EMINEM!!
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972),better known by his stage name Eminem, is an Academy Award and multiple Grammy Award-winning American rap artist. Eminem is one of the highest-selling musicians of the early 2000s. He has sold over seventy million albums worldwide, and is one of the highest-selling rap artists of all time. Eminem was discovered by rapper and producer Dr. Dre, who later signed Eminem to his record label, Aftermath Entertainment.
Eminem signed to Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records in 1998 and released The Slim Shady LP, which went triple platinum by the end of the year. In 2000, he released The Marshall Mathers LP, and sold 1.65 million copies in its first week, the best first week sales of any Rap album in history. The Eminem Show was released in 2002 and sold one million copies in its first week. Eminem released his fourth album, Encore, in 2004, which also went on to become another successful album for the rapper.
1972–1994: Early career
Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, the son of Deborah (née Nelson) and Marshall Bruce Mathers II, and is reportedly of Scottish, German, and English descent. Shortly after his birth, his father walked out, leaving Debbie and Marshall alone. Until he was twelve, he and his mother moved to and fro, between St. Joseph and Warren, Michigan, a Detroit suburb. As a teenager, he became interested in hip-hop, performing amateur raps at age fourteen under the pseudonym "M&M" and joining the group Soul Intent around 1995, when his first single was released. Within the community, he frequently participated in freestyle battles to gain the approval of underground hip-hop audiences.
1995–1998: First releases
In 1995, he recorded his first official tape, Fuckin’ Backstabber/Soul Intent. In 1996, he released an independent underground album named Infinite. Eminem recalls: "Obviously, I was young and influenced by other artists, and I got a lot of feedback saying that I sounded like Nas and AZ. Infinite was me trying to figure out how I wanted my rap style to be, how I wanted to sound on the mic and present myself. It was a growing stage. I felt like Infinite was like a demo that just got pressed up."
Eminem had done a notable amount of rapping with fellow Detroit MC Royce da 5′9" early in his career. They referred to themselves as Bad Meets Evil, with Royce playing ‘The Bad’ and Eminem playing ‘The Evil’, as Eminem and Royce each clearly state in the song Bad Meets Evil.
