Eminem (Marshall Mathers) was born
in Kansas City but grew up in Detroit, Michigan with his
mother. He and his mom moved to the east side of Detroit
when he was 12 and he switched schools about every three
months. Eminem eventually dropped out of high school and
held numerous minimum wage jobs while trying to break
into the underground hip hop world of Detroit. Eminem
released his first album, Infinite, in 1996 but the response
to his freshman album was not helping him move forward
in his dreams. He began working on the Slim Shady LP,
which would eventually lead him to hip hop history. The
highly critical underground liked Slim Shady and began
to take more notice of Eminem, despite the many obvious
strikes against him, first he is white, and second he
was not afraid of taking on major rap personalities and
speaking his mind about them.
By being himself, Eminem gained the success that most
rappers only dream about. He went to LA to perform in
the 1997 Rap Olympics and it was there that producer/rapper
Dr. Dre heard Eminem for the first time on a local radio
show. Amazed at his lyrics and his fast talking and
almost sarcastic style, Dre immediately wanted to see
Eminem. The rest is history. The two began working again
on the Slim Shady album and released it in 1999. In
2000, he won two Grammy awards, one for Best Rap Solo
for “My Name Is,” and the second for Best
Rap Album. They decided to hit the public one year later
in 2000 with the Marshall Mathers LP and it was the
biggest selling hip-hop album of all time, selling 2
million copies in the first week alone. Controversy
plagued Eminem with the release of the Mathers CD, but
he thrived off of it and used it to his advantage; he
won three Grammy’s for the Mather’s CD,
a feat never accomplished by any other hip hop performer.
In 2002, Eminem starred in 8 Mile, a movie that loosely
documented his rise to fame. The movie critics were
completed astounded by his acting ability and there
was buzz that he might even get an Oscar nod. He did
win an Oscar but for best song with “Lose Yourself.”
Eminem’s tours are instant sell-outs. His recent
Anger Management Tour left fans wanting for more as
Eminem concert tickets sold out within 10 minutes across
the nation. He proved himself to the tough hip hop underground
and to the American public in general that he is more
than just a rapper, Eminem is now a true hip hop icon.
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