Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better known by his stage names Eminem and Slim Shady, is an Academy and Grammy Award-winning and honorary hip hop artist, record producer and occasional actor.

He was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, though he was raised in Detroit, Michigan, around the East 8 Mile Road & Schoenherr intersection, the same neighborhood where he met his best friend Proof. He got his big break when his rapping ability was discovered by pioneer rapper and producer Dr. Dre. He signed him to his Aftermath Entertainment label, becoming a crossover sensation with his debut single "My Name Is". Eminem has been described as "the Bix Beiderbecke of rap".[1] He is noted for his ability to change his vocal pace and style multiple times within one song without losing the beat.[citation needed] Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney has praised Mathers for his "verbal energy" and for arousing popular interest in poetry and lyrics.[2] Mathers is also infamous for the controversy surrounding many of his lyrics. With the enormous 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 protested that it promoted violence.[3]

Mathers has stated that he is taking a break from solo work, but continues to produce and collaborate with fellow Aftermath artists, as well as rappers under his Shady Records label. Elton John has praised Eminem on many occasions claiming he is amongst legendary music stars such as Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix.[4]

In 2003 Eminem was named the second most powerful celebrity on the planet.[5] On December 5, 2006, Shady Records released Eminem Presents The Re-Up, an album compiled in mix-tape format that features the Shady Records artist. Eminem has plans to release an album around December 2007.

Biography

[edit] Early career

Interested in rap from a young age, Eminem began performing as early as 13, later gaining some popularity with the group Soul Intent in 1995 and released a two track album under the same name. In 1996, he released an independent underground album named Infinite. The album received no airplay and a mixed critical response, with people claiming Eminem's rapping style sounded too similar to Nas and A-Z. It was after this that drugs, drama, and negativity spread in his life. 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. He became famous in the hip hop underground because of his distinctive, cartoon-ish style and the fact that he was white in a predominantly black genre. Fellow rapper Snoop Dogg refers to him as rap's "great white American hope" in the song "Bitch Please 2" on Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP.

Eminem had done a notable amount of work with fellow Detroit MC Royce da 5'9" early in his career. They referred to themselves as Bad Meets Evil, with Eminem playing the Evil and Royce playing the Bad in the song of the same name. Royce da 5'9" and Eminem were considered to be two of the best underground MCs in Detroit and were both respected for their battling skills. The Jay-Z song "Renagade" uses Eminem's verses from a song originally done with Royce called "Renegade". The song's first verse ends with the words, "Royce, he's the king of Detroit…" which was replaced with Eminem making beat box noises sounding like "He's Jigga Jigga Jigga" (nickname for Jay-Z) for Jay-Z's "Renagade". Eminem makes a reference to Jay-Z in The Madd Rappers "Stir Crazy": "Go bring Jay-Z, tell him I'ma ghost-write for him on Dre's next CD".

While Royce and Eminem were great friends and had mutual respect for one another, both personally and musically, they eventually had a falling out. Royce later had an altercation with D12