1. Eminem
BIRTH DATE: October 17, 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH: St. Joseph, Missouri
FULL NAME: Marshall Bruce Mathers III
NICKNAME: SlimShady
ZODIAC SIGN: Libra
BY: Jennifer Brunello
2. Born on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri,
rap musician Eminem had a turbulent childhood.
3. About Eminem…
His Younger Years
Marshall Mathers III(Eminem) was born in
St. Joseph, Missouri on October 17, 1972.
His father, Marshal Mathers, Jr.
abandoned the family when he was very
young, and refused any of Eminem’s
attempts to contact him. His mother,
Deborah Mathers, couldn’t hold a job and
bounced back & forth between Missouri
and Detroit, Michigan, living in the
housing projects. Because of this,Eminem
had to frequently change schools.
High school Years
Eminem attended Lincoln High School in
Warren, Michigan, where he failed the
ninth grade three times and eventually
dropped out at the age of 17. Despite
being a poor student, Eminem always had
a love for language, reading comic books
and even studying the dictionary.
5. He released The Slim Shady LP in early 1999, and the album
went multi-platinum, garnering Eminem two Grammy Awards
and four MTV Video Music Awards. In 2000, the rapper
released The Marshall Mathers LP, which was noted as the
fastest-selling album in rap history. More recently, in 2010,
Eminem released the Grammy-winning album Recovery, which
was almost like an autobiography, coming to terms with his
struggles with addiction and experience with rehabilitation.
Eminem plans to release his eighth album, MMLP2, in 2013.
6. • As a teenage high school dropout,
Eminem found a way to express his
passion for language, as well as to
release his youthful anger, through
the emerging musical genre of hip-hop.
He identified with the rage of
1980s and early-1990s rap music, and
he especially admired N.W.A., the
popular and very controversial rap
crew from Los Angeles.
8. Eminem’s Rap Battles…
Even though back then rap music was almost strictly produced by
black people, Eminem, with his pale white skin and blue eyes,
still entered into the Detroit rap scene and often competed in rap
"battles"—competitions in which two rappers take turns
insulting the other through improvised rap lyrics. Eminem ended
up being very skilled at this and, despite his race, soon became
one of the most respected figures in Detroit's underground rap
scene.
9. At these rap “battles” he took the stage name M.M.(Marshal
Mathers) and later started spelling it Eminem. During this
same time, he started dating Kim Ann Scott, and in 1995 they
had a daughter named Hailie Jade Scott. Having a daughter
inspired Eminem to make a living out of his musical talents,
so in 1996, he released his first independent rap
album, Infinite. The record was unsuccessful though.
EMINEM
11. The Road to Success…
A year later, Eminem went to Los Angeles and became a runner-up
in the 1997 Rap Olympics MC Battle. Dr. Dre, the famous
rapper and former producer of N.W.A., heard Eminem’s The Slim
Shady EP in the basement of executive Jimmy Lovine’s house. Dre
was so impressed that he signed Eminem to his Interscope
Records label.
13. And More Success…
1999, Eminem released The Slim Shady LP. The heavily hyped
record became an instant success and went on to sell over three
million copies. Eminem's first single, "My Name Is," mixed a
childish humor and energy with rampant profanity and flashes of
violence—a potent and fascinating combination that felt
different from anything else in rap. Marshall and Kim Mathers
married later that same year.
14. Eminem & Elton John…
“I don't care if you're black, white, straight, bisexual, gay, lesbian, short, tall,
fat, skinny, rich or poor. If you're nice to me, I'll be nice to you. Simple as
that.” ― Eminem.
15. “I say what I want to say and do what I want to do. There's no in between. People will
either love you for it or hate you for it.”
-Eminem
In May of 2000, Eminem released his second album, The
Marshall Mathers LP. It sold over 19 million copies
worldwide and even won the Grammy Award for Best Rap
Album. It also was nominated for Album of the Year and is
often considered one of the best rap albums of all time.
16. The Price of Success…
Along with his success, Eminem’s Marshall
Mathers album faced much criticism for
excessive profanity, glorification of drugs and
violence, and even homophobia and misogyny.
19. Relapse, Rehab and Recovery…
For the next few years, Eminem dropped out of the scene
because he was dealing with many personal issues. He divorced,
remarried, and again divorced Kim, which ended up in a very
nasty and public custody battle. He ended up addicted to
painkillers and almost killed himself in 2007. By 2008, he got
clean and began to record music again. His album “Recovery”
was released in 2010. This inspirational and revealing album won
a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
20. The Good Old Days…
In 2001, Eminem reunited with some of his old
friends from Detroit’s underground rap scene.
They formed the group D12, and made an
album called Devil’s Night.
21. Eminem
A year after that, Eminem released a new solo
album, The Eminem Show. His next album, Encore
was in 2004.
26. Conclusion…
In hip-hop’s short history, Eminem is one of the most acclaimed
rappers in this genre, and as much as any other single artist, he’s
probably responsible for much of rap’s transformation into
mainstream music.
These days, Eminem says, “I started learning how not to be so
angry about things, learning how to count my blessings instead.
By doing that, I’ve become a happier person, instead of all the
self-loathing I was doing for a while.”
