Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (/ˌɛmɪˈnɛm/; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer and record executive. He is one of the most successful musical artists of the 21st century.[2] In addition to his solo career, Eminem was a member of the hip hop group D12. He is also known for collaborations with fellow Detroit-based rapper Royce da 5'9"; the two are collectively known as Bad Meets Evil.
After his debut album Infinite (1996) and the extended play Slim Shady EP (1997), Eminem signed with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and subsequently achieved mainstream popularity in 1999 with The Slim Shady LP and its lead single "My Name Is".[3] His next two releases The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002) were worldwide successes and were both nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. As a result of being the leading figure in a form of black music, Eminem was subject to comparisons to Elvis Presley at the time.[4] After the release of Encore in 2004, which faced heavy criticism by fans and critics for its lacklustre quality,[5] Eminem went on hiatus in 2005 partly due to a prescription drug addiction.[6] He released Relapse in 2009 and Recovery the following year, which both won Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album. Recovery was the best-selling album of 2010 worldwide, making it Eminem's second album, after The Eminem Show in 2002, to be the best-selling album worldwide. In 2017, Eminem released Revival, followed by the surprise albums Kamikaze in 2018 and Music to Be Murdered By in 2020.
Eminem starred in the drama film 8 Mile (2002) playing a fictionalized version of himself, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Lose Yourself", making him the first hip hop artist to ever win the award.[7] Eminem has made cameo appearances in the films The Wash (2001), Funny People (2009), and The Interview (2014), and the television series Entourage (2010). Eminem has developed other ventures, including Shady Records, with manager Paul Rosenberg, which helped launch the careers of artists such as 50 Cent, Yelawolf and Obie Trice, among others. Eminem has also established his own channel, Shade 45, on Sirius XM Radio.
With over 170 million records sold globally, Eminem is among the best-selling music artists of all time. He was the best-selling music artist in the United States in the 2000s. The Marshall Mathers LP, The Eminem Show, "Lose Yourself", "Love the Way You Lie" and "Not Afraid" are all certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[8] He has won numerous awards, including 15 Grammy Awards, eight American Music Awards, 17 Billboard Music Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original for "Lose Yourself") and a MTV Europe Music Global Icon Award.[9] [10] Eminem has had nine number one albums on the Billboard 200, which all consecutively debuted at number one on the chart making him the only artist to achieve this, and five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100.[11] Rolling Stone included Eminem in its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time
Life and career
Early life
Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born on October 17, 1972[13] in St. Joseph, Missouri, the only child of Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. and Deborah Rae "Debbie" (née Nelson).[14][15][16] He is of English, Scottish, German, German Swiss, Polish and Luxembourgian ancestry.[17] His mother nearly died during her 73-hour labor with him.[18] Eminem's parents were in a band called Daddy Warbucks, playing in Ramada Inns along the Dakotas–Montana border before their separation. Eminem's father, referred to by his middle name Bruce, left the family, moving to California[19] and having two other children: Michael and Sarah.[20] Debbie later had son Nathan "Nate" Kane Samara.[16] During his childhood, Eminem and Debbie shuttled between Michigan and Missouri, rarely staying in one house for more than a year or two and living primarily with family members. In Missouri, they lived in several places, including St. Joseph, Savannah, and Kansas City
As a teenager, Eminem wrote letters to his father, which Debbie stated all came back marked "return to sender".[19] Friends and family remember Eminem as a happy child, but "a bit of a loner" who was often bullied. One bully, D'Angelo Bailey, severely injured Eminem's head in an assault;[23] Debbie filed a lawsuit against the school in 1982, which was dismissed the following year because the Macomb County, Michigan judge said the schools were immune from lawsuits.[18] Eminem spent much of his youth in a working-class, primarily black, Detroit neighborhood.[19] He and Debbie were one of three white households on their block, and Eminem was beaten by black youths several times.[19] As a child he was interested in storytelling, aspiring to be a comic-book artist before discovering hip hop.[24] Eminem heard his first rap song ("Reckless", featuring Ice-T) on the Breakin' soundtrack, a gift from Debbie's half-brother Ronnie Polkingharn, who was close to him and later became a musical mentor to him. When Polkingharn committed suicide in 1991, Eminem stopped speaking for days and did not attend his funeral.[19][25]
Eminem's home life was seldom stable; he frequently fought with his mother, whom a social worker described as having a "very suspicious, almost paranoid personality". When her son became famous, Debbie was unimpressed by suggestions that she was a less-than-ideal mother, contending that she sheltered him and was responsible for his success. In 1987, Debbie allowed runaway Kimberly Anne "Kim" Scott to stay at their home; several years later, Eminem began an on-and-off relationship with Scott.[18] After spending three years in ninth grade due to truancy and poor grades,[26] he dropped out of Lincoln High School at age 17. Although he was interested in English, he never explored literature (preferring comic books) and disliked math and social studies.[27] Eminem worked at several jobs to help his mother pay the bills, later maintaining that she often threw him out of the house anyway, often after taking most of his paycheck. When she left to play bingo, he would blast the stereo and write songs.[19]
At age 14, Eminem began rapping with high-school friend Mike Ruby; they adopted the names "Manix" and "M&M", the latter of which stood for his initials and evolved into "Eminem".[13][18] Eminem sneaked into neighboring Osborn High School with friend and fellow rapper Proof for lunchroom freestyle rap battles.[28] On Saturdays, they attended open mic contests at the Hip-Hop Shop on West 7 Mile, considered "ground zero" for the Detroit rap scene.[19] Struggling to succeed in a predominantly black industry, Eminem was appreciated by underground hip hop audiences.[13][29][30] When he wrote verses, he wanted most of the words to rhyme; he wrote long words or phrases on paper and, underneath, worked on rhymes for each syllable.[27] Although the words often made little sense, the drill helped Eminem practice sounds and rhymes.[27]
1988–1997: Early career, Infinite and family struggles
In 1988, he went by the stage name MC Double M and formed his first group New Jacks with DJ Butter Fingers.[1][31][32] In 1989, they later joined Bassmint Productions who later changed their name to Soul Intent in 1992 with rapper Proof and other childhood friends.[33] They released a self-titled EP in 1995 featuring Proof.[13] Eminem also made his first music video appearance in 1992 in a song titled, "Do-Da-Dippity", by Champtown. Later in 1996, Eminem and Proof teamed up with four other rappers to form The Dirty Dozen (D12), who released their first album Devil's Night in 2001.[19] Eminem had his first run-in with the law at age 20, when he was arrested for his involvement in a drive-by shooting with a paintball gun. The case was dismissed when the victim did not appear in court.[18]
Eminem was soon signed to Jeff and Mark Bass's FBT Productions, and recorded his debut album Infinite for their independent Web Entertainment label.[34] The album was a commercial failure upon its release in 1996.[35] One lyrical subject of Infinite was his struggle to raise his newborn daughter, Hailie Jade Scott Mathers, on little money. During this period, Eminem's rhyming style, primarily inspired by rappers Nas, Esham and AZ, lacked the comically violent slant for which he later became known.[36] Detroit disc jockeys largely ignored Infinite, and the feedback Eminem did receive ("Why don't you go into rock and roll?") led him to craft angrier, moodier tracks.[19] At this time Eminem and Kim Scott lived in a crime-ridden neighborhood, and their house was robbed several times.[19] Eminem cooked and washed dishes for minimum wage at Gilbert's Lodge, a family-style restaurant at St. Clair Shores.[37] His former boss described him as becoming a model employee, as he worked 60 hours a week for six months after Hailie's birth.[18] He was fired shortly before Christmas, and later said, "It was, like, five days before Christmas, which is Hailie's birthday. I had, like, forty dollars to get her something."[19] After the release of Infinite, his personal problems and substance abuse culminated in a suicide attempt.[13] By March 1997 he was fired from Gilbert's Lodge for the last time and lived in his mother's mobile home with Kim and Hailie
1997–1999: Introduction to Slim Shady, The Slim Shady LP and rise to success
Eminem attracted more attention when he developed Slim Shady, a sadistic, violent alter ego. The character allowed him to express his anger with lyrics about drugs, rape, and murder.[18] In the spring of 1997 he recorded his debut EP, the Slim Shady EP, which was released that winter by Web Entertainment.[19] The EP, with frequent references to drug use, sexual acts, mental instability, and violence, also explored the more-serious themes of dealing with poverty and marital and family difficulties and revealed his direct, self-deprecating response to criticism.[13] Hip-hop magazine The Source featured Eminem in its "Unsigned Hype" column in March 1998
After he was evicted from his home, Eminem went to Los Angeles to compete in the 1997 Rap Olympics, an annual, nationwide battle rap competition. He placed second, and Interscope Records staff in attendance 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 and founding member of hip-hop group N.W.A. 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.'" He would later state on the fourth & last episode of The Defiant Ones, "I was like: what the fuck!?, and who the fuck is that?" expressing his shock towards Mathers' rapping talent. Although his associates criticized him for hiring a white rapper, he was confident in his decision: "I don't give a fuck if you're purple; if you can kick it, I'm working with you."[19] Eminem had idolized Dre since listening to N.W.A. as a teenager, and was nervous about working with him on an 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."[39] He became more comfortable working with Dre after a series of productive recording sessions.[40]
Eminem released The Slim Shady LP in February 1999. Although it was one of the year's most popular albums (certified triple platinum by the end of the year),[41] he was accused of imitating the style and subject matter of underground rapper Cage.[42][43] The album's popularity was accompanied by controversy over its lyrics; in "'97 Bonnie and Clyde" Eminem describes a trip with his infant daughter when he disposes of his wife's body, and in "Guilty Conscience" which encourages 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 number of hit songs ("Forgot About Dre" and "What's the Difference" while also providing uncredited vocals on "The Watcher" 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), and Dre made at least one guest appearance on each of Eminem's Aftermath albums.[44] The Slim Shady LP has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA.[45]
2000–2002: The Marshall Mathers LP, lyrical conflicts and The Eminem Show
The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May 2000. It sold 1.76 million copies in its first week, breaking US records held by Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle for fastest-selling hip hop album and Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time for fastest-selling solo album.[46][47] The first single from the album, "The Real Slim Shady", was a success despite controversies about Eminem's insults and dubious claims about celebrities (for example, that Christina Aguilera had performed oral sex on Fred Durst and Carson Daly).[48] In his second single, "The Way I Am", he reveals the pressure from his record company to top "My Name Is". Although Eminem parodied shock rocker Marilyn Manson in the music video for "My Name Is", they are reportedly on good terms; Manson is mentioned in "The Way I Am", appeared in its music video and has performed a live remix of the song with Eminem.[49] In the third single, "Stan" (which samples Dido's "Thank You"), Eminem tries to deal with his new fame, assuming the persona of a deranged fan who kills himself and his pregnant girlfriend (mirroring "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" from The Slim Shady LP).[29] Q called "Stan" the third-greatest rap song of all time,[50] and it was ranked tenth in a Top40-Charts.com survey.[51] The song has since been ranked 296th on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.[52] In July 2000, Eminem was the first white artist to appear on the cover of The Source.[38] The Marshall Mathers LP was certified Diamond by the RIAA in March 2011 and sold 21 million copies worldwide.[53]
Eminem performed with Elton John at the 43rd Grammy Awards ceremony in 2001,[54] with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD, an organization which considered Eminem's lyrics homophobic) condemning John's decision to perform with Eminem.[55] Entertainment Weekly placed the appearance on its end-of-decade "best-of" list: "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."[56] On February 21, the day of the awards ceremony, GLAAD held a protest outside the Staples Center (the ceremony's venue).[57] In 2001 Eminem appeared in the Up in Smoke Tour with rappers Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit and Ice Cube[58] and the Family Values Tour with Limp Bizkit,[59] headlining the Anger Management Tour with Papa Roach, Ludacris and Xzibit.
The Eminem Show was released in May 2002. It was another success, reaching number one on the charts and selling over 1.332 million copies during its first full week.[41] The album's single, "Without Me", denigrates boy bands, Limp Bizkit, Dick and Lynne Cheney, Moby and others. The Eminem Show certified Diamond by the RIAA examines the effects of Eminem's rise to fame, his relationship with his wife and daughter and his status in the hip-hop community, addressing an assault charge brought by a bouncer he saw kissing his wife in 2000. Although several tracks are clearly angry, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic found The Eminem Show less inflammatory than The Marshall Mathers LP.[60] L. Brent Bozell III, who had criticized The Marshall Mathers LP for misogynistic lyrics, noted The Eminem Show's extensive use of obscenity and called Eminem "Eminef" for the prevalence of the word "motherfucker" on the album.[61] The Eminem Show sold 27 million copies worldwide[53] and was the best-selling album of 2002.
2003–2007: Encore, more lyrical conflicts and musical hiatus
On December 8, 2003, the United States Secret Service said that it was "looking into" allegations that Eminem had threatened the President of the United States.[62] The cause for concern was the lyrics of "We As Americans" ("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"), which was later released on a bonus CD with the deluxe edition of Encore.[63]
Also in 2003 Eminem, a lifelong fan of Tupac,[64] provided production work for three tracks on the Tupac Resurrection soundtrack[65] He would follow this up the next year by producing 12 of the 16 tracks on Tupac's Loyal to the Game album.[65]
Encore, released in 2004, was another success. Its sales were partially driven by the first single, "Just Lose It", which contained slurs about Michael Jackson. On October 12, 2004, a week after the release of "Just Lose It", Jackson phoned the Los Angeles-based Steve Harvey radio show to report his displeasure with its video (which parodies Jackson's child molestation trial, plastic surgery and the 1984 incident when Jackson's hair caught fire during the filming of a commercial). 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 friends and supporters spoke out against the video, including Stevie Wonder (who described it as "kicking a man while he's down" and "bullshit")[66] and Steve Harvey (who said, "Eminem has lost his ghetto pass. We want the pass back").[66] The video also parodied Pee-wee Herman, MC Hammer and Madonna during her Blond Ambition period.[67] "Weird Al" Yankovic, who parodied the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" on "Couch Potato" for his 2003 album Poodle Hat, told the Chicago Sun-Times about Jackson's protest: "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."[68] Although Black Entertainment Television stopped playing the video, MTV announced that it would continue to air it. The Source, through CEO Raymond "Benzino" Scott, called for the video to be pulled, the song removed from the album and Eminem to apologize publicly to Jackson.[69] In 2007 Jackson and Sony bought Famous Music from Viacom, giving him the rights to songs by Eminem, Shakira, Beck and others.[70]
Despite its lead single's humorous theme, Encore explored serious subject matter with the anti-war song "Mosh".[71] The song criticized President George W. Bush as "This weapon of mass destruction that we call our president", with lyrics including "Fuck Bush".[72] On October 25, 2004, a week before the 2004 US Presidential election, Eminem released the video for "Mosh" on the Internet.[73] In it, Eminem gathers an army (including rapper Lloyd Banks) of Bush-administration victims and leads them to the White House. When they break in, it is learned that they are there to register to vote; the video ends with "VOTE Tuesday November 2". After Bush's reelection, the video's ending was changed to Eminem and the protesters invading the White House during a speech by the president.[74] Also in 2004 Eminem launched a satellite music channel, Shade 45, on Sirius radio,[75] which was described by his manager as "essentially a destination to get and hear things that other people aren't playing,"[76]
In 2005, industry insiders speculated that Eminem was considering ending his rapping career after six years and several Multi-Platinum albums. Rumors began early in the year about a double album to be released late that year, entitled The Funeral;[77] the greatest hits album, entitled Curtain Call: The Hits, was released in December. In July the Detroit Free Press reported a possible final bow for Eminem as a solo performer, quoting members of his inner circle as saying that he would embrace the roles of producer and label executive. The day of Curtain Call: The Hits's release, Eminem appeared on WKQI's "Mojo in the Morning" show. Denying that he was retiring, he suggested he would take a break as an artist: "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."[78] The following year, Eminem released Eminem Presents: The Re-Up on Shady Records.
In 2005, Eminem was ranked 58th in Bernard Goldberg's book, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America.[80] Goldberg cited a 2001 column by Bob Herbert of The New York Times, in which Herbert wrote "In Eminem's world, all women are whores and he is eager to rape and murder them",[81] and the song "No One's Iller" from the Slim Shady EP as examples of Eminem's misogyny.[82] That summer Eminem began his first US concert tour in three years, with the Anger Management 3 Tour featuring 50 Cent, G-Unit, Lil Jon, D12, Obie Trice and The Alchemist. In August he canceled the European leg of the tour, later announcing that he had entered drug rehabilitation for treatment of a "dependency on sleep medication".[83] Curtain Call: The Hits was released December 6, 2005 by Aftermath Entertainment.[84] During its first week it sold nearly 441,000 copies in the US, and was Eminem's fourth consecutive number-one album on the Billboard Hot 200.[85] The album has been certified double platinum by the RIAA.[86]
In 2006, Proof, who was Eminem's childhood friend, was murdered.[87]
In September 2007, Eminem called New York radio station WQHT during an interview with 50 Cent, saying that he was "in limbo" and "debating" about when (or if) he would release another album: "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."[88]
2008–2009: Comeback, Relapse and Relapse: Refill
Eminem appeared on his Shade 45 Sirius channel in September 2008, saying: "Right now I'm kinda just concentrating on my own stuff, for right now and just banging out tracks and producing a lot of stuff. You know, the more I keep producing the better it seems like I get 'cause I just start knowing stuff."[89] Interscope confirmed that a new album[90] would be released in spring 2009.[91] In December 2008, Eminem provided more details about the album, entitled Relapse: "Me and Dre are back in the lab like the old days, man. Dre will end up producing the majority of the tracks on 'Relapse'. We are up to our old mischievous ways ... let's just leave it at that."[92]
According to a March 5, 2009 press release, Eminem would release two new albums that year. Relapse, the first, was released on May 19; its first single and music video, "We Made You", had been released on April 7.[93] Although Relapse did not sell as well as Eminem's previous albums and received mixed reviews, it was a commercial success and re-established his presence in the hip-hop world. It sold more than five million copies worldwide.[94] During the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, Sacha Baron Cohen descended on the audience in an angel costume. He landed buttocks-first on Eminem, who stormed out of the ceremony; three days later, Eminem said that the stunt had been staged.[95] On October 30 he headlined at the Voodoo Experience in New Orleans, his first full performance of the year.[96] Eminem's act included several songs from Relapse, many of his older hits and an appearance by D12. On November 19, he announced on his website that Relapse: Refill would be released on December 21. The album was a re-release of Relapse with seven bonus tracks, including "Forever" and "Taking My Ball". Eminem described the CD:
I want to deliver more material for the fans this year like I originally planned ... Hopefully, these tracks on The Refill will tide the fans over until we put out Relapse 2 next year ... I got back in with Dre and then a few more producers, including Just Blaze, and went in a completely different direction which made me start from scratch. The new tracks started to sound very different than the tracks I originally intended to be on Relapse 2, but I still want the other stuff to be heard.[97]
2010–2011: Recovery and Bad Meets Evil reunion
On April 14, 2010, Eminem tweeted: "There is no Relapse 2". Although his followers thought he was not releasing an album, he had changed its title to Recovery and confirmed this by tweeting "RECOVERY" with a link to his website. He said:
I had originally planned for Relapse 2 to come out last year. But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album. The music on Recovery came out very different from Relapse, and I think it deserves its own title.[98]
His seventh album was released on June 18.[98] In the US Recovery sold 741,000 copies during its first week, topping the Billboard 200 chart.[99][100] Eminem's sixth consecutive US number-one album also topped the charts in several other countries. Recovery remained atop the Billboard 200 chart for five consecutive weeks of a seven-week total.[101]
Billboard reported that it was the bestselling album of 2010, making Eminem the first artist in Nielsen SoundScan history with two year-end bestselling albums.[102] Recovery is the bestselling digital album in history.[103] Its first single, "Not Afraid", was released on April 29 and debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100; its music video was released on June 4.[104] "Not Afraid" was followed by "Love the Way You Lie", which debuted at number two before rising to the top.[105] Although "Love the Way You Lie" was the bestselling 2010 single in the United Kingdom, it did not reach number one (the first time this has happened in the UK since 1969).[106] Despite criticism of its inconsistency, Recovery received positive reviews from most critics. As of November 21, 2010, the album had US sales of three million copies.[107] Recovery was the bestselling album worldwide in 2010, joining 2002's bestseller The Eminem Show to give Eminem two worldwide year-end number-one albums.[108] With Recovery, Eminem broke the record for the most successive US number-one albums by a solo artist
