Born in Missouri, Marshall Mathers grew up in a troubled family. He never got to see his father in his childhood since he left while he was still an infant. His mother, Deborah Mathers, had trouble staying at one job and was always moving. They mainly moved between Missouri and Detroit and were never really able to settle down. Marshall was always changing schools and once said that it seemed like he was at a new school a few times in just one year. Every new school he moved to he was always getting bullied and he never made any friends in school. His mother was said to be an abusive parent and on drugs a good majority of his life. They finally settled in a trailer park in Detroit called 8 Mile. Marshall never did very well when it came to getting good grades in school. He failed the ninth grade three times and eventually dropped out while he was only 17 years old. Although he was a high school dropout, he excelled when it came to English. He used to read comic books all the time and sometimes studying the dictionary. “I just felt like I wanna be able to have all of these words at my disposal, in my vocabulary at all times whenever I need to pull ’em out”. (Source 1).

Marshall grew listening to the controversial rap group N.W.A and wanted to prove stereotypes wrong. Listening to N.W.A  as a teenager he knew that he wanted to be like them. He started off in mess halls joining rap battles hoping to become known. After just a few rap battles, everyone started to respect his rap skills. Marshall mainly talked about his troubled past and all of the things he went through growing up. During his time with rap battles, he earned the  nickname M&M wish was supposed to understood as his initials but he turned it into Eminem. He was also trying to find jobs to make ends meet for his family.

In 1995 Eminem met Kim Scott and later had a girl named Hailie Scott. A year after his daughter was born, he released his very first album “infinite” which didn’t get him anywhere. His second album, “The Slim Shady EP”, is really what got his career kicked off. This album caught the attention of famous rapper Dr. Dre. Eminem left his family and went to Los Angeles to enter the rap Olympics in which he came in second place. This really caught the attention of Dr. Dre and signed Eminem to the Interscope Records label. ”The Slim Shady LP” was his first album under Interscope and was a major success with it flying of shelves in stores. The hit “My Name Is” was the most famous song on his album that reflected his sense of crude humor. After he sold his first album, Him and Kim got married.

Eminem’s next successful album was “The Marshall Mathers LP” which featured many famous songs such as “Stan”, “Kim” and, “The Way I Am”. This album reached the billboard top 100 chart, won him his first Grammy and, was nominated for rap album of the year. To this day, it is still said to be one of the best rap albums of all time. Even with the success of his album, he was harshly criticized for the content on the album.

Eminem slowed down his production of albums due to more personal problems such as his divorce with Kim. They remained together off and on for the next couple years and got married for a second time in 2006. Following his marriage to Kim, his year started to go downhill. Eminem slipped into a deep depression due to the death of one of his close friends from Detroit and yet another divorce from Kim. This brought out a major battle between the two on the custody of their little girl Hailie. This became a huge deal in the news and lasted for about a year. Eminem was able to have joint custody of Hailie and allowed him to have physical custody. Following this his depression became even worse and he began taking pain pills and becoming a serious alcoholic which almost cost him his life. “If I would have got to the hospital two hours later, that would have been it”. (Source 1).

Luckily Eminem was able to end his addiction before it was too late and following his addiction he started his career again. He came out with the album “Relapse” which was his first in over five years. Following “Relapse”, he came out with his next hit album “Recovery” which won him yet another Grammy for album of the year. On “Recovery” were two of his biggest singles yet in “Not Afraid” and “Love The Way You Lie” which featured Rihanna. Both hits made it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

After seven albums and two Grammys for album of the year, Eminem has changed the rap game forever. He has also set the tone for future rappers that will try and succeed him. It will be a while before anybody will be able to come close to what Eminem has done. Without Eminem, rap wouldn’t be where it is today.