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 Eminem Biography |
 Beaten by bullies at school, berated by a pill-popping mum in his Detroit trailer park home, Marshall Bruce Mathers III's strife-ridden childhood served as a fertile creative breeding ground for his razor sharp rhymes and witty wordplay. Veering between misunderstood genius and misogynistic homophobe, Eminem would become the biggest and most controversial rap superstar of the 90's. Yes, bigger even than Vanilla Ice!Born on 17 Oct 1973 in Kansas City, Marshall's transformation into his million selling alter ego, Eminem, began when he was nine years old and he heard Ice T's Reckless. It was on a soundtrack that his Uncle Ronnie bought him. 10 years later, Ronnie would commit suicide. (A tattoo on Eminem's right arm bears his uncle's name). Eminem began freestyling in his friend's basement at the age of 15. Some five years later, Em was becoming well known on the Detroit hip-hop scene as the only white rapper at the city's open mic contests (scenes that would fuel the basis of Eminem's Hollywood movie debut in the film 8 Mile).
Eminem cut his first album, Infinite, in 1996 for a local label but only 1,000 copies were pressed. The album failed to attract any interest from the major labels. Eminem feared he'd spend the rest of his life working as a cook and he had new responsibilities. On Christmas Day in 1996 his girlfriend Kim gave birth to a daughter, Hailie Jade (her name is tattooed on his arm). "At this point in my life I had nothing," recalls Em. "I felt like robbing somebody or selling drugs to get myself out of the situation I was in." After the promise of another record deal fell through, Em swallowed more than 20 Tylenol painkillers in a suicide attempt but luckily, he couldn't keep them down.
Em's big break came in 1997 when rap ledge Dr Dre discovered a demo tape on Interscope boss Jimmy Iovine's garage floor. Dre travelled to watch Eminem perform in the 1997 Rap Olympics. Dre signed Eminem on the spot. Eminem's rap cred was never in doubt with Dre at the helm. Dre produced three tracks for Eminem's debut album, The Slim Shady LP, including his 1999 debut single, My Name Is. The song and attendant video immediately made Eminem the most talked about rapper in the world.
The album confirmed that Em was much more than a novelty. Relentlessly funny, defiantly un-PC, savage and unforgiving, Eminem's witty wordplay and his frenetic, whiny slur was set against Dre's chunkiest beats. And the fact that Eminem was white meant instant crossover success. "Hip hop is predominantly black but now and again one white motherfucker comes along. Now that happens to be me," said our trailer trash hero. On the day Em featured on the cover of Rolling Stone, his trailer park home was repossessed because he hadn't kept up the rental payments!
The aftershock of the Slim Shady LP's success meant that Eminem became a star overnight. Success would rattle Eminem's relationships with his mother, his wife Kim and the outside world. Debbie Mathers Briggs filed a $10m lawsuit in 1999 against her son claiming extreme defamation of character in Eminem's songs. (My Name Is included the line: 'My mom smokes more dope than I do.') Em told the Source magazine: "When I say my mum was doing a lot of drugs, people think I'm cracking jokes but that shit is real." Debbie Mathers eventually accepted $25,000 as a settlement.
Eminem's controversial lyrics meant he was now waging a constant battle with public morality as he was asked to explain songs that depicted rape, murder, drug taking and excessive violence - in short, all the subjects you don't find covered in the usual Rachel Stevens tune.
2001's follow up album, The Marshall Mathers LP, was an ever darker journey through Em's tortured psyche, shot through with his usual humour but stark realism, especially on the album's standout track, Stan, about an obsessed fan. The album's first single, The Real Slim Shady, was another shuffling, irresistible rap groove. The album shifted close to 2m copies in its first week of release in the US. On stage Eminem was now adopting the alter ego of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre serial killer, complete with fright mask, dungarees and regulation chain saw. 2001 also saw the emergence of side project D-12 - a collection of rappers from Eminem's formative Detroit days. A debut single, the controversial Shit On You was followed by debut album Devil's Night, which reached No.2 in the UK and No.1 in the US charts. Crammed with expletives, violence and drug talk the whole project seemed like a self-indulgent juvenile fantasy that would never have seen the light of day without Eminem's superstar patronage.
Success still bred problems though, including a scuffle with members of the Insane Clown Posse in a car stereo shop, a battle with Christina Aguilera over a lyric about her fictional exploits and a lawsuit after Em allegedly attacked a man he'd seen kissing his wife, Kim. But the publicity helped the album top the charts around the world. But one song on the album, Kim, finally ended his marriage as Em mused about violently murdering his wife. The couple divorced shortly after. The Marshall Mathers LP was nominated for several Grammy awards and to silence his critics who called him a violent homophobe, he called on Elton John to duet with him at the ceremony. Shortly after his tour finished in 2001 Em began rehearsing for his major movie debut in the vaguely autobiographical film, 8 Mile. It was the hip-hop equivalent of Rocky and although it didn't exactly stretch Em's acting talents he proved eminently watchable and helped to turn a $40m investment into $120m at the box office.
Em re-emerged in 2002 with new single Without Me, a single that attacked Moby and Limp Bizkit and which celebrated, er, Eminem basically. The resulting album, The Eminem Show, inspired little controversy but massive sales. Cleanin' Out My Closet dealt once more with his dysfunctional childhood and his hatred towards his mother. while elsewhere, on Soldier, he intimated that he might quit the rap game for good. "The fire inside expires at 30," he sang.
But my now, the Eminem name had become too big a brand to walk away. He'd established his own label, Shady Records and signed bullet-ridden rapper 50 Cent to huge success. Shady Wear clothing quickly followed and his success in 8 Mile led to several more film offers.
In 2003 Eminem stirred more controversy, this time allegations of racism from US hip hop mag The Source who had unearthed an early Eminem demo where the rapper was disparaging black women. Eminem apologised but said it was difficult to judge a boy's beliefs when he was just 16.
Eminem returned to the musical arena in 2004 with his new album, Encore. Received with solid, but slightly lukewarm reviews, critics felt Eminem was retreading old ground, fixating on childish farting, puking and diarrhoea gags and Jacko baiting lyrics on the album's lead-off single, Just Lose It. The anti-Bush rant Mosh, proved that Em wasn't the rap world's most lyrical political commentator while next single, Ass Like That was a study of er, celebrity booty. Eminem may have lost some of the 'what will he say next?' thrill which powered his earlier work but the tongue twisting lyrics and infectious production were all intact, proving there's still no one in hip hop with quicker wits. Not even Vanilla Ice...
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Eminem website is created and designed by Zebra International, 2006
This is a website with educational purpose and is in no way affiliated with Eminem, his record companies, or his managements. No copyright infringment is intended.
