success and earned the rapper his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. His next two releases, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002), were worldwide successes, each earning US Diamond certification in sales. Both albums also won the Best Rap Album Grammy Award, making Eminem the first artist to win such an award for three consecutive LPs. This was followed by Encore in 2004, another critical and commercial successful album. Eminem went on hiatus after touring in 2005. He released Relapse in 2009 and Recovery in 2010, which was named the best-selling album of 2010 worldwide, becoming the rapper's second album, after The Eminem Show, to become the internationally best-selling album of its year. Eminem won Grammy Awards for both Relapse and Recovery, giving him a total of 13 Grammys in his career.[8] His eighth studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, was released in November 2013. His record label Shady Records released Shady XV in November 2014. Eminem has opened other ventures, including his own record label Shady Records with his manager Paul Rosenberg. He also has his own radio channel, Shade 45 on Sirius XM Radio. In November 2002, Eminem starred in the hip hop drama film, 8 Mile. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the film's song "Lose Yourself", becoming the first rap artist ever to win the award.[9] He has also made cameo appearances in the films The Wash (2001), Funny People (2009), The Interview (2014), and the television series Entourage. Life and career 1972–95: Early life Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri. He is the only child of Marshall Bruce Mathers, Jr. (born c. 1951 and known as Bruce) and Deborah R. "Debbie" Nelson (born 1955).[10] Eminem is of English, German, Scottish, and Swiss descent.[11] Debbie was 14 when she first met 18-year-old Bruce.[10] At age 17, she nearly died during her son's 73-hour birth.[12] His parents were in a band called Daddy Warbucks, playing in Ramada Inns along the Dakota-Montana border before their relationship went sour. Bruce left the family shortly thereafter, moving to California.[13] Bruce later had two other children, Michael and Sarah (born c. 1982).[14] Debbie later had a son named Nathan Kane "Nate Kane" Samara (born February 3, 1986).[10] During childhood, Eminem and Debbie shuttled between Missouri and Michigan, rarely staying in one house for more than a year or two, and mostly living with family members. In Missouri, they lived in various cities and towns, including Saint Joseph, Savannah, and Kansas City,[15] before finally settling in Warren, Michigan when Eminem was eleven.[13][16] As a teen, Eminem wrote letters to his father Bruce. According to Debbie, all of these came back "return to sender."[13] Friends and family contend Eminem was a happy child but also "a bit of a loner" who often was bullied. One such persecutor, De'Angelo Bailey, beat Eminem so badly that the boy suffered a severe head injury. In response, Debbie Nelson filed a lawsuit against the school in 1982, but the case was dismissed the following year.[12] Eminem spent much of his formative years living in a lower-middle-class Detroit neighborhood that was majority black.[13] He and Debbie were one of three white households on their block, and Eminem was confronted and beaten up by African American youths on several occasions.[13] As a child, Eminem developed an interest in storytelling and aspired to become a comic book artist before discovering hip hop.[17] Eminem heard his first rap song "Reckless," featuring Ice-T, at age nine on the Breakin' soundtrack, which he received as a gift from Debbie's half-brother Ronald "Ronnie" Polkinghorn. Ronnie committed suicide ten years later; the loss affected Eminem so greatly that he stopped speaking for days and was absent from the funeral.[13] His home life was seldom stable, and Eminem frequently fought with his mother. She was described by a social worker as having a "very suspicious, almost paranoid personality." When her son became famous, Debbie bristled at any suggestion that she was less than an ideal mother, contending that she sheltered Eminem and was responsible for his success. In 1987, Debbie allowed runaway Kimberly Ann "Kim" Scott to stay at their home; several years later, Eminem began an on-and-off relationship with Kim.[12] After spending three years in ninth grade due to truancy and poor grades,[18] he dropped out of Lincoln High School at age 17. Although he was deeply interested in English, he never explored literature (preferring comic books instead) and disliked math and social studies.[19] He worked several jobs to help his mother with bills, later maintaining that he was often kicked out anyway. When she would leave to play bingo, Eminem would blast the stereo and write lyrics.[13] At the age of 14, he began rapping with high-school friend Mike Ruby, the two adopting the names "Manix" and "M&M," which soon morphed into Eminem.[1][12] Eminem sneaked into neighboring Osborn High School with friend and fellow rapper Proof for lunchroom freestyle rap battles.[20] On Saturdays, the two friends attended open-mic contests at the Hip-Hop Shop, located on West 7 Mile. The spot was considered the "ground zero" for the Detroit rap scene.[13] While struggling to succeed in a predominantly black industry, Eminem gained the approval of underground hip hop audiences.[1][21][22] when putting together verses, Eminem wanted most words to rhyme. His technique was to write long words or phrases out on paper and, underneath, work on rhymes for each syllable.[19] Even though it often made little sense, the drill helped him practice sounds and rhymes.[19] As his reputation and profile grew, he was recruited to join several rap groups. The first of these was the New Jacks. After they disbanded, he joined Soul Intent, who released a single in 1995.[1] This single also featured Proof. The two rappers broke off on their own to form D12, a six-member crew that functioned more as a Wu-Tang-styled collective than a regularly performing group.[13] Eminem had his first run-in with the law at age 20, when he was arrested for involvement with a drive-by shooting with a paintball, although the paintballs used in the event did not break. The case was dismissed when the victim did not appear in court.[12] 1996–99: Early career, Infinite, and The Slim Shady LP Eminem was soon signed to FBT Productions, run by brothers Jeff and Mark Bass, and recorded his debut album, Infinite, under their independent label Web Entertainment.[23] Subjects covered in Infinite included his struggles with raising his newborn daughter, Hailie Jade Scott Mathers, on limited funds. During this period, Eminem's rhyme style was primarily inspired by rappers Nas and AZ. His work did not yet include the comedically violent slant for which he would later gain fame.[24] Infinite was largely ignored by Detroit disc jockeys, and the feedback Eminem received—"Why don't you go into rock and roll?"—led him to craft angrier, more moody tracks.[13] During this time, he and Kim Scott lived in a high-crime neighborhood, where their house was burgled numerous times.[13] For some time, he held a minimum-wage job cooking and dishwashing at Gilbert's Lodge, a rustic family-style restaurant at St. Clair Shores.[25] Eminem was described by his former boss as a model employee, once working 60 hours a week in a six-month period shortly after Hailie's birth.[12] Shortly before Christmas, he was fired from his job at Gilbert's Lodge. He later said, "It was, like, five days before Christmas, which is Hailie's birthday. I had, like, forty dollars to get her something."[13] After the release of Infinite, Eminem's personal struggles and abuse of drugs and alcohol culminated in an unsuccessful suicide attempt.[1] By March 1997, he was fired from Gilbert’s Lodge for the last time, and was still living in his mother's mobile home with Kim and Hailie.[12] Things began to pick up when Eminem developed his sadistic, ultra-violent alter ego Slim Shady. The character, "a drug-dealing, bloodthirsty thug who spits furious rhymes about murder, rape, drugs and living by the law of the urban jungle", allowed Eminem to express his rage and resentment.[12] In the spring of 1997, he recorded his debut EP, the Slim Shady EP, issued later that winter by Web Entertainment.[13] The EP features constant references to drug use, sexual acts, mental instability, and over-the-top violence. Other departures were his exploration of more serious themes—such as dealing with poverty and marital and family difficulties—and his direct and self-deprecating response to criticism.[1] Hip-hop magazine The Source featured Eminem in its "Unsigned Hype" column in March 1998.[26] After being evicted from his home, Eminem traveled to Los Angeles to compete in the 1997 Rap Olympics, an annual nationwide rap battle competition. He placed second, and the staff at Interscope Records who attended the event sent a copy of the Slim Shady EP to company CEO Jimmy Iovine. Iovine played the tape for record producer Dr. Dre, founder of Aftermath Entertainment. Dr. Dre recalled, "In my entire career in the music industry, I have never found anything from a demo tape or a CD. When Jimmy played this, I said, 'Find him. Now.'" Dr. Dre faced criticism from associates for hiring a white rapper, but maintained confidence in his decision: "I don't give a fuck if you're purple: If you can kick it, I'm working with you."[13] Eminem, who had idolized Dr. Dre since listening to his group N.W.A as a teenager, was nervous to work with him on the album: "I didn't want to be starstruck or kiss his ass too much..... I'm just a little white boy from Detroit. I had never seen stars, let alone Dr. Dre."[27] He became more comfortable working with Dr. Dre after a series of highly productive recording sessions.[28] Eminem released The Slim Shady LP in February 1999. It became one of the year's most popular albums, going triple platinum by the end of the year.[29] With the album's popularity came controversy related to many of its lyrics. In "'97 Bonnie and Clyde", Eminem describes a trip with his infant daughter, disposing of his wife's body. Another song, "Guilty Conscience", ends with his encouraging a man to murder his wife and her lover. "Guilty Conscience" marked the beginning of a friendship and musical bond between Dr. Dre and Eminem. The label-mates later collaborated on a line of hit songs, including "Forgot About Dre" and "What's the Difference" from Dr. Dre's album 2001, "Bitch Please II" from The Marshall Mathers LP, "Say What You Say" from The Eminem Show, "Encore/Curtains Down" from Encore, and "Old Time's Sake" and "Crack a Bottle" from Relapse. Dr. Dre made at least one guest appearance on each of Eminem's studio albums under the label Aftermath.[30] The album has now been certified 4× platinum by the RIAA. After its release, Eminem was accused of imitating the style and subject matter of underground rapper Cage.[31][32] 2000–02: The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May 2000. It went on to sell 1.76 million copies in its first week, breaking the records set by Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle as the fastest-selling hip hop album and by Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time as the fastest-selling solo album in United States history.[33][34] The first single released from the album, "The Real Slim Shady", was a success. It was controversial for his insults of celebrities and making dubious claims about them; he says, for instance, that Christina Aguilera performed oral sex on Fred Durst and Carson Daly.[35] In his second single, "The Way I Am", he reveals to his fans the pressures from his record company to top "My Name Is" and sell more records. Although Eminem had parodied shock rocker Marilyn Manson in the music video for "My Name Is", the artists are reportedly on good terms. Manson is name-dropped in "The Way I Am" and also appeared in its music video, as well as performing a remix of the song with Eminem in concert.[36] In the third single, "Stan" (which samples Dido's "Thank You"), Eminem tries to deal with his new fame, taking on the persona of a deranged fan who kills himself and his pregnant girlfriend, mirroring "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" on The Slim Shady LP.[21] Q magazine named "Stan" the third-greatest rap song of all time,[37] and the song was ranked tenth in a similar survey conducted by Top40-Charts.com.[38] The song has since become highly acclaimed and was ranked 296th in Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.[39] In July 2000, Eminem became the first white artist to be featured on the cover of The Source magazine.[26] The Marshall Mathers LP has been certified 10× Platinum by the RIAA. Eminem performed with Elton John at the 43rd Grammy Awards ceremony in 2001;[40] the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), an organization that perceived Eminem's lyrics to be homophobic, condemned the openly gay John's decision to perform with Eminem.[41] Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "It was the hug heard 'round the world. Eminem, under fire for homophobic lyrics, shared the stage with a gay icon for a performance of "Stan" that would have been memorable in any context."[42] On February 21, the day of the ceremony, GLAAD held a protest outside the Staples Center, the venue where the Grammy ceremony was held.[43] Music tours that he participated in for 2001 included the Up in Smoke Tour with rappers Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, and Ice Cube,[44] the Family Values Tour with the band Limp Bizkit,[45] and headlining the Anger Management Tour with Papa Roach, Ludacris, and Xzibit. Eminem released The Eminem Show in May 2002. It became another hit for the rapper, reaching number one on the charts and selling well over 1.332 million copies in its first full week of sales.[29] It featured the single "Without Me", in which Eminem makes derogatory comments about boy bands, Limp Bizkit, Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney, and Moby, among others. The Eminem Show has been certified 10× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album reflected on the effects of his rise to fame, his relationship with his wife and daughter, and his status in the hip-hop community. He also addresses being charged for assaulting a bouncer he saw kissing his wife in 2000. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic felt that while there was clear anger present on several tracks, this album was considerably less inflammatory than The Marshall Mathers LP.[46] L. Brent Bozell III, who previously criticized The Marshall Mathers LP for its lyrics, which he perceived to be misogynistic, noted The Eminem Show for its extensive use of obscene language, giving Eminem the nickname "Eminef" for the bowdlerization of motherfucker, an obscenity prevalent in the album.[47] The Eminem Show was the best-selling album of 2002.[48] 2003–07: Encore and musical hiatus Eminem performing on the Anger Management tour in promotion of Encore. On December 8, 2003, the United States Secret Service admitted that it was "looking into" allegations that Eminem had threatened the President of the United States.[49] They were concerned about his lines: "Fuck money / I don't rap for dead presidents / I'd rather see the president dead / It's never been said, but I set precedents". These lyrics come from the track "We As Americans", which was later released on a bonus CD accompanying deluxe editions of Eminem's fourth major album, Encore.[50] Encore was released in 2004, and was another chart-topper. Its sales were driven partly by its first single, "Just Lose It", which features slurs against Michael Jackson. On October 12, 2004, a week after the release of "Just Lose It", Jackson called into the Los Angeles-based Steve Harvey radio show to report his displeasure with the video, which parodies Jackson's child molestation trial, plastic surgery, and an incident in which Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984. The lyrics to "Just Lose It" refer to Jackson's legal troubles. In the song, Eminem says: , "that's not a stab at Michael / That's just a metaphor / I'm just psycho". Many of Jackson's supporters and friends spoke out against the video, including Stevie Wonder, who described it as "kicking a man while he's down" and "bullshit",[51] and Steve Harvey, who declared, "Eminem has lost his ghetto pass. We want the pass back."[51] In the video, Eminem parodied Pee-wee Herman, MC Hammer, and Madonna in her period of Blond Ambition.[52] Regarding Jackson's protest, "Weird Al" Yankovic, who parodied the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" on a track titled "Couch Potato" on his 2003 album Poodle Hat, told the Chicago Sun-Times, "Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my 'Lose Yourself' parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career. So the irony of this situation with Michael is not lost on me."[53] Black Entertainment Television was the first channel to stop airing the video. MTV, however, announced that it would continue airing it. The Source, through its CEO Raymond "Benzino" Scott, called for the video to be pulled, the song removed from the album, and Eminem to apologize publicly to Jackson.[54] In 2007 Jackson and Sony bought Famous Music LLC from Viacom. This deal gave him the rights to songs by Eminem, Shakira, and Beck, among others.[55] Despite the comedic theme of the lead single, Encore also had serious subject matter, including the anti-war track "Mosh". On October 25, 2004, a week before the 2004 US Presidential election, Eminem released the video for "Mosh" on the Internet.[56] The song strongly criticized President George W. Bush, with lyrics such as "fuck Bush" and "this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president".[57] The video features Eminem gathering an army of people, including rapper Lloyd Banks, presented as victims of the Bush administration, and leading them to the White House. However, once they break in, it is revealed that they are there to register to vote. The video ends with the words, "VOTE Tuesday November 2," on the screen. After Bush was re-elected, the video's ending was changed to Eminem and the protesters invading the White House while Bush was giving a speech.[58] In 2005, some industry insiders speculated that Eminem was considering ending his rapping career after six years and several multi-platinum albums. Speculation began in early 2005 about a double-disc album to be released late that year, rumored to be titled The Funeral.[59] The album was a greatest hits album released under the name Curtain Call: The Hits in December. In July 2005, the Detroit Free Press broke news of a potential final bow for Eminem as a solo performer, quoting members of his inside circle who said that he would begin to fully embrace the role of producer and label executive. On the same day of the compilation album's release, Eminem appeared on Detroit-based WKQI's "Mojo in the Morning" radio show. He denied that he was retiring, but suggested he would be taking a break as an artist, saying "I'm at a point in my life right now where I feel like I don't know where my career is going ... This is the reason that we called it 'Curtain Call', because this could be the final thing. We don't know."[60] The next year he released The Re-Up with the members of his record label, Shady Records, in 2006. In 2005, Eminem was ranked #58 in Bernard Goldberg's book, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America.[61] Goldberg cited a 2001 column by Bob Herbert of The New York Times, in which Herbert said, "In Eminem's world, all women are whores and he is eager to rape and murder them."[62] Goldberg cited Eminem's song "No One's Iller" from the Slim Shady EP as an example of misogyny in his music.[63] In summer 2005, Eminem embarked on his first US concert run in three years, the Anger Management 3 Tour, featuring 50 Cent, G-Unit, Lil Jon, D12, Obie Trice, The Alchemist, and others. In August 2005, Eminem canceled the European leg of the tour and subsequently announced that he had entered drug rehabilitation for treatment for a "dependency on sleep medication".[64] Curtain Call: The Hits was released on December 6, 2005, under Aftermath Entertainment.[65] In its first week it sold nearly 441,000 copies in the US and was Eminem's fourth straight number one album on the Billboard Hot 200.[66] The album has been certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA.[67] In September 2007, Eminem called into New York radio station Hot 97 during an interview with 50 Cent and said he was "in limbo" and "debating" about when and if he would release another album. He said, "I'm always working – I'm always in the studio. It feels good right now, the energy of the label. For a while, I didn't want to go back to the studio..... I went through some personal things. I'm coming out of those personal things [and] it feels good.
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