Marshall Bruce Mathers III
October 17, 1973
St. Joseph, Missouri

Eminem’s real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III. He was born on October 17, 1973 in St. Joseph Missouri (outside of Kansas City).

As a child he lived with his mother in impoverished neighborhoods, moving from state to state until they finally took root in Detroit, Michigan in 1985.

He didn’t last very long in High School - he dropped out in 9th grade, however, in the mid to late 1990’s he began to take up rapping. He became known as the associated with local rap groups Basement Productions, The New Jacks and D12.

In 1995 he released his first rap album, Infinite, but it did not do very well and it was crashed by many critics.

In 1996, he began to gain some fame and following when the “white rapper” won the Wake Up Show’s Freestyle Performer Of The Year award, and followed this up by a second place finish in the 1997 Rap Coalition’s Los Angeles’ Annual Rap Olympics. His critics began to become his admirers.

On a personal note, in 1996 he had a daughter with his girlfriend Kim.

In 1997, he released his second album on an independent label The Slim Shady EP. The album was very successful with his core audience.

People in the music industry began to take notice, and Dr. Dre, owner of Aftermath Records signed him to a record deal. The Slim Shady LP was released in 1999 and became an instant favorite to not only his core listeners, but also to a wider audience making it to #2 on the Billboard Album Chart. Some of the hype of this album was due to its controversial lyrics, which made news headlines around the country to give Eminem a lot of free negative publicity - and cause teens to purchase the album even faster. He was given even more publicity when his own mother filed a lawsuit stating that the lyrics cause her emotional distress. There was also a public feud between him and pop star Christina Aguilera, who claimed his lyrics falsely accused her of having oral sex with two celebrities (Fred Durst and Carson Daily). Then there was his weapons and assault convictions (he had to do community service) Yes, these caused more people to buy his albums. He was also able to give white rappers some acclaim within the industry. For his work on the ablum, he won two Grammy Awards: Best Solo Performance (”My Name Is) and Best Rap Album (The Slim Shady LP)

The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May of 2000 to great fanfare and debuted at number one on the U.S. album charts. Of course, there was more controversy, this time by gay-rights groups saying that his lyrics and videos were derogatory towards the day community.

When it came time for the Grammy Awards, he took home three, and to show the world that he was not homophobic, he performed live with Elton John (singer and know homosexual), and they even had a warm embrace on stage afterwards. The Grammy wer: Best Rap Solo Performance (The Real Slim Shady), Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group (w/Dr. Dre), and Best Rap Album (The Marshall Mathers LP)

2002 was another banner year for Eminem, with his next hit album, The Eminem Show.

He also took his talent to the big screen in 2002, with the release of the movie Eight Mile, where he plays a white rapper. The movie was a box office success. Even more surprising was his acting, and he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for this movie.

In 2004 he release two more albums, D12 World, with his former group from Detroit and the album Encore. Both have been successful, but what else is new? The controversy in 2004 arose from his videos from Encore. For the Mosh video, he goes into the political arena and sends a very anti-Bush message, while in another media, he makes fun of celebrities, such as Michael Jackson. When Jackson brought his complaints public, it only brought more attention to the albums, and more sales.

“I do say things that I think will shock people . . . but I don’t do things to shock people. I’m not trying to be the next Tupac, but I don’t know how long I’m going to be on this planet. So while I’m here, I might as well make the most of it.”

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.