Table of Biography
Eminem is a very famous American Rapper. Eminem became an international sensation after the release of his single “My Name Is”. He won the Best Rap Album Grammy and received the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Lose Yourself”.
Early Life and Childhood
Eminem was born on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri, USA. He is 49 years old and is under the astrological sign, Libra and he holds American nationality.
His real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III and his other nicknames are Slim Shady and Doody. Also, he is of English, Scottish, German, German-Swiss, Polish and Luxembourgish ancestry.
His father’s name is Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. and his mother’s name is Deborah Rae “Debbie”.
He has three siblings and their names are Michael, Sarah, and Nathan “Nate” Kane Samara. Moreover, his mother nearly died during her 73-hour labor with Eminem.
And, his parents were in a band, “Daddy Warbucks”, playing in Ramada Inns along the Dakotas–Montana border before they separated.
His father left the family. Later on, Eminem along with his mother shuttled between Detroit and Missouri.
They rarely stayed in one house for more than a year or two and lived primarily with family members. He even wrote several letters to his father but they all came back marked “return to sender”.
Also, when he was young, he was bullied a lot but even the lawsuits didn’t affect him much as they got dismissed.
Also, while living in a Detroit neighborhood, he was beaten several times by black youths.
Moreover, he was interested in storytelling, aspiring to be a comic book artist before discovering hip hop in his childhood.
He heard his first rap song (“Reckless”, featuring Ice-T) on the Breakin’ soundtrack. Since his childhood, he was close to his uncle who later became a musical mentor to him.
But when he committed suicide in 1991, Eminem on the other hand, stopped speaking publicly for days and did not attend his funeral as well.
Caption: Eminem’s childhood picture with his father (Source: People)
Education and More
Eminem frequently fought with his mother since he was young. Furthermore, he attended Lincoln High School. But he had to spend three years in ninth grade due to truancy and poor grades.
So, he dropped out when he was 17 years old. After dropping out, he began working at several jobs to help his mother pay the bills.
His mother would often throw him out of the house. But, when she left to play bingo, he would blast the stereo and write songs.
When he was just 14 years old, he started rapping with high-school friend Mike Ruby. They went on to adopt the names “Manix” and “M&M”, the latter evolving into “Eminem”.
He used to sneak into neighboring Osborn High School with a friend and fellow rapper Proof for lunchroom freestyle rap battles. He was very much appreciated by underground hip-hop audiences.
Relationship Status
Eminem tied the knot with Kimberly Anne Scott twice. They met each other in high school. Kimberly Scott along with her twin sister Dawn had run away from home.
Both of the sisters moved in with Eminem and his mother when he was 15 years old. They’re an on-and-off relationship that started in 1989.
They first tied the knot in 1999 and divorced in 2001. They again remarried on January 14, 2006, but divorced that same year. The couple has a daughter together and her name is Hailie.
Eminem also has custody of his sister-in-law Dawn’s daughter, Alaina Mathers, and Kim’s child from another relationship, Stevie Laine Scott.
Caption: Eminem along with his ex-wife, Kimberly Scott (Source: London Business Blog)
Net Worth 2023
According to celebritynetworth, Eminem has a net worth of $230 million and his main income source is his rapping career. He most definitely has many other income sources as well.
Career and Professional Life
Eminem went by the stage name MC Double M. He formed his first group New Jacks and made a self-titled demo tape with DJ Butter Fingers in 1988.
Later on, he went to join Bassmint Productions who later changed their name to Soul Intent in 1992.
Eminem was able to make his first music video appearance in 1992 in a song, “Do-Da-Dippity”, by Camptown.
Likewise, he then signed to Jeff and Mark Bass’s F.B.T. Productions and recorded his debut album Infinite for their independent Web Entertainment label but the album was a commercial failure.
During this time, his rhyming style lacked the comically violent slant for which he later became popular.
Also, at this time he with Kim Scott and their daughter, Hailie lived in a crime-ridden neighborhood. And their house was robbed several times.
He worked 60 hours a week for six months and was fired shortly before Christmas. All his personal problems and substance abuse culminated in a suicide attempt.
Then, when he was fired from Gilbert’s Lodge for the last time and he went on to live in his mother’s mobile home with Kim and Hailie.
More About Rapping
Likewise, he was able to attract more attention when he developed Slim Shady, a sadistic, violent alter ego.
Then, in the spring of 1997, he recorded his debut EP, the Slim Shady EP, which was released that winter by Web Entertainment.
The EP, with frequent references to drug use, sexual acts, mental instability, and violence.
It even explored the more-serious themes of dealing with poverty and marriage. Family difficulties revealed his direct, self-deprecating response to criticism.
After he was fired from his job, he went to Los Angeles to compete in the 1997 Rap Olympics which is an annual, nationwide battle rap competition.
He placed second in the competition and when Dre found him he deliberately wanted to work with him after listening to his Slim Shady EP.
He then went on to release The Slim Shady LP in February 1999 and it became one of the year’s most popular albums but was accused of imitating the style and subject matter of underground rapper Cage. This album also had a lot of controversies.
After the year 1999
The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May 2000 and was able to sell 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.
And, in his second single, “The Way I Am”, he reveals the pressure from his record company to top “My Name Is” and in the third single, “Stan” he tries to deal with his new fame.
This song has since been ranked 296th on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list. Also, in July 2000, Eminem became the first white artist to appear on the cover of The Source.
Likewise, the Marshall Mathers LP was certified Diamond by the RIAA in March 2011 and sold 21 million copies worldwide.
Eminem was able to perform with Elton John at the 43rd Grammy Awards ceremony in the year 2001. Moreover, The Eminem Show was released in May 2002.
The show was another success, reaching number one on the charts and selling over 1.332 million copies during its first full week.
He was a lifelong fan of Tupac, and in 2003, he was able to provide production work for three tracks on the Tupac Resurrection soundtrack.
His album “Encore” was another success, but not as successful as his previous albums.
The songs contained slurs and insults toward Michael Jackson but he did apologize publicly to Jackson later on when a lot of critics criticized him.
Moreover, he started his first US concert tour in three years in the summer of 2005 with the Anger Management 3 Tour, featuring 50 Cent, G-Unit, Lil Jon, D12, Obie Trice, and the Alchemist.
However, 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”.
He was able to appear on his Shade 45 Sirius channel in September 2008. His first single and music video, “We Made You”, was released on April 7 but it did not sell as well as his previous albums and received mixed reviews.
From the year 2009 to 2013
His album “Recovery” was released on June 18 and sold 741,000 copies during its first week, topping the Billboard 200 chart.
His sixth consecutive US number-one album also topped the charts in several other countries.
The album remained atop the Billboard 200 chart for five consecutive weeks of a seven-week total. Billboard even reported that it was the best-selling album of 2010.
This then made Eminem the first artist in Nielsen SoundScan history with two year-end best-selling albums. It is also the best-selling digital album in history.
Likewise, he was able to appear at the 2010 BET Awards, performing “Not Afraid” and “Airplanes, Part II” along with B.o.B and Keyshia Cole. Later that year, he performed at the Activison E3 concert as well.
Moreover, Eminem was able to open the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, performing “Not Afraid” and “Love the Way You Lie” with Rihanna singing the choruses.
Also, due to the success of Recovery and the Home & Home Tour, he became the 2010 Hottest MC in the Game by MTV and Emcee of the Year by the online magazine HipHopDX.
Then, in the year 2010, he again started collaborating with Royce da 5’9″ on their first EP as Bad Meets Evil.
Moreover, on August 14, “Survival”, featuring Liz Rodrigues and produced by DJ Khalil, premiered in the multi-player trailer for the video game Call of Duty: Ghosts.
On August 25, 2012, he released “Berzerk” and went on to release three more singles following “Survival”, “Rap God” and “The Monster.
Then, on November 3, 2013, he became the first YouTube Music Awards Artist of the Year, and a week later he was able to receive the Global Icon Award at the 2013 MTV EMA Music Awards. He even became the first artist to receive two digital diamonds.
Caption: Eminem performing on the stage (Source: MTV)
From 2014 to 2019
In the summer of 2014, Eminem along with Rosenberg released Shady Record and the album’s track list was released on October 29.
The album was able to debut at number three on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 138,000 copies in the United States.
He is the executive producer of the soundtrack on the sports drama Southpaw, with Shady Records.
He was also able to appear on the public access show Only in Monroe, in Monroe, Michigan, and in an interview by guest host Stephen Colbert for an episode on July 1, 2015.
Also, in February 2017, he appeared on “No Favors”, a track from Big Sean’s album I Decided.
In November 2017, the first single “Walk on Water” was released, which featured Beyoncé. He performed the song first at the 2017 MTV Europe Music Awards on November 12, featuring Skylar Grey.
He also was able to appear on Saturday Night Live on November 18, performing “Walk on Water”, “Stan” and “Love the Way You Lie” along with Skylar Grey.
Eminem then went on to release “Untouchable”, “River”, “Nowhere Fast”, “Chloraseptic”, “Fall”, “Venom”, and “Lucky You”.
2020 to Present
Eminem went on to release another surprise album Music to Be Murdered By on January 17, 2020.
The album was able to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 279,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.
He even became the first artist to have ten consecutive albums debut at number one in the US and one of six artists to have released at least ten US number-one albums.
Likewise, the lyrics of “Unaccommodating”, in which he referenced the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, drew significant criticism, with many critics finding the lyrics objectionable.
Moreover, on March 9, 2020, the music video for the song “Godzilla” was released on YouTube through Lyrical Lemonade’s channel.
He also went on to release a deluxe edition of the album, titled Music to Be Murdered By – Side B, on December 18, 2020.
He was able to perform alongside LL Cool J at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony on October 30, 2021.
Eminem also got to perform at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show alongside fellow rappers Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and singer Mary J. Blige, with surprise appearances from 50 Cent and Anderson. Paak.
Likewise, he release a new track, “The King and I” along with CeeLo Green on June 16, 2022. Moreover, he also releases a song with Snoop Dogg.
Furthermore, Eminem went on to announce his second greatest hits album on July 11, 2022, Curtain Call 2, which will be a sequel to his first compilation Curtain Call: The Hits. This album will cover his albums from Relapse to Music to Murdered By (including the Side B re-issue), as well as collaborations and songs from movie soundtracks.
More About Career
Eminem has been able to cite several MCs as influencing his rapping style, including Esham, Kool G Rap, Masta Ace, Big Daddy Kane, Newcleus, Ice-T, Mantronix, Melle Mel (on “The Message”), LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C., Rakim and Boogie Down Productions.
He even incorporates rap-rock into his music and has cited rock acts during the 1970s and 1980s.
Likewise, he uses alter egos in his songs for different rapping styles and subject matter.
And, although he usually collaborates with Aftermath Entertainment and Shady Records rappers he has also worked with Redman, Kid Rock, DMX, Lil Wayne, Missy Elliott, Jay Z, Drake, Rihanna, Nas, Nicki Minaj, Xzibit, Method Man, Jadakiss, Fat Joe, Sticky Fingaz, T.I. and Young Jeezy.
Eminem was the executive producer of D12’s first two albums, Obie Trice’s Cheers and Second Round’s on Me and 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and The Massacre. He also has been able to produce songs for other rappers and is unusual in structuring his songs around the lyrics, rather than writing to beats.
He is a white performer prominent in a genre influenced by black artists so he was compared, much to his chagrin, to Elvis Presley, and lyrically to Bob Dylan.
Likewise, on December 5, 2006, released the compilation album Eminem Presents: The Re-Up on Shady Records.
The project started as a mixtape, but when he found the material better than expected he released it as an album.
Also, while Eminem was recording Infinite, he along with Proof and Kon Artis assembled a group of fellow rappers, D12, short for “Detroit Twelve” or “Dirty Dozen”.
They performed in a style similar to Wu-Tang Clan and in 2001 released their debut album, Devil’s Night. After the debut, they took a three-year break from the studio.
They reunited in the year 2004 for their second album, D12 World, which included the hit singles “My Band” and “How Come”.
And, in January 2014, Bass Brothers announced that D12 had returned to record at F.B.T. Studio and they were working on an album with Eminem on at least three songs.
Acting Career and More
Eminem was able to make his Hollywood debut in the semi-autobiographical 2002 film 8 Mile, after small roles in the 2001 film Wash and as an extra in the 1998 Korn music video for “Got the Life”.
He also voiced an aging, corrupt, Ebonics-speaking police officer in the video game 50 Cent: Bulletproof and guested on the Comedy Central television show Crank Yankers and a Web cartoon, The Slim Shady Show.
He starred in an unmade film version of Have Gun – Will Travel.
Moreover, he also was able to play himself in the Entourage season-seven finale “Lose Yourself” along with Christina Aguilera. He has a cameo appearance as himself in the 2014 film The Interview.
In November 2000, Eminem was able to publish Angry Blonde which is a non-fiction book featuring a commentary of several of his own songs, along with several previously unpublished photographs. He published his autobiography The Way I Am in the year 2008.
The book is a collection of Eminem’s personal stories, reflections, photographs, original artwork, and original lyric sheets from “Stan” and “The Real Slim Shady”.
Also, he published an autobiography of his mother the following month, in which Debbie Nelson describes her childhood and adolescence, meeting Eminem’s father, and her son’s rise to fame.
Moreover, Eminem was able to appear in two commercials during Super Bowl XLV. He even established the Marshall Mathers Foundation to aid disadvantaged youth.
This foundation works in conjunction with a charity founded by Norman Yatooma, a Detroit attorney.
Also, he has always expressed his political views in multiple songs. However, he always has refrained from direct endorsements of politicians, focusing more on criticisms instead.
Controversies and Legal Issues
Some of his lyrics were homophobic according to critics. Even an Australian politician attempted to ban him from the country.
However, he denied the charge, saying that when he was growing up words such as “faggot” and “queer” were generally derogatory manner and not specifically toward homosexuals.
Likewise, in the year 1999, his mother sued him for $10 million, claiming he was slandering her on The Slim Shady LP.
And, Litigation concluded in 2001, resulting in an award of $1,600 for her damages.
Moreover, the police arrested him for pulling out an unloaded gun during an altercation, assaulting John Guerra in the parking lot, for weapon charges stemming from an argument with an employee of Psychopathic Records, and many others.
Many people sued him for various reasons some being his slurs in his songs, assault, and others.
Moreover, in 2003, the United States Secret Service reported that it was “looking into” allegations that Eminem threatened U.S. President George W. Bush[64] in “We As Americans”.
Also, in 2000, Eminem was going to perform at Toronto’s SkyDome. But Ontario Attorney General Jim Flaherty didn’t allow him to enter the country.
Due to his aggressive words in his songs which are very disrespectful.
Achievements
Eminem is famous for popularizing hip hop to a Middle American audience.
His unprecedented global commercial success and acclaimed works as a white rapper are widely popular. As he broke racial barriers for the acceptance of white rappers in popular music.
He rose from rags to riches and his anger-fueled music represented widespread angst and the reality of the American underclass.
Also, he has been greatly influential for artists of various genres. He is even starting to bear a resemblance to one of those rock icons.
Moreover, he is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Eminem has had thirteen number-one albums on the Billboard 200: nine solo, two with D12, and one with Bad Meet Evil.
He even was the best-selling music artist from 2000 to 2009 in the US according to Nielsen SoundScan and in the United States of the 2010s.
Furthermore, he is on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time.
He was third on “The 10 Best Rappers of All Time” list by Billboard in 2014 and in 2008, became the Best Rapper Alive.
In the year 2011, he became the “King of Hip-Hop” by Rolling Stone and critical ratings of solo rappers who released music from 2009 to the first half of 2011.
Likewise, Eminem has sold 47.4 million albums in the country and 107.5 million singles in the US.
He even has over ten billion views of his music videos on his YouTube Vevo page. Also, in 2014 he was able to become the most-streamed music artist of all time on Spotify.
He has 15 Grammy Awards, eight American Music Awards and 17 Billboard Music Awards, Global Icon Award at that year’s MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony, 2002 Academy Award for Best Original Song, MTV Movie & TV Awards for Best Actor, and Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Song for “Lose Yourself”.
Drug Addiction
Moreover, Eminem has spoken publicly about his addiction to prescription drugs, including Vicodin, Ambien as well as Valium. And, in December 2007, he had to go to the hospital after a methadone overdose.
Eminem – Body Measurements
Eminem has a height of 5 feet 8 inches and his weight is 68 Kg. His other body measurements are 38 -32-14 Inches and have hazel eyes and brunette hair color.
Eminem – Social Media
Eminem is active on most social media platforms. He owns his Instagram account under the name “@eminem” and has 36.3 million followers on it.
His Twitter account is under the name “Eminem” and has 22.7 million followers until now.
Likewise, his Facebook and Youtube account has 9.4 million followers and 52.9 million subscribers respectively.