Eminem Biography
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Eminem's
real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III. He was
born on October 17, 1973 in St. Joseph Missouri
(outside of Kansas City).
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As
a child he lived with his mother in impoverished
neighborhoods, moving from state to state until
they finally took root in Detroit, Michigan in
1985.
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He
didn't last very long in High School - he
dropped out in 9th grade, however, in the mid to
late 1990's he began to take up rapping.
He became known as the associated with local rap
groups Basement Productions, The New Jacks and
D12.
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In
1995 he released his first rap album,
Infinite, but it did not do very well and it
was crashed by many critics.
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In
1996, he began to gain some fame and following
when the "white rapper" won the
Wake Up Show's
Freestyle Performer Of The Year award, and
followed this up by a second place finish in the
1997 Rap Coalition's Los Angeles' Annual
Rap Olympics. His critics began to become his
admirers.
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On
a personal note, in 1996 he had a daughter with
his girlfriend Kim.
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In
1997, he released his second album on an
independent label The Slim Shady EP.
The album was very successful with his core
audience.
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People
in the music industry began to take notice, and
Dr. Dre, owner of Aftermath Records signed him
to a record deal. The Slim Shady LP
was released in 1999 and became an instant
favorite to not only his core listeners, but
also to a wider audience making it to #2 on the
Billboard Album Chart. Some of the hype of this
album was due to its controversial lyrics, which
made news headlines around the country to
give Eminem a lot of free negative publicity -
and cause teens to purchase the album even
faster. He was given even more publicity
when his own mother filed a lawsuit stating that
the lyrics cause her emotional distress. There
was also a public feud between him and pop star Christina
Aguilera, who claimed his lyrics falsely
accused her of having oral sex with two
celebrities (Fred Durst and Carson Daily). Then
there was his weapons and assault convictions
(he had to do community service) Yes, these
caused more people to buy his albums. He
was also able to give white rappers some acclaim
within the industry. For his work on the ablum,
he won two Grammy Awards: Best Solo Performance
("My Name Is) and Best Rap Album (The Slim
Shady LP)
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The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May
of 2000 to great fanfare and debuted at number
one on the U.S. album charts. Of course, there
was more controversy, this time by gay-rights
groups saying that his lyrics and videos were
derogatory towards the day community.
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When
it came time for the Grammy Awards, he took home
three, and to show the world that he was not
homophobic, he performed live with Elton John
(singer and know homosexual), and they even had
a warm embrace on stage afterwards.
The Grammy wer:
Best Rap Solo Performance (The Real Slim
Shady), Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or
Group (w/Dr. Dre), and Best Rap Album (The
Marshall Mathers LP)
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2002
was another banner year for Eminem, with his
next hit album, The Eminem Show.
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He
also took his talent to the big screen in 2002,
with the release of the movie Eight Mile,
where he plays a white rapper. The movie
was a box office success. Even more
surprising was his acting, and he was nominated
for an Academy Award for Best Actor for this
movie.
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In
2004 he release two more albums, D12 World,
with his former group from Detroit and the album
Encore. Both have been successful,
but what else is new? The controversy in
2004 arose from his videos from Encore.
For the Mosh video, he goes into the political
arena and sends a very anti-Bush message, while
in another media, he makes fun of celebrities,
such as Michael Jackson. When Jackson
brought his complaints public, it only brought
more attention to the albums, and more sales.
"I do say things that I think will shock people . .
. but I don't do things to shock people. I'm not
trying to be the next Tupac, but I don't know how
long I'm going to be on this planet. So while I'm
here, I might as well make the most of it."
Biography by Ian Ripley,
PopStarsPlus.com, Sr. Staff Writer
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