Eminem, born as Marshall Mathers, has proven that with a lot of desire, drive
and dedication, anybody can accomplish even their greatest of goals.
Marshall "Eminem" Mathers was born on October 17, 1974, in Detroit, Michigan.
After moving to Kansas, he and his family returned to Detroit and settled in a
Black neighborhood. Records show that Marshall, while in school, was attacked
and beaten by school bullies, on numerous occasions.
On two occasions, Marshall was beaten into unconsciousness. Eminem's rap song
"Brain Damage" is a true story of when a bully hit Marshall on the head and
knocked him unconscious on the school playground. His ear began bleeding and he
was hospitalized. It was discovered that he had a brain hemorrhage. He was in
and out of consciousness for five days.
For Marshall, the road to success was long and hard.Marshall began rapping in 1990 at the "Hip Hop Shop" where he would
participate in rap battles.
On December 25, 1995 Eminem's girl friend, now wife, Kimberly Scott gave
birth to his daughter, Haile. Eminem continued rapping and worked at a family
restaurant in Detroit. Eminem, Kim and Haile lived in a crack-infested
neighborhood where stray bullets and residential burglaries occurred often. In
1997 Eminem became unemployed, had no high school diploma and couldn't afford to
support his family. He was tired of not having a record deal. He considered
giving up rap. He decided to record the "Slim Shady EP" as his last hope to make
it. His last attempt landed him a deal with Interscope Records and the next
year, in 1998, with
On February 23, 1999 Eminem's "The Slim Shady LP" was released. The LP
went triple platinum. Later he went on to win two Grammies. One for best rap
solo performance ("My Name Is"), and another for best rap album ("The Slim Shady
LP"). On May 23, 2000 Eminem released his second full-length album, "The
Marshall Mathers LP". The second LP sold 1.76 million copies in its first week
out, making a new record for the biggest one-week sales of any artist. Eminem
recently featured in Dr. Dre's "Up In Smoke" tour, which is widely recognized as
the biggest and best hip-hop tour ever.
Judging by his unfortunate earlier life, who would have thought Eminem would
grow to become one of America's most recognizable characters and one of the
music industries most successful rappers?
