebodies whole life. It may look silly to a lot of people, but to a lot of us it’s our world.”

It’s a semi-biographical piece if cinema to be sure, closely mirroring the life of the star, in his ‘before they were stars’ days, but the film found it’s genesis before Eminem hit the musical heights. Producer Brian Grazer had long been interested in exploring the world of hip hop on film, and had met with the rapper years earlier.

“I’ve been interested in hip hop for more than 20 years,” Grazer explained. “I got introduced to the music of Slick Rick, who was this absurd hip hop artist who told perverse stories in his songs that had humour and truth. That’s what made me want to discover more about the roots of hip-hop, how it works, what the lyrics are relevant to. This was before it was a multi-billion dollar industry.”

“I became interested in Eminem several years ago. He wasn’t a star at the time, but I felt he had enormous charisma and that he could be explosive as a film star. I got him in my office, and he just wouldn’t talk. He wouldn’t even look at me. After about 15 minutes he finally engaged, and once I got him talking he was fantastically articulate and eloquent.”

Also amongst the cast are Kim Bassinger, playing Jimmy’s abused and battered mother Stephanie, Mekhi Phifer as the confident Future, Omar Benson Miller as Sol, De’Angelo Wilson as activist DJ Iz and Evan Jones as the slow witted Cheddar Bob, each members of Smith’s crew Three One Third.

A seemingly recurring theme in reviews of 8 Mile suggest it’s close ties with another underdog story, Rocky, and Grazer ad’s his take on that perspective.

“The people of Detroit know 8 Mile as the city limit, a border, a boundary. But for Jimmy, 8 Mile is the psychological dividing line that separates him from where he wants to be and who he wants to be. If you think about it, we all have our own 8 Mile.”

“Just as you don’t have to be a boxing fan to appreciate something like Rocky or Raging Bull, you don’t have to be a hip hop fan to appreciate 8 Mile. It’s about human endurance, tenacity, getting into this world and surviving it.”