Truth is intelligence. However, truth is too elusive a notion to grasp. The doctrines learnt today will be worthless tomorrow because of the volatile nature of truth. Once truth meant a flat world, today, an ellipse, and everything thought of that ancient flat world is now nothing. But no matter whether the world is flat, pie is rational, or god exists, the one truth is the notion of self. Consciousness exists independent of any other hypothesis proposed or believed. Hence, the self is the truth to seek, and furthermore, self-awareness is the intelligence that counts. With self-awareness as the cornerstone to truth and hence, a measurement of intelligence, The Eminem Show is an intelligent artwork.

The most striking example of self-awareness in The Eminem Show is that Eminem understands the controversy surrounding his music.

See the problem is I speak to suburban kids /Who otherwise Woulda never knew these words exist… / That’s why they put my lyrics up under this microscope / Searching with a fine toothed comb / Its like this rope waiting to choke / Tightening around my throat / Watching me while I write this like "I don’t like this, NO!” / All I hear is Lyrics lyrics constant controversy / Sponsors working round the clock / to try to stop my concerts early / surely hip-hop is never a problem /In Harlem only In Boston / after it bothered fathers / of daughters starting to blossom… (White America)

Eminem recognizes that because he is white, popular, and controversial, he can speak to kids that have never heard hip-hop. Eminem clearly express his belief that the reason his music is so controversial is because his audience purposely ignores the problems in his songs in an attempt to shelter their society. Throughout “Sing for the Moment,” which happens to be the best thing to happen to Aerosmith since Run D.M.C covered “Walk This Way,” Eminem realizes the importance of his music to these kids despite the surrounding controversy. “So they [kids] sit and they cry at night, wishing they died. Till they throw on a rap record, and they sit and they vibe we’re nothing to you, but we're the fuckin' shit in their eyes.” While the society may think they are protecting their young, Emimen feels his experience in life will benefit these kids if they heard his songs.

Eminem is aware of the problems with his music but knows that his messages about drug abuse, sex, violence, and family, are important to kids. The Eminem Show vividly displays Eminem’s self-awareness as he defends his music by describing exactly how it affects kids and why it is important. Alone in life, Eminem found himself to be his own comfort and now tries to use that to console and inspire others. He was never encouraged to rap about himself, to search for truth; he just needed to know some answers and looked inside himself for them. As Eminem learns more about himself, he is able to translate that personal intelligence to universal messages that are really quite brilliant.