Eminem

Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17 1972), better known by his stage names Eminem and Slim Shady, is an Oscar and multiple Grammy Award winning American rapper, record producer, and actor. Having sold over seventy million albums worldwide, Eminem is one of the highest-selling musicians of the early 2000s thus, making him one of the highest-selling rap artists of all time. Eminem was discovered by rapper and producer Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre later signed Eminem to his record label, Aftermath Entertainment.

Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney has praised Mathers for his "verbal energy" and for arousing popular interest in poetry and lyrics. Eminem is infamous for the controversy surrounding many of his lyrics. With the success of his highly acclaimed album, The Marshall Mathers LP and its subsequent nomination for four Grammy awards including Album of the Year, critics such as GLAAD denounced his lyrics as homophobic and misogynist, while others claimed that it promoted violence. In 2002, he starred in the semi-autobiographical movie 8 Mile.

Biography

Early life (1972-1994)

Eminem was born in St. Joseph, Missouri to Deborah (née Nelson) and Marshall Bruce Mathers II, of Scottish, German, and English descent. Shortly after his birth, his father walked out, leaving Debbie and Marshall alone. Until he was 12, he and his mother moved to and from between St. Joseph and Warren, Michigan, a Detroit suburb, where he met D12 rapper Proof. He was reportedly interested in hip hop from a young age. Because he was small for his age and he was one of the few whites that lived in an African American neighboorhood he was reportedly picked on. Mathers decided that even though he was too small to fight back he would instead retaliate with words. Learning how to "battle" his foes with rap music gave him an outlet for his anger. Mathers began performing as early as 13 in a group called Bassmint Productions where they produced an EP called Steppin' onto the Scene.

First releases (1995-1998)

In 1995, he recorded his first official tape, Fuckin’ Backstabber/Soul Intent. In 1996, he released an independent underground album named Infinite. Eminem recalls: "Obviously, I was young and influenced by other artists, and I got a lot of feedback saying that I sounded like Nas and AZ. Infinite was me trying to figure out how I wanted my rap style to be, how I wanted to sound on the mic and present myself. It was a growing stage. I felt like Infinite was like a demo that just got pressed up." Mathers followed Infinite with The Slim Shady EP, which saw his lyrics take a decidedly darker turn, in songs like "No One's Iller" and "Murder Murder", the latter of which he talks about having to commit crimes to feed his daughter.

After this album he received much attention and mixed reviews in the hip-hop underground scene, due to his distinctive style and the fact that he was white in a predominantly black genre.

Mathers had done a notable amount of rapping with fellow Detroit MC Royce da 5'9" early in his career. They referred to themselves as Bad Meets Evil, with Eminem playing 'The Bad' and Royce playing 'The Evil'. Royce da 5'9" and Eminem were once considered to be two of the greatest underground MCs in Detroit and were noted for their lyrical ability.

In 1997, when Eminem was still rising to fame, he started a long feud against the already famous Insane Clown Posse. The feud originated in 1997 at Saint Andrew's Hall, where Eminem was handing out flyers for a party promoting his Slim Shady EP. The flyer listed appearances by a number of Detroit rappers, including ICP. Violent J, a member of ICP, was not too happy about being listed without his knowledge and he told Eminem that he wasn't going to play at his party. Eminem, taking his rejection as an insult, began insulting ICP, telling people, for example, that he threw them out of a club in Detroit. ICP denied the event in their song Nuttin' But a Bitch Thang:

"You ain't never chased us out of no club bitch... only club you ever chased anybody out of was a gay bar bitch".

The rivalry between these rappers has not slowed down, as of recently.

Rise to fame (1999-2004)

After being signed to Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records, Eminem released The Slim Shady LP, which went on to be one of the most popular albums of 1999, going triple platinum by the end of the year. With the album's popularity came controversy surrounding many of the album's lyrics. In "'97 Bonnie and Clyde", he describes a trip with his infant daughter, disposing of the body of his wife. Another song, "Guilty Conscience", ends with his encouraging a man to murder his wife and her lover. "Guilty Conscience" also marked the beginning of the powerful friendship and musical bond that Dr. Dre and Eminem would share. The two label-mates would later collaborate on a line of hit songs, including "Forgot About Dre" and "What's the Difference" from Dr. Dre's album 2001, "Bitch Please II" from the Marshall Mathers LP, "Say What You Say" from The Eminem Show and "Encore/Curtains Down" from Encore.

Eminem was arrested when, on June 3, 2000, during an altercation at a car audio store in Royal Oak, Michigan, with Douglas Dail, the ICP manager, he pulled out an unloaded gun and kept it pointed at the ground. The following day, in Warren, Michigan, he allegedly saw his then wife, Kim, kiss the bouncer John Guerrera in the parking lot of the Hot Rock Café and assaulted him with his gun. He was given two years probation for both the episodes. The skit The Kiss on The Eminem Show is based around the latter incident.

The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May 2000, and quickly sold two million copies. It was Eminem's fastest selling album to date. The first single released from the album, "The Real Slim Shady", was a success and created some buzz by insulting celebrities and making dubious claims about them; he implies, among other things, that Christina Aguilera performed oral sex on Fred Durst (of Limp Bizkit) and Carson Daly (of MTV's Total Request Live). In his second single, "The Way I Am", he reveals to his fans the pressures from his record company to top "My Name Is" and sell more records. Although Eminem had parodied shock rocker Marilyn Manson in the video "My Name Is", the artists are now on good terms. They have performed a remix of the song "The Way I Am" together in concert. In the third single, "Stan" (which samples Dido's "Thank You"), Eminem attempts to deal with his new-found fame, taking on the perspective of a deranged fan who kills himself and his pregnant girlfriend, mirroring "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" on The Slim Shady LP. It was named as the third greatest rap song of all time in a list compiled by Q Magazine, and came 10th in a similar survey conducted by Top40-Charts.com. The song has since become highly acclaimed and was ranked 290th in Rolling Stone Magazine's "500 Greatest Songs Of All Time".

Mathers' third major album, The Eminem Show, was released in summer 2002 and proved to be another hit for the rapper reaching number one on the charts and selling well over 1 million copies in its first week of release. It featured the single "Without Me", an apparent sequel to "The Real Slim Shady", in which he makes derogatory comments about boy bands, Limp Bizkit, Moby, and Lynne Cheney, among others. The album reflected on the impact of his rise to fame, his relationship with his wife and daughter, and his status in the hip-hop community. He also addresses the charges he faced over assaulting a bouncer he saw kissing his wife in 2000. While there is clear anger present on several tracks, this album was considerably less inflammatory than the previous, and as such did not face any protests of misogyny and homophobia that had plagued The Marshall Mathers LP.

The year 2004 saw the release of Mathers' fourth major album, Encore. The album was another chart-topper for the rapper, driven by the single "Just Lose It", notable for being disrespectful towards Michael Jackson. Despite the comedic theme of the lead single, Encore also had its fair share of serious subject matter, including the anti-war track "Mosh". By the end of 2005 Mathers released the single, "When I'm Gone", recorded for the greatest-hits set Curtain Call: The Hits.

Eminem often said that one of his most influential rappers in his career was Tupac Shakur, during an interview for the Tupac: Resurrection documentary.

Recent years (2005-present)

In 2005, some industry insiders speculated that Mathers was considering ending his rapping career after six years and several multi-platinum albums. Speculation began in early 2005 about a double-disc album to be released late that year, rumored to be titled The Funeral. The album manifested itself under the name Curtain Call: The Hits, and was released on December 6 2005 under Aftermath Entertainment. In July 2005, the Detroit Free Press broke news of a potential final bow for Mathers as a solo performer, quoting members of his inside circle who said that he will begin to fully embrace the role of producer and label executive. The Free Press, Mathers' hometown paper, wrote that the aptly titled Encore album would now stand as his final solo album. On December 6 2005, the day Curtain Call: The Hits was released, Mathers denied that he was retiring on Detroit-based WKQI's "Mojo in the Mornin'" radio show, but implied that he would at least be taking a break as an artist, saying "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."

On December 5 2006, Eminem released an album compilation entitled Eminem Presents the Re-Up. It started out as a mixtape but Eminem found that the material was better than expected and released it as a full album. It was meant to help launch new Shady Records artists Stat Quo, Ca$his, and Bobby Creekwater.

In September 2007, Eminem called into New York radio station Hot 97 during a 50 Cent interview and confirmed he is hard at work on his first studio album in three years. He said, "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." And though he jokingly said he'd release the new CD "tomorrow", there is no official release date, according to Interscope. Dr. Dre told the Los Angeles Times that he will now devote two months to work on Eminem's new highly-anticipated album, saying "We'll be trying to get his thing done and work on a few things on my own project".

In November, 50 Cent said Eminem won't tour again because of his daughter. He told MTV One: "I've toured more than him because he has Hailie and he likes to physically be at the house. A lot of people don't know the reason behind him touring less - but Hailie would put boxes in front of the door thinking this would stop him going. He would fly back on a private plane after the show so he could drive her to school in the morning so for him the tour was exhausting."

In October 2007, a DJ Whoo Kid untitled track was leaked but there is no information on when it was recorded. It was announced that on November 13 he is going to release a new DVD, Live from New York City; the 2005 Madison Square Garden concert was originally aired on the Showtime network in December 2005. The concert was shown on a few occasions on MTV in Europe. It features D12, Obie Trice and Stat Quo.

Other projects and D12

Main article: D12

In 2001, Mathers brought his rap group, D12, to the popular music scene. In 2001, D12 released their hit debut album Devil's Night (album).

The first single released off of the album was "Purple Pills", an ode to recreational drug use. (In the UK this was preceded by "Shit on You", included on the special edition version of the album.) The version of "Purple Pills" released for radio and music television was heavily rewritten to remove many of the song's obscene lyrics, and renamed "Purple Hills". While the first single was a hit, the album's second single, "Fight Music", was not as successful, in part due to its timing in relation to the 9/11 attacks.

After their debut, D12 took a three-year break from the studio, later regrouping to release their second album, D12 World, in 2004, which featured the popular hit single release "My Band". The other members of D12 have also appeared as guests on all of Mathers' albums since The Marshall Mathers LP.

On April 11, 2006, D12 member Proof was killed by a gunshot wound to the head at approximately 4:30am EDT (08:30 UTC) at the CCC Club on 8 Mile Road in Detroit, Michigan after fatally shooting U.S. military veteran Keith Bender, Jr. Proof was buried on April 20, 2006 in The Fellowship Chapel, Detroit to a full house of 2,000 with thousands more mourning outside. Mathers and Obie Trice both read eulogies at the service.

An excerpt:

I'm sure everybody who has ever met him, even just once, can testify to the fact that he illuminated a room when he walked in it. I believe that Proof loved people and people loved him. He was a magnet. He lured you in. You wanted to learn about him, follow his swagger. Without Proof, there would be no Eminem, no Slim Shady, and no D12.

During an interview, D12 member Bizarre said that Interscope doesn't want D12's third album to be released until after Eminem's next album. He also said that Eminem isn't featured on his new album Blue Cheese & Coney Island because "he's busy doing his thing".

Eminem rapped a verse in a live performance of Busta Rhymes' "Touch It" remix at the 2006 BET Music Awards on June 27, 2006.

Eminem was featured on Akon's single "Smack That" which appeared on Akon's new album Konvicted. He also appears in the video with a new tattoo of his late friend Proof and a green polo.

On December 1, 2007, a new track featuring Eminem was released from a DJ Young Mase Mixtape with Obie Trice. The track is called "I Can Be", in which Helleva features Eminem.

50 cent confirmed that on the new G-Unit album, Shoot to Kill, that will be released in December, there will be a track with Eminem. Lil Wayne stated that he has the craziest song for Eminem on his new album, Tha Carter III, but that he hasn't "sent it over yet".

Eminem as a producer

See also: Eminem production discography

Mathers is also active as a producer of rap records. Besides being the executive producer of D12's two albums, Devil's Night and D12 World, he has also executive produced Obie Trice's Cheers and Second Round's on Me as well as 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' and The Massacre. In addition, Mathers has produced and appeared on several songs by other famous rappers, such as Jadakiss' "Welcome To D-Block", Jay-Z's "Renagade" and "Moment of Clarity" Lloyd Banks' "Warrior Part 2", and "Hands Up", Tony Yayo's "Drama Setter", Trick Trick's "Welcome 2 Detroit", and Xzibit's "My Name" and "Don't Approach Me". Most of The Eminem Show was produced by Mathers himself, with co-production from longtime collaborator Jeff Bass. He also split the production with Dr. Dre on Encore. In 2004, Mathers was the Executive Producer of 2Pac's posthumous album Loyal to the Game with 2Pac's mother Afeni Shakur. He produced the UK #1 single "Ghetto Gospel" which featured Elton John. On certain tracks on the album, 2Pac's voice was slowed down and digitally altered to match the beat and make him say things like "2005" and "G-Unit", angering many fans. He has also produced "The Cross" off Nas's album God's Son. On August 15, 2006, Obie Trice released Second Round's on Me. Eminem produced 8 tracks on the album. He was also featured in the song "There They Go".

Acting career

Mathers made his Hollywood acting debut with the semi-autobiographical 8 Mile, released in November 2002. He has said the movie is not an account of his life, but a representation of growing up in Detroit. He recorded several new songs for the soundtrack, including "Lose Yourself", which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song; it was not performed at the ceremony, reportedly because ABC wanted him to perform an edited version. Mathers voiced a character in 50 Cent: Bulletproof, who is an aging corrupt police officer that speaks in Ebonics. He has also done some voice acting, both on Crank Yankers and a web cartoon called The Slim Shady Show, which has since been pulled off-line and is instead sold on DVD. Eminem will star in the upcoming film Have Gun — Will Travel in which he will play a bounty hunter called Paladin. He will also be involved in either the soundtrack or scoring. He has also stated a movie production company called “Interscope/Shady/Aftermath Films” with Dr. Dre. The company has worked on 50 Cent's debut movie Get Rich or Die Tryin' and will work on Eminem's next movie Have Gun — Will Travel.

Shady Records

Main article: Shady Records

As Mathers succeeded in multi-platinum record sales, Interscope granted him his own record label. He and his manager Paul Rosenberg created Shady Records in late 2000. He followed this by signing his own Detroit collective D12 and rapper Obie Trice to the label. In 2002, Mathers signed 50 Cent through a joint venture between Shady and Dr. Dre's Aftermath label. In 2003, Mathers and Dr. Dre signed on Atlanta rapper Stat Quo to the Shady/Aftermath roster. DJ Green Lantern, the former DJ for Mathers, was signed to Shady Records until a dispute related to the 50 Cent and Jadakiss feud forced him to depart from the label; he is no longer associated with Mathers. The Alchemist is now officially Mathers' tour DJ. In 2005, Mathers officially signed another Atlanta rapper known as Bobby Creekwater to his label along with west coast rapper Ca$his.

In the Anger Management Tour of 2003 The Alchemist hurt his wrist, preventing him from being the tour's DJ. Clinton Sparks filled in for him, with the rectom playing and his name is mentioned on the album numerous times.

Drug use

Mathers is no stranger to drugs and alcohol, as suggested by a large number of his songs, including "Drug Ballad", "These Drugs" (with D12) and "Under the Influence". The song "I'm Shady" (The Slim Shady LP, 1999) includes the explanatory line: "Well, I do take pills (ecstasy, acid, or prescription drugs), don't do speed / don't do crack, don't do coke / I do smoke weed / don't do smack / I do do 'shrooms, do drink beer / I just wanna make a few things clear."

Other tracks, such as "Just Don't Give a Fuck", suggest cocaine use. However, with a sentence of two years of probation taking effect in 2001, during which he was subject to mandatory regular drug testing, his recreational drug use was put to an end. This is supported with references to his drug use in his music all but disappearing after 2001, and comments by late band-mate Proof, who stated that Mathers "sobered up". However, he did turn to Zolpidem sleeping pills for relief of sleeping troubles and eventually went to rehab to recover from the addiction. In summer 2005, Mathers embarked on his first U.S. concert run in three years, the Anger Management 3 Tour, featuring Lil' Jon, 50 Cent and G-Unit, D12, Obie Trice, The Alchemist, and others. In August 2005, Mathers canceled the European leg of the tour and subsequently announced that he had entered drug rehabilitation for treatment for a "dependency on sleep medication".

Controversy

Alleged homophobia

With the enormous popularity of The Marshall Mathers LP, the controversy surrounding him grew even larger, especially when it was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Though Mathers had always claimed that his lyrics were not meant to be taken seriously, and that he had nothing against homosexuals or women, the gay rights group GLAAD organized a boycott of the Grammys. Ironically, at the Grammys Eminem performed his hit "Stan", with Elton John singing the chorus. Eminem said he did not know Elton John was gay, but he told Kurt Loder after the awards show that he respected him: "Of course I'd heard of Elton John," Eminem said, "but I didn't know he was gay. I didn't know anything about his personal life. I didn't really care, but being that he was gay and he had my back, I think it made a statement in itself saying that he understood where I was coming from." He had also included it on his Curtain Call: The Hits compilation album. Eminem is known to be featured on a future album release by Elton John.

Violence towards women

The two songs most often cited as examples in The Marshall Mathers LP of Mathers' supposed misogyny were "Kill You", and "Kim." Critics claimed the former portrayed extremely violent abuse against women in general and contained a line about him raping his own mother (despite the line at the end: "I'm just playing ladies, you know I love you"). In the latter, despite his conflicting expressions of love and hate throughout the track, he ends up slitting Kim's throat at the end, accompanied by cries of "Bleed, bitch, bleed!" Several people objected to the graphic description of domestic violence. On the clean version of the CD, the track was removed and replaced with a song almost entirely devoid of profanity called "The Kids."

In 2005, Eminem was a subject of criticism in Bernard Goldberg's book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America, being ranked at #58. Goldberg cited a 2001 column by Bob Herbert of New York Times claiming, "In Eminem's world, all women are whores and he is eager to rape and murder them." The Eminem song "No One's Iller" was also used by Goldberg as an example of misogyny in his music.

Criticism from other artists

Eminem's provocative style has resulted in a number of high-profile feuds erupting between the rapper and some of his music industry peers. In almost all of these disputes Eminem and other have more-or-less made peace. He has used his many connections within the music industry, especially with mixtape DJs, to release many unofficial diss tracks. His partnership with DJ Green Lantern, while it lasted, led to several mixtapes entitled The Invasion. On these mixtapes there were many songs unrelated to the animosity between Eminem and his labelmates and other artists, though the majority of the songs could easily be called diss tracks. The harshest of these was the second, called Conspiracy Theory. It had several songs by Eminem attacking a range of artists, particularly Ja Rule and Benzino, including "Bump Heads," "Doe Ray Me," and a remix of the Tupac (2Pac) song "Hail Mary" (with no contribution from the original artist).

Eminem's "Mosh" marked the end of the long feud between Moby and Eminem; when Moby complimented both the song and Eminem for his politically charged song on his blog. Eminem has not attacked or criticized Moby since.

Chuck D of Public Enemy has shared both positive and negative critique of Eminem having called him the "new" Elvis Presley.:"Eminem is the new Elvis Presley because, number one, he has the respect for black music that Elvis had. I think he's courteous and sympathetic to black music and, unfortunately, he's more sympathetic to black music than many black artists themselves." In 2003, "Weird Al" Yankovic was denied permission to make a video for "Couch Potato", his parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself". "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." For the Poodle Hat Al TV special, Yankovic raised the question of artistic expression in a false interview with Eminem. As Yankovic has always done for his Al TV specials, he edited the footage of a previous Eminem interview and inserted himself asking questions such that it unmasked Eminem as a hypocrite on the matter of an artist's right to free speech.

Criticism of George W. Bush

File:Eminem mosh.PNG

Eminem votes in the video "Mosh".

On December 8, 2003, the United States Secret Service admitted it was "looking into" allegations that Mathers had threatened the President of the United States after the unreleased song "We As Americans" leaked onto the Web. The lyrics in question: "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...". The song in question, titled "We As Americans", was being recorded possibly for Encore but wound up on a bonus CD accompanying the album instead. The second use of the word "dead" was backmasked in that version, sounding like head. The word was also used in Immortal Technique's song "Bin Laden", stated near the end. Immortal Technique also attacks the president on the song. His song "White America" from the The Eminem Show album states a long supposed "anti-American" speech:

"sent to lead the march right up to the steps of congress, and piss on the lawns of the White House, to burn the flag and replace it with a parental advisory sticker, to spit liquor in the faces of in this democracy of hypocrisy, fuck you Ms. Cheney, fuck you Tipper Gore, fuck you with the freest of speech this divided states of embarrassment will allow me to have, FUCK YOU!".

On October 26, 2004, a week before the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, Eminem released the video for his song titled "Mosh" on the internet. The song features a very strong anti-Bush message, with lyrics such as "fuck Bush" and "this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president." The video features Mathers gathering up an army of people (including rapper Lloyd Banks) presented as victims of the Bush administration and leading them to the White House. However, once the army breaks in, it is revealed that they are there to simply register to vote, and the video ends with the words "VOTE Tuesday November 2" on the screen.

After Bush won the election, the video's ending was changed to Eminem and the protesters invading while Bush was giving a speech.

Michael Jackson

On October 12, 2004, a week after the release of "Just Lose It", Eminem's first single off Encore, Michael Jackson called into the Los Angeles-based Steve Harvey radio show to report his displeasure with the video, which parodies Jackson's child molestation trial, plastic surgery, and an incident in which Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984. The lyrics to "Just Lose It" also refer to Jackson's legal troubles, however he does state in his song "...and that's not a stab at Michael/Thats just a metaphor/I'm just psycho...". Many of Jackson's supporters and friends spoke out about the video, including Stevie Wonder, who called the video "kicking a man while he's down" and "bullshit". and Steve Harvey who declared, "Eminem has lost his ghetto pass. We want the pass back."

Regarding Jackson's protest, "Weird Al" Yankovic, who parodied the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" on a track titled "Couch Potato" on his 2003 album Poodle Hat, told the Chicago Sun-Times, "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".

Discography

Main article: Eminem discography

Mainstream

• The Slim Shady LP (1999)
• The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
• The Eminem Show (2002)
• Encore (2004)
• King Mathers February (2008) D12 - Ambition (April 2008)

Compilations

• 8 Mile Original Soundtrack (2002)
• Curtain Call: The Hits (2005)
• Eminem Presents The Re-Up (2006)

Underground

• Soul Intent (demo tape) (1990)
• Steppin' onto the Scene (1992)
• The Bassmint Tapes (1994)
• Fuckin’ Backstabber/Soul Intent (1995)
• Infinite (1996)
• The Slim Shady EP (1997)
• Nuttin' To Do (1998)

Filmography

• Da Hip Hop Witch (2000), himself
• The Wash (2001), Chris
• 8 Mile (2002), Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith
• Have Gun — Will Travel (2008), Paladin

Awards

Main article: List of Eminem awards

In acceptance of his Grammy for Best Rap Album (for The Eminem Show) in 2003, he credited his rap influences, saying, "I made me a little list of MCs that I wanted to name off that inspired me to, to bring me where I am today - cause honestly, I wouldn't be here without them. So the list goes like this, and it's not in this order, but the list is this: Run-D.M.C., the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Kool G. Rap, Masta Ace, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Dr. Dre, all of N.W.A., KRS-One, Treach from Naughty by Nature, Nas, 2Pac, Biggie, Jay-Z. Thank you, 'cause I learned from all of you. Thank you."

See also

• List of best-selling music artists

External links

• Eminem at IMDb
• Official website
• Official Aftermath Entertainment website
• Official Shady Records website