Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popularizing hip-hop in Middle America and breaking down racial barriers for the acceptance of white rappers in popular music. While much of his transgressive work during the late 1990s and early 2000s made him a controversial figure, Eminem has become a representation of popular angst of the American underclass and is noted for his conscious lyrics, with political criticism and social commentary, and skilled rap flow.

After the release of 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. His next two releases, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002), became worldwide successes. Each sold over one million copies in a single week, with the latter further being the best-selling album worldwide of 2002 and the best selling hip-hop album of all time. Following the release of Encore (2004), Eminem took a hiatus due in part to struggles with prescription drug addiction. He later returned to the music industry with the releases of Relapse (2009) and Recovery (2010), the latter becoming the best-selling album worldwide of 2010. Each of his subsequent releases—The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013), Revival (2017), Kamikaze (2018), Music to Be Murdered By (2020), and The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) (2024)—have debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart.

In 2002, he starred in the drama film 8 Mile, receiving critical acclaim for playing a dramatized version of himself. "Lose Yourself", a song from the 8 Mile soundtrack, topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 12 weeks—the most for a solo rap song—and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, making him the first hip-hop act to ever win the award. Eminem was also a member of the hip-hop groups New Jacks, Soul Intent, Outsidaz and D12, as well as the duo Bad Meets Evil with Royce da 5'9". Furthermore, he co-founded Shady Records, which helped launch the careers of artists such as D12, 50 Cent and Obie Trice, established the Sirius XM Radio channel Shade 45 and opened a restaurant, Mom's Spaghetti.

Eminem is the best-selling rapper and one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 220 million records. He is the first musical act to ever have ten albums consecutively debut at number one on the Billboard 200, and also has five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Eminem is one of the highest-certified music artists in the United States, with three of his albums and four of his singles being certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In addition to an Academy Award, his accolades include 15 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, 17 Billboard Music Awards, 15 MTV Video Music Awards and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Billboard named him the Artist of the 2000s and Rolling Stone ranked him among the greatest artists and greatest songwriters of all time.

Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri, the only child of Deborah "Debbie" Nelson (1955-2024) and Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. (1951–2019). His mother nearly died during her 73-hour labor with him. Eminem's parents were in a band called Daddy Warbucks, playing in Ramada Inns along the Dakotas–Montana border before they separated. His father abandoned his family when Eminem was a year and a half old, and his mother raised him herself in poverty. He wrote letters to his father, but Debbie said that they all came back marked "return to sender".

Eminem and his mother shuttled among states, rarely staying in one house for more than a year or two and mostly living with family members, moved several times and lived in St. Joseph; Savannah, Missouri; Kansas City; Warren, Michigan; and Roseville, Michigan before settling in Detroit when Eminem was 12. For much of his youth, Eminem and his mother lived in a bungalow-style house in a working-class, primarily Black neighborhood in Detroit. He and Debbie were one of three white households on their block, and Eminem was beaten several times by Black youths. His mother had a son named Nathan "Nate" Kane Samara in 1986 with then-boyfriend Fred Samara. In 2013, the State of Michigan demolished his childhood home after it was damaged by arson.

Eminem frequently fought with his mother, whom a social worker described as having a "very suspicious, almost paranoid personality". When he was a child, a bully named D'Angelo Bailey severely injured his head in an assault, an incident which Eminem later recounted on the song "Brain Damage". Debbie filed a lawsuit against the public school for this in 1982. A Macomb County, Michigan judge dismissed the suit the following year, ruling that the schools were immune from lawsuits.

Eminem was interested in storytelling, aspiring to be a comic-book artist before discovering hip-hop. He heard his first rap song, "Reckless", on the Breakin' soundtrack, a gift from Debbie's half-brother, Ronnie Polkingharn. His uncle was close to the boy and later became a musical mentor to him. Following Polkingharn's suicide in 1991, Eminem stopped speaking publicly for days and did not attend his funeral.