Eminem was born on October 17, 1972 in St. Joseph, Missouri as
Marshall Bruce Mathers III. He grew up between Kansas City and Detroit and
attended Lincoln High School in Warren (1986-89). His
girlfriend and today's wife (who tried to commit suicide this month) gave
birth to his daughter in 1995. From 1996 to 1998, Marshall Mathers worked in a
family restaurant in St. Clair
Shores.
His full-length debut album Infinite was
released in 1996. Wendy Day of Rap Coalition listens to a copy and secured him
the possibility to perform at the Coalition's 1997 Rap Olympics in Los
Angeles, where he won second place in the freestyle competition. The Slim Shady-EP followed in 1998.
Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg gave people from Interscope Records his demo.
Marshall Mathers made his radio debut on the famous Wake Up Show with
Sway and Tech. He delivered an impressive performance, realizing that this was
the opportunity of his lifetime. Dr. Dre signed Eminem to his label Aftermath
after hearing Marshall freestyling on the Los Angeles radio station. Eminem
himself said in an interview that, in reality, Jimmy Iovine, president of
Interscope, played the tape with his music to Dr. Dre, who liked it. Anyhow, in
1999, Eminem's Slim Shady -LP was released and hit #2 on the Billboard Charts
within weeks. The Slim Shady LP not only sold three times platinum, but
also won him a Grammy as Best Rap Album and another Grammy as Best Rap Solo
Performance in 1999. After life as an underground star for several years, he
became a mainstream hip-hop artist.
Eminem's
second full-length CD The Marshall Mathers LP,
which broke all selling records on its release day, must express the feeling of frustration, revolt
against and provocation of the adult world by the young generation. The music
itself cannot explain the phenomenon Marshall Mathers. The MC, rapper and
hip-hop star distinguishes himself by his aggressive lyrics. However, a look
at Eminem's websites shows, that despite his political incorrectness, he has become a money making machine, a first class
consumer good. Marshall Mathers himself is a (marketing) product of the
society he attacks. At the same time, he has become the symbol of a new
generation. Eminem is today's star at the hip-hop sky, whether one likes or
understands it or not. All attempts to try to stop him because of
"explicit lyrics" are pure nonsense. Nothing sells more than an
artist whose work gets banned. Provocation is part of the music business - by
the way, also of the art business (Mayor Giuliani in New York was one of the
few not to know it when he unsuccessfully tried to intervene in an
exhibition). Among the artists Eminem himself admires are late rapper Tupac
and MC Red Man.
