Eminem

Eminem, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He came to prominence at a time when hip-hop was expanding far beyond its early centers, and he is often credited with popularizing the genre in Middle America and helping open wider acceptance for white rappers. His work in the late 1990s and early 2000s was often transgressive and controversial, but it also made him a voice for popular anger in lower-income America. He became known not only for shock and sharp humor, but also for conscious rap, political criticism, social commentary, and a fast, tightly controlled rap flow.

His rise followed years of local work and struggle. After the debut album Infinite in 1996 and the Slim Shady EP in 1997, Eminem signed with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment. The Slim Shady LP brought mainstream popularity in 1999. Then came The Marshall Mathers LP in 2000 and The Eminem Show in 2002, each selling more than one million copies in a single week. The Eminem Show became the best-selling album worldwide in 2002 and the best-selling hip-hop album of all time. After Encore in 2004, he took a hiatus due in part to struggles with prescription drug addiction, then returned with Relapse in 2009 and Recovery in 2010, the latter becoming the best-selling album worldwide that year.

Eminem’s later releases kept him at the top of the charts. The Marshall Mathers LP 2, Revival, Kamikaze, Music to Be Murdered By, and The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) all debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. He was also part of New Jacks, Soul Intent, Outsidaz, and D12, and formed Bad Meets Evil with Royce da 5'9". In 2002, he starred in the drama film 8 Mile, playing a dramatized version of himself to critical acclaim. “Lose Yourself,” from the film’s soundtrack, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, making him the first hip-hop act to win that award.

The pressures and subjects in Eminem’s music were shaped by a hard early life. His father left when he was a year and a half old, and his mother, Deborah “Debbie” Nelson, raised him in poverty. They moved often through Missouri and Michigan before settling in Detroit when he was 12. For much of his youth, he lived in a working-class, primarily Black neighborhood in Detroit, where he was beaten several times by Black youths. He was interested in storytelling and wanted to be a comic-book artist before discovering hip-hop. His uncle Ronnie Polkingharn gave him the Breakin’ soundtrack, which included the first rap song he heard, “Reckless,” and later became a musical mentor.

At 14, Eminem began rapping with his friend Mike Ruby, first using “M&M,” which became Eminem. He and Proof went to lunchroom freestyle battles at Osborn High School and open mic contests at the Hip-Hop Shop on West 7 Mile Road, a key place in the Detroit rap scene. He practiced by writing long words and phrases, then building rhymes for each syllable. That attention to sound helped make his delivery one of his trademarks. His words still resonate because they are blunt, combative, and often rooted in real pressure. As one quote on this site puts it, “Behind every successful person lies a pack of haters,” a line that fits the defiant edge running through much of his career.