Eminem - Getting Into Rap

After facing a rough childhood, teenager Marshall Mathers found a voice in the world of rap and hip-hop. Here he would also find his first real friend, a fellow rapper named Proof.

Early Life

American rapper, record producer and actor Eminem was born Marshall Bruce Mathers III on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri. He never knew his father, Marshall Mathers Jr., who abandoned the family when Eminem was still an infant and rebuffed all of his son's many attempts to contact him during his childhood. As a result, Eminem was raised by his mother, Deborah Mathers. She never managed to hold down a job for more than several months at a time, so they moved frequently between Missouri and Detroit, Michigan, spending large chunks of time in public housing projects. "I would change schools two, three times a year," Eminem later recalled. "That was probably the roughest part about it all."

This itinerant lifestyle left a large impact on his personality. He had no close friends, kept almost entirely to himself and was treated like an outcast at each new school. "Beat up in the bathroom, beat up in the hallways, shoved into lockers," he remembered. Eminem has been scathingly critical of the way his mother raised him. Through his song lyrics, he has publicly accused her of being addicted to prescription drugs as well as subjecting him to emotional and physical abuse. However, Deborah Mathers has vehemently denied all such accusations, and in 1999 she filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit against her son. They settled the case for $25,000.

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 deep affinity for language, devouring comic books and even studying the dictionary. "I found that no matter how bad I was at school, like, and no matter how low my grades might have been at some times, I always was good at English ... I just felt like I wanna be able to have all of these words at my disposal, in my vocabulary at all times whenever I need to pull 'em out. You know, somewhere, they'll be stored, like, locked away."

As a teenage 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-hip. He identified with the nihilistic rage of late-1980s and early-1990s rap music, and he was especially taken with N.W.A., the popular and highly controversial gangster rap crew from Los Angeles.

Although at the time rap music was almost exclusively produced by black people, Eminem, who has pale white skin and bright blue eyes, nevertheless entered into the Detroit rap scene as a frequent competitor in rap "battles"—competitions in which two rappers take turns insulting the other through improvised rap lyrics. Eminem proved highly skilled at such verbal sparring and, despite his race, quickly became one of the most respected figures in Detroit's underground rap scene.

He recalled, "I finally found something that yeah, this kid over here, you know, he may have more chicks, and he may, you know, have better clothes, or whatever, but he can't do this like me. You know what I mean? He can't write what I'm writing right now. And it started to feel like, you know, maybe Marshall's gettin' a little respect." Mathers assumed the stage name M&M, a playful reference to his initials, which he later began writing phonetically as "Eminem." This period in Eminem's life—working odd jobs to make ends meet while participating in rap battles and desperately attempting to land a record contract—was later dramatized in Eminem's semi-autobiographical film, 8 Mile.

It was also during this period that Eminem began dating Kim Ann Scott, and in 1995 the couple had a daughter named Hailie Jade Scott. Inspired by the birth of his daughter to make a living as a rapper, in 1996, Eminem released his first independent rap album, Infinite. Though the album displayed flashes of his verbal prowess, biting wit and flair for storytelling, the low-budget record failed to turn a profit or attract more than local attention.

Eminem, byname of Marshall Bruce Mathers III   (born October 17, 1972, St. Joseph, Missouri, U.S.), American rapper, record producer, and actor who was known as one of the most-controversial and best-selling artists of the early 21st century.

Mathers had a turbulent childhood, marked by poverty and allegations of abuse. At age 14 he began rapping in clubs in Detroit, Michigan, and, when unexcused absences kept him in the ninth grade for the third year, he quit school, determined to make it in hip-hop music. As Eminem, he made a name for himself in the hip-hop underground, both as a solo artist and as a member of the Detroit-based rap sextet D12 (also known as the Dirty Dozen). His first album, Infinite (1996), sold poorly, however, and he continued to work menial jobs.

When Eminem placed second in the freestyle category at the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles, he came to the attention of Dr. Dre, founding member of pioneering rappers N.W.A. and the head of Aftermath Entertainment. By that time Eminem had developed the persona of the inhibitionless Slim Shady, who gave voice to Eminem’s id in often vulgar and violent lyrics. With Dr. Dre as his producer and mentor, Eminem released The Slim Shady LP early in 1999. Benefiting from the inventive channel-surfing music video for the hit song “My Name Is” and the instant credibility of Dr. Dre’s involvement, the album sold several million copies, and Eminem won twoGrammy Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards.

Grounded in his life experience but seemingly reflecting a troubled psyche, Eminem’s songs outraged many, including the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which denounced him as a homophobic misogynist. His tumultuous relationship with his wife, Kim, was chronicled in songs in which he rapped about killing her. In 2000 Eminem was charged with assault when he allegedly pistol-whipped a man he saw kissing her; the couple divorced in 2001, and their relationship remained rocky (in 2006 the couple remarried and divorced again). His mother also sued him for defaming her in song and in interviews.

In 2000 Eminem released The Marshall Mathers LP, which set a record in the United States for the fastest-selling rap album. The incredible success of the album, which included the provocative hit singles “The Real Slim Shady” and “Stan,” brought more controversy. To silence critics, in 2001 Eminem performed a duet with openly gay musician Elton John at the Grammy Awards, where The Marshall Mathers LP was nominated for best album of the year. Later that year he recorded the album Devil’s Night with D12 and toured with the group. He also created his own record label, Shady Records. The D12 collective, 50 Cent, and other rappers signed to and released albums with the label.

Eminem returned in 2002 with The Eminem Show, which proved to be nearly as popular as The Marshall Mathers LP. Also that year he made his acting debut in the semiautobiographical 8 Mile. The gritty film was a critical and commercial success. The following year he won an Academy Award for “Lose Yourself,” a song featured in the movie. After reteaming with D12 for D12 World (2004), Eminem released Encore (2004) and a greatest-hits set, Curtain Call: The Hits (2005), both of which sold well but failed to garner as much attention as his previous albums had. He then stepped out of the public eye, resurfacing briefly in 2006 to eulogize friend and D12 member Proof, who was killed outside a Detroitnightclub. Two years later Eminem published the memoir The Way I Am, which included photos, drawings, and lyrics.

Relapse (2009) marked Eminem’s first collection of new material in five years. Although it featured solid production from Dr. Dre, the album met with middling reviews because of its over-the-top attempts to shock and its somewhat dated catalog of pop culture references. Nevertheless, the single “Crack a Bottle” became Eminem’s second song to top the Billboard singles chart (after “Lose Yourself”), and Eminem won Grammy Awards for both the song and the album. His next album, Recovery (2010), was a response to the criticisms leveled at Relapse. Although Eminem was no longer at the vanguard of hip-hop, Recovery demonstrated that he remained a potent commercial force, as the soul-baring singles “Not Afraid” and “Love the Way You Lie” (featuring the singer Rihanna) both became major hits. Eminem reteamed with Rihanna on “The Monster,” from The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013), and the album became his sixth to win the Grammy Award for best rap album. In addition, Eminem occasionally collaborated with rapper Royce da 5’9” under the name Bad Meets Evil; among their releases was the EP Hell: The Sequel (2011).