Eminem
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Eminem |
|
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Marshall Bruce Mathers III |
| Born |
October 17, 1972 (age 38)
Saint Joseph, Missouri, U.S. |
| Origin |
Warren, Michigan, U.S. |
| Genres |
Hip hop |
| Occupations |
Rapper, record producer, songwriter, actor |
| Years active |
1992–present |
| Labels |
Interscope, Aftermath, Shady, Web |
| Associated acts |
D12, Bad Meets Evil, Dr. Dre |
| Website |
eminem.com |
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972),
[1] better known by his stage name
Eminem or his
alter ego Slim Shady, is an American
rapper,
record producer,
songwriter and
actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project,
D12, to mainstream recognition. As well as being a member of D12, Eminem is also one half of the Detroit hip hop duo
Bad Meets Evil, with
Royce da 5'9". Eminem is one of the best-selling artists in the world and is the best selling artist of the 2000s.
[2] He has been listed and ranked as one of the greatest artists of all time by many magazines including the
Rolling Stone magazine which has ranked him 82nd on its list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
[3] The same magazine has declared him
The King of Hip Hop.
[4] Including his work with D12 and Bad Meets Evil, Eminem has achieved ten number one albums on the
Billboard 200. He has also sold more than 33 million track downloads and 39.6 million albums in the United States alone.
Eminem quickly gained popularity in 1999 with his major-label debut album,
The Slim Shady LP. That first album,
The Marshall Mathers LP and his third major album,
The Eminem Show, all won Grammy Awards, making Eminem the first artist to win
Best Rap Album for three consecutive LPs.
The Marshall Mathers LP
is also considered one of Eminem's best and most successful albums.
Eminem then went on hiatus after touring in 2005. He released his first
album since 2004's
Encore, titled
Relapse, on May 15, 2009. In 2010, Eminem released his seventh studio album
Recovery, which was an international success.
Recovery was also named the best selling album worldwide of 2010 joining
The Eminem Show, which was the best seller of 2002. Eminem won Grammy Awards for both
Relapse and
Recovery, giving him a total of 13 Grammys in his career. Eminem has named
Masta Ace,
Big Daddy Kane,
Newcleus, the
Beastie Boys,
Dr. Dre,
Tupac Shakur,
AZ,
Nas, and
Ice-T amongst others as his influences.
Eminem has opened other ventures since the beginning of his success. He founded his own record label,
Shady Records with his manager
Paul Rosenberg. He also has his own radio channel,
Shade 45. Eminem began an acting career in 2002, when he starred in the
hip hop drama film
8 Mile in which he won The
Academy Award for Best Original Song, becoming the first rap artist ever to win the award.
[5] He is also set to star in the 2013 films
Shady Talez and
Have Gun, Will Travel. He has also made cameo appearances in
The Wash (2001),
Funny People (2009) and television series
Entourage.
Life and career
1972–91: Early life and beginnings
Eminem was born Marshall Bruce Mathers III on October 17, 1972, in
Saint Joseph, Missouri, the only child of Deborah R. Nelson Mathers-Briggs and Marshall Bruce Mathers, Jr.
[6] He is of
Scottish,
[7] English,
German,
Swiss,
Polish, and
Luxembourgian ancestry.
[8]
His father abandoned the family when he was 18 months old, and he was
raised solely by his mother. By the age of 12, Mathers and his mother
had moved between various cities and towns in Missouri (including Saint
Joseph,
Savannah, and
Kansas City)
[9] before they settled in
Warren, Michigan, and in Mathers' teenage years,
Detroit.
[10]
After procuring a copy of the
Beastie Boys album
Licensed to Ill as a teenager, Mathers became further interested in rap, performing amateur raps at age 14 under the
pseudonym "M&M" and joining the group called "
Bassmint Productions" and released their second
EP,
Steppin' Onto The Scene.
They later changed their name to "Soul Intent" and around 1995 they
released their first single called "Fuckin' Backstabber" under the
record label Mashin' Duck Records.
[1] Although he was enrolled at
Lincoln High School in Warren, he frequently participated in
freestyle battles at the now-defunct Osborn High School on Detroit's east side.
[11] Despite a well-documented struggle succeeding in a predominantly African-American industry, he gained the approval of
underground hip hop audiences.
[1][6][12] After repeating the ninth grade twice due to
truancy and near-failing grades,
[13] he dropped out of high school at age 17.
In 1991, Mathers' maternal uncle, Ronald "Ronnie" Nelson, committed
suicide via shotgun wound to the head. Mathers was very close to his
uncle, who first introduced him to hip hop music at age 11. He was
devastated by his death; today, he sports a tattoo reading "Ronnie
R.I.P." on his upper left arm.
[14] Ronnie was mentioned in the songs "
Stan", "
Cleanin' Out My Closet" and "My Dad's Gone Crazy".
1992–96: Early career and Infinite
Mathers was initially signed to FBT Productions in 1992, run by
brothers Jeff and Mark Bass. Mathers also held a minimum-wage job of
cooking and dishwashing at the restaurant Gilbert's Lodge at
St. Clair Shores for some time.
[15] In 1996, his debut album
Infinite, which was recorded at the Bassmint, a recording studio owned by the
Bass Brothers, was released under their independent label
Web Entertainment.
[16]
Eminem recalled, "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."
[17] Subjects covered in
Infinite
included his struggles with raising his newborn daughter Hailie Jade
Mathers while on limited funds and his strong desire to get rich.
[18] Early in his career, Eminem collaborated with fellow Detroit MC
Royce da 5'9" under the stage name
Bad Meets Evil.
[19] After the release of
Infinite, Eminem's personal struggles and abuse of drugs and alcohol culminated in an unsuccessful suicide attempt.
[1]
Jimmy Iovine, CEO of
Interscope Records,
requested a demo tape of Eminem's after Eminem placed second at the
1997 Rap Olympics. Eminem had also won Wake Up Show's Freestyle
Performer Of The Year award helping him acquire a record deal.
[20] Iovine played the tape for record producer
Dr. Dre, founder of
Aftermath Entertainment. The two began recording tracks for Eminem's upcoming major-label debut
The Slim Shady LP, and Eminem made a guest performance on the album
Devil Without a Cause by
Kid Rock.
[1] Hip-hop magazine
The Source featured Eminem in its "Unsigned Hype" column in March 1998.
[21]
1997–99: The Slim Shady era
The Slim Shady EP is a debut
extended play by Eminem, published by
Web Entertainment in 1997.
The Slim Shady EP was released on
cassette,
vinyl, and
CD.
The vinyl and CD versions were released in 1998. Eminem first
introduced his "Slim Shady" persona on this EP, and his lyrics are a
marked departure from those found on
Infinite,
featuring constant references to drug use, sexual acts, mental
instability, and over-the-top violence. Another departure was his
exploration of more serious themes of dealing with poverty, his direct
and self-deprecating response to criticism, and of marital and family
difficulties. His flow is also noticeably different than on
Infinite; whereas critics claimed he sounded too much like
Nas and
AZ
on that album. Eminem also began utilizing story telling on this EP.
The production value of the music on the tracks — from previous
collaborators
DJ Head, The
Bass Brothers, and
Mr. Porter — was also noticeably higher than on prior album efforts. According to
Billboard,
at this point in his life Eminem had "realized his musical ambitions
were the only way to escape his unhappy life". After being signed to
Aftermath Entertainment/
Interscope Records in 1998, Eminem released his first major studio album,
The Slim Shady LP, heavily based on the production by
Dr. Dre, one year later in 1999.
Billboard praised the album as "light years ahead of the material he had been writing beforehand".
[22] It went on to be one of the most popular albums of 1999, going
triple platinum by the end of the year.
[23]
With the album's popularity came controversy surrounding many of the
album's lyrics. In "'97 Bonnie and Clyde", he describes a trip with his
infant daughter, disposing of his wife's body. Another song, "
Guilty Conscience",
ends with his encouraging a man to murder his wife and her lover.
"Guilty Conscience" marked the beginning of the friendship and musical
bond that Dr. Dre and Eminem would share. The two label-mates would
later collaborate on a line of hit songs, including "
Forgot About Dre" and "What's the Difference" from Dr. Dre's album
2001, "
Bitch Please II" from
The Marshall Mathers LP, "Say What You Say" from
The Eminem Show, "
Encore/Curtains Down" from
Encore and "
Old Time's Sake" and "
Crack a Bottle" from
Relapse. Dr. Dre would go on to make at least one guest appearance on all of Eminem's studio albums under the label
Aftermath.
[24]
The album has now been certified 4× platinum by the RIAA. With the
release of it, Eminem was accused of imitating the style and subject
matter of underground rapper
Cage.
[25][26]
2000–02: The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show
The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May 2000. It went on to sell 1.76 million copies in its first week, breaking the records set by
Snoop Dogg's
Doggystyle as the fastest-selling hip hop album and
Britney Spears'
...Baby One More Time as the fastest-selling solo album in United States history.
[27][28] The first single released from the album, "
The Real Slim Shady",
was a success and created some controversy by insulting celebrities and
making dubious claims about them; he states, among other things, that
Christina Aguilera performed
oral sex on
Fred Durst and
Carson Daly.
[29] In his second single, "
The Way I Am", he reveals to his fans the pressures from his record company to top "
My Name Is" and sell more records. Although Eminem had parodied shock rocker
Marilyn Manson
in the video "My Name Is", the artists are reportedly on good terms.
They performed a remix of the song "The Way I Am" together in concert.
[30] In the third single, "
Stan" (which samples
Dido's "
Thank You"),
Eminem attempts to deal with his new-found fame, taking on the persona
of a deranged fan who kills himself and his pregnant girlfriend,
mirroring "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" on
The Slim Shady LP.
[6] In the music video of "Stan", Eminem was shown writing with his left hand, ending the fan debate over his dominant hand.
Q magazine named "Stan" the third-greatest rap song of all time,
[31] and the song came tenth in a similar survey conducted by Top40-Charts.com.
[32] The song has since become highly acclaimed and was ranked 290th in
Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.
[33] In July 2000, Eminem became the first white person to be featured on the cover of
The Source magazine.
[21] This album has been certified 10× Platinum by the RIAA.
Eminem performed with
Elton John at the
43rd Grammy Awards ceremony in 2001;
[34] the
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), an organization that perceived Eminem's lyrics to be
homophobic, condemned the openly
gay John's decision to perform with Eminem.
[35] Entertainment Weekly
put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "It was the
hug heard 'round the world. Eminem, under fire for homophobic lyrics,
shared the stage with a gay icon for a performance of "Stan" that would
have been memorable in any context."
[36] On February 21, the day of the ceremony, GLAAD held a protest outside the
Staples Center, the venue where the Grammy ceremony was held.
[37] Music tours that he participated in for 2001 included the
Up in Smoke Tour with rappers
Dr. Dre,
Snoop Dogg,
Xzibit, and
Ice Cube[38] and
Family Values Tour with the band
Limp Bizkit.
[39]
Eminem's third major album,
The Eminem Show,
was released in summer 2002 and proved to be another hit for the rapper
reaching number one on the charts and selling well over 1 million
copies in its first week of release.
[23] It featured the single "
Without Me", in which he makes derogatory comments about
boy bands,
Limp Bizkit,
Dick Cheney and
Lynne Cheney, and
Moby, among others.
The Eminem Show has been certified 10× Platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA). The album reflected on the impact of his rise to fame, his
relationship with his wife and daughter, and his status in the hip-hop
community. He also addresses the charges he faced over assaulting a
bouncer he saw kissing his wife in 2000.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
Allmusic felt that while there was clear anger present on several tracks, this album was considerably less inflammatory than
The Marshall Mathers LP.
[40] However,
L. Brent Bozell III, who previously criticized
The Marshall Mathers LP for perceived
misogynistic lyrics in the album, noted
The Eminem Show for its extensive use of obscene language, giving Eminem the nickname "Eminef" for the
bowdlerization of
motherfucker, an obscenity prevalent in the album.
[41] The Eminem Show was the best-selling album of 2002.
[42]
2003–05: Encore
On December 8, 2003, the
United States Secret Service admitted it was "looking into" allegations that Eminem had threatened the President of the United States.
[43] The lyrics in question: "Fuck money/I don't rap for
dead presidents/I'd
rather see the president dead/It's never been said, but I set
precedents ..." The song in question, "We As Americans", wound up on a
bonus CD accompanying the album.
[44]
In 2004, Eminem released his fourth major album,
Encore. The album was another chart-topper, as it was driven by the single "
Just Lose It", notable for being disrespectful towards
Michael Jackson. On October 12, 2004, a week after the release of "
Just Lose It", Eminem's first single off
Encore,
Michael Jackson called into the Los Angeles-based
Steve Harvey radio show to report his displeasure with the video, which parodies Jackson's
child molestation trial,
plastic surgery, and an incident in which Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a
Pepsi
commercial in 1984. The lyrics to "Just Lose It" refer to Jackson's
legal troubles, however he does state in his song "... and that's not a
stab at Michael/That's just a metaphor/I'm just psycho...." Many of
Jackson's supporters and friends spoke out about the video, including
Stevie Wonder, who called the video "kicking a man while he's down" and "bullshit",
[45] and
Steve Harvey, who declared, "Eminem has lost his ghetto pass. We want the pass back."
[45] In the video, Eminem parodied
Pee-wee Herman,
MC Hammer, and "
Blond Ambition"-era
Madonna.
[46] Regarding Jackson's protest,
"Weird Al" Yankovic, who parodied the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" on a track titled "Couch Potato" on his 2003 album
Poodle Hat, told the
Chicago Sun-Times,
"Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my
"Lose Yourself" parody because he somehow thought that it would be
harmful to his image or career. So the irony of this situation with
Michael is not lost on me."
[47] Black Entertainment Television was the first channel to stop airing the video. MTV, however, announced it would continue airing the video.
The Source, through its CEO
Raymond "Benzino" Scott, wanted not only the video to be pulled, but the song off the album, and a public apology to Jackson from Eminem.
[48] In 2007 Jackson and Sony bought
Famous Music LLC from
Viacom. This deal gave him the rights to songs by Eminem,
Shakira and
Beck, among others.
[49]
Despite the comedic theme of the lead single,
Encore had its fair share of serious subject matter, including the anti-war track "
Mosh". On October 25, 2004, a week before the
2004 US Presidential election, Eminem released the video for "Mosh" on the Internet.
[50] The song featured a very strong anti-
Bush message, with lyrics such as "fuck Bush" and "this
weapon of mass destruction that we call our president".
[51] The video features Eminem gathering up an army of people, including rapper
Lloyd Banks, presented as victims of the
Bush administration and leading them to the
White House.
However, once the army breaks in, it is revealed that they are there to
simply register to vote, and the video ends with the words "VOTE
Tuesday November 2" on the screen. After Bush was re-elected, the
video's ending was changed to Eminem and the protesters invading while
Bush was giving a speech.
[52]
2005–08: Musical hiatus
Eminem performing live on the Anger Management Tour in August 2005
In 2005, some industry insiders speculated that Eminem was
considering ending his rapping career after six years and several
multi-platinum albums. Speculation began in early 2005 about a
double-disc album to be released late that year, rumored to be titled
The Funeral.
[53] The album later manifested itself as a
greatest hits album under the name
Curtain Call: The Hits in December. In July 2005, the
Detroit Free Press
broke news of a potential final bow for Eminem as a solo performer,
quoting members of his inside circle who said that he will begin to
fully embrace the role of producer and label executive. On the same day
of the release of the compilation album, Eminem denied that he was
retiring on Detroit-based WKQI's "Mojo in the Morning" radio show, but
implied that he would at least be taking a break as an artist, saying
"I'm at a point in my life right now where I feel like I don't know
where my career is going ... This is the reason that we called it
'Curtain Call', because this could be the final thing. We don't know."
[54] He released
The Re-Up with the members of his record label,
Shady Records. It was released in 2006.
In 2005, Eminem was a subject of
Bernard Goldberg's book,
100 People Who Are Screwing Up America; he ranked No. 58.
[55] Goldberg cited a 2001 column by
Bob Herbert of
The New York Times claiming, "In Eminem's world, all women are
whores and he is eager to rape and murder them."
[56] Goldberg cited Eminem's song "No One's Iller" from
The Slim Shady EP as an example of
misogyny in his music.
[57] In summer 2005, Eminem embarked on his first US concert run in three years, the
Anger Management 3 Tour, featuring
50 Cent,
G-Unit,
Lil Jon,
D12,
Obie Trice,
The Alchemist, and others. In August 2005, Eminem canceled the European leg of the tour and subsequently announced that he had entered
drug rehabilitation for treatment for a "dependency on sleep medication".
[58] Curtain Call: The Hits was released on December 6, 2005, under Aftermath Entertainment.
[59] In its first week it sold nearly 441,000 copies in the US and was Eminem's fourth straight No. 1 album on the
Billboard Hot 200.
[60] The album has been certified 2× Platinum by the
RIAA.
[61]
In September 2007, Eminem called into New York radio station
Hot 97
during an interview with 50 Cent and said he was "in limbo" and
"debating" about when and if he would release another album. He said,
"I'm always working – I'm always in the studio. It feels good right now,
the energy of the label. For a while, I didn't want to go back to the
studio ... I went through some personal things. I'm coming out of those
personal things [and] it feels good."
[62]
2008–09: Relapse and Relapse: Refill
Eminem, along with D12, performing in 2009.
Eminem made an appearance on his
Sirius channel
Shade 45
in September 2008 in which he said, "Right now I'm kinda just
concentrating on my own stuff, for right now and just banging out tracks
and producing a lot of stuff. You know, the more I keep producing the
better it seems like I get 'cause I just start knowing stuff."
[63] It was around this time that Interscope finally confirmed the existence of a new Eminem album,
[64] with Spring 2009 later being stated as the period span in which the album is due.
[65] In December 2008, he gave more details on the album, which he recently reported was being titled
Relapse.
He said, "Me and Dre are back in the lab like the old days, man. Dre
will end up producing the majority of the tracks on 'Relapse'. We are up
to our old mischievous ways ... let's just leave it at that."
[66]
On March 5, 2009, Eminem reported in a press release that he would be releasing two new albums that year.
Relapse, the first album, was released on May 19, while "
We Made You", the first official single and its music video, were released on April 7.
[67] While
Relapse
did not manage to sell as well as Eminem's previous efforts, it was
still a commercial success that received some critical acclaim, while
also re-establishing his presence in the hip hop world.
Relapse was named one of the top albums of 2009.
Relapse has sold more than five million copies worldwide. During the 2009
MTV Movie Awards,
Sacha Baron Cohen
descended upon the audience wearing an angel's costume and landed on
top of Eminem with his buttocks facing towards Eminem's face, resulting
in Eminem storming out of the awards ceremony in disgust. Three days
later, Eminem stated it was a staged act that they had planned together.
[68] On October 30, Eminem performed at the
Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans as a headliner in his first full performance in 2009.
[69] The performance included several songs from
Relapse, as well as many of Eminem's older hits and an appearance by D12. On November 19, Eminem announced on his website that
Relapse: Refill would be released on December 21. The album was a re-release of the
Relapse album with seven bonus tracks, including "
Forever" and "Taking My Ball". In a statement he described the forthcoming CD:
I want to deliver more material for the fans this year like I originally planned ... Hopefully these tracks on The Refill will tide the fans over until we put out Relapse 2
next year ... I got back in with Dre and then a few more producers,
including Just Blaze, and went in a completely different direction which
made me start from scratch. The new tracks started to sound very
different than the tracks I originally intended to be on Relapse 2, but I still want the other stuff to be heard.[70]
2010–present: Recovery and Bad Meets Evil reunion
Eminem and Rihanna performing "Love the Way You Lie" at E3 Expo Party in 2010
On April 14, 2010, Eminem
tweeted,
"There is no Relapse 2", to his followers. This caused people to
believe that he was not releasing an album at all, but it simply meant
that the album title would be changed to
Recovery. He confirmed this by tweeting, "RECOVERY", with a link to his website. Eminem said, "I had originally planned for
Relapse 2 to come out last year. But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to
Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album. The music on
Recovery came out very different from
Relapse, and I think it deserves its own title." His seventh studio album,
Recovery, was released on June 18.
[71] In the US,
Recovery sold 741,000 in its first week to land atop the
Billboard 200.
[72][73]
It became Eminem's sixth consecutive number-one album in the US and
achieved international commercial success, charting at number one in
several other countries. It stayed at number-one on the US
Billboard 200 chart for five consecutive weeks and a total of seven weeks.
[74][75] Recovery was reported by
Billboard
to be the best-selling album of 2010, making Eminem the first artist in
Nielsen SoundScan history to have two year-end best-selling albums.
[76] Recovery is the best selling digital album in history.
[77] The first single, "
Not Afraid", was released on April 29, and debuted at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100. The music video was released on June 4.
[78] "Not Afraid" was followed by a second single, "
Love the Way You Lie," which debuted at number 2 and then rose to the top.
[79] "
Love the Way You Lie"
was the best-selling single of 2010 in the United Kingdom even though
it did not reach number 1 there, this is the first time this has
happened in the UK since 1969.
[80] Despite some criticism towards its consistency,
Recovery received positive reviews from most music critics. As of November 21, 2010, the album had sold three million copies in the US.
[81] Recovery was also named the best selling album worldwide of 2010 joining
The Eminem Show, which was the best seller of 2002 giving him two worldwide year end number one albums.
[82][83] With
Recovery, Eminem achieved the record for most successive US No.1 albums by a solo artist.
[84]
Eminem appeared at the
2010 BET Awards,
[85] performing "Not Afraid" and "
Airplanes, Part II", with
B.o.B.
He also performed at the Activison E3 concert. In June 2010, Eminem and
Jay-Z announced they would perform together in a pair of concerts in
Detroit and New York. The event was dubbed
The Home & Home Tour. The first two concerts rapidly sold out, prompting the scheduling of an additional show at each venue.
[86] BET also named Eminem the number one rapper of the 21st century.
[87] Eminem opened the 2010
MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010, by performing "Not Afraid" and "Love the Way You Lie", with
Rihanna performing the chorus.
[88] Due to the success of Recovery and the Home & Home Tour, he was named the 2010
Hottest MC in the Game by MTV
[89] and "Emcee of the Year" by hip hop news website HipHopDX.
[90] Eminem and Rihanna collaborated once again to make "
Love the Way You Lie (Part II)",
the sequel to their hit single "Love the Way You Lie". Rihanna is the
lead singer, as opposed to Eminem being the main singer in the original
"Love the Way You Lie". The song is said to be from the female
perspective.
[91] Nicki Minaj collaborated with rapper Eminem on a song titled "
Roman's Revenge" that appears on her album
Pink Friday.
[92] The song references Minaj's alter-ego
Roman Zolanski and features Eminem's alter-ego Slim Shady.
[92] Eminem is featured on the track "
That's All She Wrote" on
T.I.'s album
No Mercy.
[93] He also featured on
I Need a Doctor, the second single from
Detox.
[94] In December 2010, in
Billboard's "The Top 25 Music Moments of 2010", The "Great Eminem Recovery" was named the number one music moment of 2010.
[95] Eminem appeared at the
2011 Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011, by performing "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)" with
Rihanna and
Adam Levine, and "
I Need a Doctor" with
Dr. Dre and
Skylar Grey.
[96] In February 2011, it was announced that "
Space Bound" would be released as the fourth single off of
Recovery along with a music video for the song which was shot with former porn star
Sasha Grey.
[97][98] The long-awaited video was released on June 24 on the
iTunes Store.
[99]
In 2010, Eminem started collaborating with
Royce da 5'9" on their first
EP as
Bad Meets Evil. The duo was formed in 1999 and has reunited. The EP, entitled
Hell: The Sequel, was released on June 14, 2011.
[100] Eminem was featured on 'Writer's Block' with Royce Da 5'9", which was officially released on April 8, 2011.
[101] On May 3, 2011, they released the lead single "
Fast Lane" for the upcoming sequel,
[102] for which a music video was shot.
[103] In March 2011, within days of each other, both
The Eminem Show and
The Marshall Mathers LP were certified diamond by the RIAA. This makes Eminem the only rapper to have two diamond-certified albums.
[104]
Also, Eminem climbed to the top of the Facebook charts by being the
most followed person with more than 40 million "likes", outscoring
Lady Gaga,
Justin Bieber,
Rihanna and
Michael Jackson.
[105] Eminem is also the first artist in five years to have two number one albums in a 12-month period:
Recovery and the collaborative
Hell: The Sequel.
[106] Early in 2011, Eminem leaked "2.0 Boys", for which
Yelawolf and
Slaughterhouse collaborated upon signing to
Shady Records in January 2011 and performing it in April 2011.
[107] Bad Meets Evil released their next single, "
Lighters", on July 6, 2011 and premiered a music video in late August.
[108][109] On August 6, 2011, Eminem took several of his songs throughout his music career to a live performance at the
Lollapalooza 2011, performing with various artists featured in their respective songs.
[110]
Other ventures
Shady Records and D12
Main articles:
Shady Records and
D12
As Eminem succeeded in multi-platinum record sales, Interscope granted him his own record label. He and his manager
Paul Rosenberg created
Shady Records in late 1999. He followed this by signing his own Detroit collective D12 and rapper
Obie Trice
to the label. In 2002, Eminem signed 50 Cent through a joint venture
between Shady and Dr. Dre's Aftermath label. In 2003, Eminem and Dr. Dre
signed
Atlanta rapper
Stat Quo to the Shady/Aftermath roster.
DJ Green Lantern,
the former DJ for Eminem, was signed to Shady Records until a dispute
related to the 50 Cent and Jadakiss feud forced him to depart from the
label; he is no longer associated with Eminem.
The Alchemist
is now officially Eminem's tour DJ. In 2005, Eminem signed another
Atlanta rapper, Bobby Creekwater, to his label along with West Coast
rapper
Cashis.
[13]
On December 5, 2006, Shady Records released compilation album,
Eminem Presents: The Re-Up.
It started out as a mixtape but Eminem found that the material was
better than expected and released it as a full album. It was meant to
help launch the new artists under the roster, like Stat Quo, Cashis and
Bobby Creekwater.
[111] Around the time of recording
Infinite,
Eminem and rappers Proof and Kon Artis gathered the group of rappers
now collectively in the group D12, short for "Detroit Twelve" or "Dirty
Dozen", performing in the manner of the multi-man group
Wu-Tang Clan.
[112] In 2001, Eminem brought his rap group, D12, to the popular music scene, and the group's debut album
Devil's Night came out that year.
[113] The first single released off of the album was "
Shit on You", followed by "
Purple Pills",
an ode to recreational drug use. For radio and television, the censored
version "Pills" was heavily rewritten to remove many of the song's
references to drugs and sex and was renamed "Purple Hills". While that
single was a hit, the album's second single, "
Fight Music", was not as successful.
[114]
After their debut, D12 took a three-year break from the studio, later regrouping to release their second album,
D12 World, in 2004, which featured the popular hit single release "
My Band".
[113] In April 2006, D12 member (and Eminem's childhood friend)
Deshaun "Proof" Holton was killed in a club brawl on
8 Mile Road
in Detroit, Michigan, with US military veteran Keith Bender, Jr., who
also died in the fray. The eruption is suspected to have been due to an
argument over a game of pool. Proof was then allegedly shot by the
bouncer Mario Etheridge, Bender's cousin. He was taken by private
vehicle to St. John Health's Conner Creek Campus, an outpatient
emergency treatment site, but pronounced dead on arrival. Eminem and
former Detroit
Shady Records artist
Obie Trice spoke at the funeral.
[115] D12 member
Bizarre said that Eminem is not featured on his new album
Blue Cheese & Coney Island because "he's busy doing his thing".
[116] D12 released a mixtape in 2011 titled
Return of the Dozen Volume 2 only featuring Eminem on one song, "Fame" unlike the groups previous mixtape
Return of the Dozen where Eminem is not on any tracks.
Acting career
Although he had a cameo in the 2001 film,
The Wash, Eminem made his official Hollywood acting debut with the semi-autobiographical
8 Mile,
released in November 2002. He has said the movie is not an account of
his life, but a representation of growing up in Detroit. He recorded
several new songs for the soundtrack, including "
Lose Yourself," which won an Academy Award for
Best Original Song in 2003. "Lose Yourself" would go on to become the longest running No. 1
hip hop single.
[117] However, the song was not performed at the ceremony, due to Eminem's absence at the ceremony. His collaborator,
Luis Resto, who co-wrote the song, accepted the award.
[118]
Eminem has participated in various voice acting roles. Some of these include the video game
50 Cent: Bulletproof, where he voices an aging corrupt police officer who speaks in
Ebonics and guest spots on the
Comedy Central television show
Crank Yankers, and a web cartoon called
The Slim Shady Show, which has since been pulled off-line and is instead sold on DVD.
[119] He will be involved in either the soundtrack or scoring.
[120] He was also in the running for the part of David Rice in 2008's film
Jumper after
Tom Sturridge was dropped just two weeks before filming. Concerns over not having a more prominent actor prompted the director,
Doug Liman, to consider other actors for the role. He eventually selected
Hayden Christensen over Eminem.
[121] He also had a cameo appearance in the 2009 movie
Funny People, in which he is involved in an argument with
Ray Romano.
It was reported on November 8, 2009, that Eminem will star in the upcoming
3D horror anthology,
Shady Talez, to be produced by
John Davis.
[122][123] A four-issue comic book series based on the film was expected to be published sometime in 2010.
[124]
Eminem appeared alongside
Christina Aguilera on the
Entourage Season 7 finale titled 'Lose Yourself' as himself.
[125] David Schiff will executive produce the film,
[126] and
Antoine Fuqua was confirmed to direct the film.
[127] In January 2011, a report surfaced that Eminem will star in the upcoming
thriller,
Random Acts of Violence.
[128]
Memoir
On October 21, 2008, Eminem released a tell-all autobiography entitled
The Way I Am,
which details his struggles with poverty, drugs, fame, heartbreak and
depression, along with stories about his rise to fame and commentary on
past controversies. This book also contains some of the original lyric
sheets from songs such as "
Stan" and "
The Real Slim Shady."
[129]
Advertising
Eminem was featured in two commercials that aired during
Super Bowl XLV. The first, for
Lipton's
Brisk Iced Tea, was a one-minute spot that featured him as a
claymation figure.
[130] The other was a two-minute ad, the longest in Super Bowl history, for the
Chrysler 200. It featured Eminem driving through Detroit and ended with him taking the stage at the
Fox Theatre with "Lose Yourself" playing as the soundtrack.
[131][132]
Artistry
Influences and rapping technique
Eminem has named several MCs who influenced his
rapping style, in-addition to his mentor,
Dr. Dre, who share the same type of music: thick, muscular loops that evoked the terror and paranoia that his music conjured,
[133] these influences included
Esham,
[134] Kool G Rap,
[135] Masta Ace,
[136] Big Daddy Kane,
[135] Newcleus,
[136] Ice-T,
[136] Mantronix,
[136] Melle Mel (specifically the track "
The Message"),
[136] LL Cool J,
[136] Beastie Boys,
[136] Run-DMC,
[136] Rakim,
[136] and
Boogie Down Productions.
[136]
In the book
How to Rap,
Guerilla Black
notes that Eminem studied other MCs to create his rapping technique –
“Eminem listened to everything and that’s what made him one of the
greats”.
[137]
In the same book, Eminem is praised for various aspects of his rapping
technique by numerous other MCs – these techniques include: his varied
and humorous subject matter,
[138] connecting with his audience,
[139] carrying a concept over a series of albums,
[140] complex rhyme schemes,
[141] his ability to bend words so that they
rhyme,
[142] his use of
multisyllabic rhymes,
[135] fitting many rhymes in each bar,
[143] complex rhythms,
[144] clear
enunciation,
[145] use of
melody,
[146] and
syncopation.
[147] He is also known to write the majority of his lyrics down on paper, as documented in his book
The Way I Am, as well as taking a few days or a week to craft lyrics,
[148] being a “
workaholic”,
[149] and “
stacking” vocals.
[150]
Alter egos
Eminem uses alter egos in his song to use different styles of rapping
and subject matters. His most famous and popular alter ego, "Slim
Shady" originated from
The Slim Shady EP. While under this personality, Eminem makes violent and dark songs with a comical twist.
[151] Though his Slim Shady persona has remained, Eminem did not include it in
Recovery as much because he did not feel it fit the theme.
[152]
Eminem is considered to be an alter-ego itself, with his true self
being Marshall Mathers. Another character Eminem has portrayed is Ken
Kaniff.
Ken was originally played by fellow Detroit rapper Aristotle in the
Slim Shady LP, who appeared in a prank call skit towards Eminem. After
the Slim Shady LP, an argument lead to Eminem taking the character of
Ken Kaniff and playing him in several skits starting in the
Marshall Mathers LP and onwards (except for
Recovery and
Encore).
In his Ken Kaniff personality, Ken is a homosexual who pokes fun at
Eminem's songs. Aristotle, the original creator of Ken Kaniff, became
angry over Eminem taking his character and created a
mixtape in which he raps in his Ken persona dissing Eminem.
[153]
Featurings and productions
Although he typically collaborates with various rappers under
Aftermath Entertainment and
Shady Records, such as
Dr. Dre,
50 Cent,
D12, and
Obie Trice, Eminem has collaborated with many other artists, including
Redman,
Kid Rock,
DMX,
Missy Elliott,
Jay-Z,
Method Man,
Jadakiss,
Fat Joe,
Sticky Fingaz,
T.I. and others. Eminem rapped a verse in a live performance of
Busta Rhymes' "
Touch It" remix at the 2006 BET Music Awards on June 27, 2006. Eminem was featured on
Akon's single "
Smack That" which appeared on his album
Konvicted. He was featured on
Lil Wayne's hit song
Drop the World.
Eminem is also an active rap producer. Besides being the executive producer of D12's first two albums,
Devil's Night and
D12 World, he has executive produced Obie Trice's
Cheers and
Second Round's on Me as well as 50 Cent's
Get Rich or Die Tryin' and
The Massacre.
[154] In addition, Eminem has produced songs by other famous rappers, such as
Jadakiss' "Welcome To D-Block",
Jay-Z's "
Renegade" and "Moment of Clarity"
Lloyd Banks' "
On Fire", "Warrior Part 2", and "
Hands Up",
Tony Yayo's "Drama Setter",
Trick-Trick's "
Welcome 2 Detroit", and Xzibit's "My Name" and "Don't Approach Me".
[155] Most of
The Eminem Show was produced by Eminem himself, with co-production from longtime collaborator
Jeff Bass.
[156] He split the production with Dr. Dre on
Encore. In 2004, Eminem was the Executive Producer of
2Pac's posthumous album
Loyal to the Game with 2Pac's mother
Afeni Shakur.
[157] He produced the UK No. 1 single "
Ghetto Gospel" which featured
Elton John.
[158] He has produced "The Cross" off
Nas's album
God's Son.
[159] On August 15, 2006,
Obie Trice released
Second Round's on Me. Eminem produced 8 tracks on the album. He was featured in the song "There They Go".
[160] Eminem produced some tracks on the new Trick-Trick album,
The Villain. He is also featured in "Who Want It".
[161]
With regard to the productions on his own records, Eminem is seen as
having an unusual style in that rather than write to beats he typically
starts with an idea of how he wants his song to be structured based on
the lyrics and then creates music according to that.
[162] A notable exception to this was the song "Stan", which came from an idea and scratch track produced by Mark the 45 King.
[162]
Comparisons to other artists
As
Asher Roth
gained prominence being a white performer in a predominantly black
musical genre, Roth has earned many comparisons to Eminem, so much so
that he devoted a track on his album to the famed rapper, entitled "As I
Em."
[163]
In an interview with
XXL Magazine, Eminem cosigned Asher Roth, saying when asked about the comparison:
"I haven't had a chance to, like, really get into everything, like,
really get into what he's about, because I've only heard a couple songs.
There was talk about people saying he sounded like me, and he was doing
this and that and, you know, trying to take what I do and do it. You
know, shit like that. I've heard things. But the stuff that I've heard
from him honestly, which certainly isn't enough for me to make my own
opinion and say, ‘Yeah, he does sound like me' or ‘No, he doesn't.' But
the couple of songs I've heard, I don't really think he does. You know
what I mean? He's doing his own thing. I can respect it, too, because at
the end of the day, I think he's dope."[164]
Personal life
Family
Marshall Mathers has been the subject of much scrutiny, both as a rapper as well as in his personal life.
[28]
He was married twice to Kimberley Anne Scott, whom he met in high
school. They began their on-and-off relationship in 1989, getting
married by 1999. The couple first divorced in 2001
[165]
but remarried in January 2006. Their second divorce was finalized in
December of the same year, with the couple agreeing to share custody of
their daughter, Hailie Jade Mathers (born December 25, 1995).
[165][166][167] Hailie Mathers has often been referenced or featured on various songs by Mathers
[168] including "
'97 Bonnie & Clyde", "Hailie's Song", "
My Dad's Gone Crazy", "
Mockingbird", "
When I'm Gone" and "
Beautiful".
In early 2010, Mathers responded publicly to tabloid reports of his pending reunion with Kim with a firm denial.
[169]
Mathers adopted two other daughters: Alaina "Lainie" Mathers, the child of Kimberley Scott's sister,
[165] who has been referenced by name in some songs including "
Mockingbird", "
Airplanes Part II" and "
Going Through Changes";
and Whitney, Scott's child from a previous relationship. Whitney is
mentioned in the song "Deja Vu" as well as "Going Through Changes".
Mathers is also the legal guardian of his younger half-brother, Nathan
who has been mentioned in "
Cleanin' Out My Closet" and "My Mom".
Legal troubles
In 1999, Mathers' mother sued him for around US$10 million over alleged
slander about her in his lyrics regarding
The Slim Shady LP; she won only about US$1,600 in damages in 2001.
[170]
Mathers was arrested on June 3, 2000 during an altercation at a car audio store in
Royal Oak, Michigan, with Douglas Dail, where he pulled out an unloaded gun and kept it pointed at the ground.
[171] The following day, in
Warren, Michigan, he allegedly saw his then wife, Kim, kiss bouncer John Guerrera in the parking lot of the
Hot Rock Café, and he assaulted him and was then arrested.
[165][166][171] Eminem recreated the Guerrera assault in a skit on his junior album
The Eminem Show
on a track called "The Kiss (Skit)." Mathers was charged with
possession of a concealed weapon and assault. Mathers plead guilty to
the charges and was given two years
probation for both episodes.
[172]
On July 7, 2000, Eminem's then-wife, Kimberly Scott attempted suicide by slashing her wrists.
[173] Scott sued Eminem for
defamation after he depicted her violent death in his song "
Kim".
[165][166]
On October 26, 2000, Eminem was to perform at a concert in Toronto's
Skydome.
[174] However,
Ontario
Attorney General Jim Flaherty argued that Canada should stop Eminem at
the border. "I personally don't want anyone coming to Canada who will
come here and advocate violence against women," he said.
[174]
Flaherty claims to have been "disgusted" when reading transcriptions of
Eminem's song "Kill You", which includes lines like "Slut, you think I
won't choke no whore/till the vocal cords don't work in her throat no
more?"
[174] The opinion of the general public to the requests made by the province were negative. Others said the issue was one of
free speech.
Liberal MPP Michael Bryant suggested that the government lay
hate crime charges against Eminem for the advocation of violence against women found in his lyrics.
[174] In a
Globe and Mail editorial, author Robert Everett-Green wrote, "Being offensive is Eminem's job description."
[175] Eminem's Toronto concert went on as planned that night.
[176]
D'Angelo Bailey, a sanitation worker, sued Mathers in 2001 and
accused him of invading his privacy by publicizing unreasonable
information that put him in a false light. Bailey admitted that he
picked on Mathers but said he merely "bumped" him at school and threw a
"little shove." On October 20, 2003, the charges were dismissed in
court.
[6]
On June 28, 2001, Mathers was sentenced to one year probation on
weapons charges that stemmed from an argument with an employee of
Psychopathic Records, giving him a fine around $2,000 as well as several hours of community service.
[177]
On March 31, 2002, French
jazz pianist
Jacques Loussier filed a $10 million lawsuit against Eminem and
Dr. Dre, claiming the beat for "Kill You" was stolen from his song.
[178]
Loussier demanded that all sales of the album be halted and any
remaining copies destroyed. A trial date was set to begin in June 2004.
The case was later settled.
[179]
On December 8, 2003, the United States Secret Service admitted it was
"looking into" allegations that Eminem had threatened the President of
the United States,
George W. Bush,
[180]
after the song "We as Americans", as an unreleased bootleg, circulated
with the lyrics "Fuck money, I don't rap for dead presidents. I'd rather
see the president dead, it's never been said but I set precedents." The
incident was later referenced in the video for his song
"Mosh"
as one several news clips on a wall, along with other newspaper
articles about other unfortunate incidents in Bush's career. The song
eventually appeared on the album's bonus disc, where the lyrics were
extensively censored.
In 2005, Eminem’s aunt and uncle, Jack and Betty Schmitt, sued him,
alleging that he has promised them a $350,000 house and the money to
keep it up, and instead has kept it in his name and tried to evict them.
[6]
In July 2006, a man claimed that he was physically assaulted by
Mathers at the Cheetah strip club on 8 Mile Road in Detroit. The man
claimed that he and a friend entered the restroom where Mathers was
using the urinal. The man's friend attempted to talk to Mathers, when
Mathers' bodyguard instructed the man to refrain from talking to him.
The man spoke in defense of his friend and said that Mathers was "a
star" and that there was "nothing wrong" with talking to him. After
finishing urinating, the man claimed Mathers punched him in the face
several times and fled the scene with his entourage. The man said that
he had witnessed a member of the entourage waving a gun from the
interior of a car after the group had fled. No charges were filed
against Mathers.
In 2007, his music publishing company,
Eight Mile Style LLC, together with Martin Affiliated LLC, filed suit against
Apple Inc. and
Aftermath Entertainment
claiming Aftermath did not have the appropriate authority to negotiate a
deal with Apple for digital downloads of 93 Eminem songs on Apple's
iTunes service.
[181][182] The case against Apple was settled shortly after trial began in late September 2009.
[183]
Drug issues
Eminem has spoken openly about his addiction to prescription drugs, including
Vicodin,
Ambien,
Valium and
Methadone.
[184] His group-mate
Proof from D12 stated that Mathers "sobered up" in 2002 from drug and alcohol dependence.
[185] However, he did turn to
zolpidem (Ambien) sleeping pills for relief from sleeping troubles. This caused Mathers to cancel the European leg of the
Anger Management Tour in August 2005 and eventually go into rehab for treatment for a "dependency on sleep medication".
[58][186] In a 2009 interview with British talk-show host
Jonathan Ross,
Mathers admitted that at the height of his addiction, he considered
suicide, saying that, "I just wasn't taking care of myself, at times I
wanted to just give it up."
[187]
He also confirmed that he is now sober, commenting that, "[R]ap was my
drug ... Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that. Now
rap's getting me high again."
[187]
Proof’s death
On April 11, 2006, Eminem’s best friend and fellow D12 member,
Proof was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest at the CCC Club by club
bouncer Mario Etheridge on
8 Mile Road
in Detroit, Michigan after fatally shooting Keith Bender, Jr. On April
19, 2006, Eminem, D12, 50 Cent, and thousands of others attended the
funeral of Proof at The Fellowship Chapel, Detroit.
[188] Eminem made two songs about Proof's death on his album
Recovery titled "Going Through Changes" and "You're Never Over", and mentions him in songs on
Relapse ("Deja Vu" and "
Beautiful").
Charity work
Eminem has also founded his own donation charity named The Marshall
Mathers Foundation. The charity helps disadvantaged youth in his home
state of Michigan. It has made donations to food banks and youth groups
and participates in fundraisers with organizations such as Eight Mile
Boulevard Association.
[189]
Eminem has worked exclusively with Norman Yatooma, a high profile
attorney in Detroit, Michigan. Mathers will not engage in charitable
work without direct partnership with Yatooma and his foundation.
Feuds
Throughout his career, Eminem created a large number of rivals in the music industry, including
Ja Rule,
Benzino,
Everlast,
Insane Clown Posse,
Canibus and others.
[190]
Insane Clown Posse
The feud began in 1997, when Eminem was throwing a party to promote his debut EP,
The Slim Shady EP. He gave
Violent J a flyer which stated "Appearances from
ICP... maybe".
[191][191] This angered Violent J, who proceeded to tell Eminem to "fuck off".
[191] Eminem then released the diss tracks "Get You Mad" and "Drastic Measures".
Insane Clown Posse responded with a parody of his single "
My Name Is", titled "Slim Anus".
[191][192] The diss track paints Eminem as a homosexual.
Eminem did continue to insult Insane Clown Posse on various tracks from his album
The Marshall Mathers LP
(2000), including the songs "Marshall Mathers" and "Ken Kaniff". On
"Marshall Mathers", Eminem rapped: "Plus I was put here to put fear in
faggots who spray Faygo Root Beer and call themselves "Clowns" cause
they look queer Faggot2Dope and Silent Gay/claiming Detroit, when y'all
live twenty miles away (fuckin punks)". Eminem also mentioned that he
did not need his fellow band members of D12 to defend him from "females
when they try to scratch me with...nails." In the song, Eminem attacked
the ICP members' street credibility and accused them of being
homosexuals.
On the skit "Ken Kaniff", the duo are depicted as graphically
fellating Ken Kanniff, a fictional gay character created by Eminem.
[191][193]
The gay character instructs the duo to "say my name", to which one
member responds, "Eminem", angering Ken Kaniff. The skit closes with Ken
Kaniff refusing to allow them to further perform oral sex on him and
Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope angry at the loss.
In 2002, Eminem also briefly dissed them on his single "
Business" from his album
The Eminem Show.
Insane Clown Posse talked about the feud being squashed in an interview with MTV, saying that
Proof
squashed the conflict in 2005 and had a bowling game. Violent J stated
that, "He contacted us and we had a bowling game – it was really cool.
We're something different. They could have skipped over us and said
forget them, but they included us and said let's squash it."
[194][195]
In an interview with MTV, Violent J stated that they no longer had
problems and used the example "If you had beef with someone in high
school and you see him ten years later at the reunion, are you still
going to have problems with the kid? It's just foolish."
Everlast & Limp Bizkit
In the early 2000s, Eminem was notified while on the
Anger Management Tour that former
House of Pain member
Everlast had mocked him on a song. Everlast claimed that while passing by Mathers in a hotel lobby, Mathers gave him a "weird look."
[196] Everlast's verse from the
Dilated Peoples
all star track "Ear Drums Pop (Remix)" contained a thinly veiled
reference to Eminem ("Cock my hammer, spit a comet like Haley/I buck a
.380 on ones that act shady"), and went on to warn "You might catch a
beatdown out where I come from" in his recounting of the incident.
[197]
Taking offense to this, Eminem and D12 quickly began work on a
retaliatory song, "I Remember", which ripped Everlast several times in
public and with the song.
Everlast responded with the track "Whitey's Revenge," released only
on his official website. While the song contained references to Eminem's
strained relationships with his wife and mother, it was "Better run and
check your kid for your DNA", again referring to Eminem's daughter,
Hailie Jade Mathers, that set Eminem off.
[198][199]
Eminem & D12 responded with "Quitter," the second half of which is a take off on
2Pac's "
Hit 'Em Up" (a diss song aimed at
The Notorious B.I.G.).
[200]
The track ends with the spoken words, "Fuck him, that’s it, I’m done, I
promise, I’m done, that’s it." It was reported that long-time friends
of Eminem,
Limp Bizkit, were meant to be featured on the song, but
Fred Durst canceled at the last moment. In a
TRL interview, Limp Bizkit member
DJ Lethal
made a statement that if Mathers and Everlast were to fight in real
life, Everlast would win. This enraged Eminem, and an insulting track
aimed at both Everlast and Limp Bizkit (namely Durst and Lethal) named
"Girls" appeared on D12's mainstream debut,
Devil's Night.
Recently, things seem to have settled, and Eminem has no longer been
heard insulting Everlast or Limp Bizkit. It is currently unknown if the
dispute is resolved.
[201]
Canibus
The animus between
Canibus and Eminem started when Canibus and
Wyclef Jean confronted Eminem and asked him if he
ghost-wrote the track "The Ripper Strikes Back" by
LL Cool J.
[202] Eminem denied that he wrote the track. After he was confronted, he said Canibus was "rude" to him.
[202] Two years later, Canibus went to see Eminem on the
Warped Tour
and apologized to him for his reactions and asked him if he still
wanted the track. Eminem agreed, but when he heard the track "Phuck U"
from Canibus' album
2000 B.C., he thought the track was directed at him and LL Cool J.
[202] Shortly afterwards, Eminem released his 2nd album
The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and Canibus decided to continue the "story" of Eminem's single "
Stan". He titled the track "U Didn't Care", and it continued to take shots at Eminem.
[203] Eminem decided to take more shots at Canibus on his album
The Eminem Show (2002) on tracks such as "Say What You Say", "When The Music Stops" and "Square Dance".
[202]
Even though Canibus did not immediately respond to the tracks, Eminem
continued to take shots at him, including a track Eminem was featured on
with
Xzibit, titled "My Name" from Xzibit's album
Man vs. Machine.
On November 19, 2002 Canibus responded with the track titled" Dr.C
PhD". Over a year later Eminem released the track "Can-I-Bitch". He
attacked Canibus in a humorous matter. Since then the hostilities have
cooled down, but Canibus tried to provoke a re-ignition of it when he
leaked a track titled "Air Strike (Pop Killer)", that featured vocal
parts of D12, where Canibus takes shots at Eminem and his deceased
friend
Proof. D12 member
Swift
responded to the record publicly, and had the following to say about
DZK (another rapper featured on the track). "[He] asked us to do a track
with him when he already was teamed up with Canibus without us knowing.
They dissed Em, took our verses and added them to the song, so they can
bring traffic and make it seem like we were turning on Em... as a
desperate attempt to be heard after ducking and dodging Em for 7 years.
It was a straight hoe move."
[204]
Ja Rule
Eminem's conflict with
Ja Rule started after
50 Cent signed to
Shady Records and
Aftermath. Ja Rule stated that he had a problem with Eminem and
Dr. Dre of signing someone he had conflict with.
[205] On November 19, Ja Rule and
Irv Gotti
were special guests on Star and Bucwild's morning show on Hot 97 NYC.
Irv Gotti had some 'legal documents' stating the order of protection 50
'has on him'.
[206] Ja Rule threatened, that if 50 Cent released any diss track, he would take action towards his two producers.
[205][206] However, Dr. Dre was the one who produced 50 Cent's vicious track "Back Down" in 2003 from the album
Get Rich Or Die Tryin',
which not only called out Murder Inc., but 50 Cent was extremely
disrespectful towards Ja Rule's mother, wife and kids. In the song 50
rhymes: "Your Mami, your Papi, that bitch you chasin' your lil dirty ass
kids, I'll fuckin' erase them."
[207]
Busta Rhymes decided to join the conflict when he was featured on the track "Hail Mary 2003", with Eminem and 50 Cent.
The feud intensified when Ja Rule released a diss called "Loose
Change" in which he took shots at 50 Cent and as well Eminem calling him
"Feminem" and Dr. Dre as "bisexual" and claimed that
Suge Knight knew of Dre "bringing transvestites home".
[207]
It includes also the lyrics insulting Eminem's mother Debbie, his
ex-wife Kim and went on to reference his then 8-year-old daughter
Hailie: "Em you claim your mother's a crack head and Kim is a known
slut, so what's Hailie gonna be when she grows up?"
[205]
This angered Eminem greatly, causing him to immediately get his rap
group D12 involved, as well as the major part of his label, Shady
Records, including
Obie Trice, his close friend.
[207] They responded together on the track titled "Doe Rae Me" (aka "Hailie's Revenge"). Since then the rift has cooled down.
[205]
Benzino
The feud began when
Benzino gave
The Marshall Mathers LP a mic rating of 2/5 Mics,
[208]
despite the fact that the album received overwhelmingly positive
reviews. The low rating greatly angered Eminem who felt his album
deserved more. In 2003, Benzino, a rapper who had secretly co-owned The
Source for some time, released a diss single titled "Pull Your Skirt Up"
which insulted Eminem. The track attacked Eminem's "street cred"
(although Eminem has never claimed to be "... reppin' the streets," a
line Benzino includes in the song) and accused him of being a tool of
the music industry. In the same year, The Source attempted to tarnish
Eminem's image by digging up an old tape from his time as a young rapper
in Detroit where he insulted black women and used the word "nigger.".
The song, called "Foolish Pride" was recorded in the late 1980s when
Eminem had been "dumped" by his African-American then-girlfriend.
[208] Eminem responded with 2 tracks titled "Nail in the Coffin" and "The Sauce".
Benzino would later release more tracks.
[208]
As a result of the conflict, Shady/Aftermath ads were pulled from the
magazine. XXL, which had featured negative coverage of Shady/Aftermath
artists since Eminem included the lines "Okay, let me give you
motherfuckers some help/Here – DOUBLE-X-L! DOUBLE-X-L!/Now your magazine
shouldn't have so much trouble to sell/Ah fuck it, I'll even buy a
couple myself" on "Marshall Mathers," stepped in to fill the void,
accepting Shady/Aftermath ads and doing a 180 in its coverage of its
artists. Currently, XXL leads The Source in circulation, and Benzino's
actions are generally perceived to have severely tarnished the image and
credibility of the magazine.
[208][208] In late 2011 it was revealed that Benzino plans to release a mixtape titled
Caesar as a rematch for Eminem. He claims it is better than Bad Meets Evil's debut EP
Hell: The Sequel.
[208].
Michael Jackson
The music video for "Just Lose It" generated controversy by parodying singer
Michael Jackson's child molestation trial,
plastic surgery and an incident in which Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a
Pepsi commercial in 1984.
[209] It was banned on the
BET channel, after complaints from
Benzino and others (but was later reinstated, as critics of the ban argued that
Nelly's "
Tip Drill" video could be seen). Both were only seen on
BET: Uncut.
However MTV did not drop it, and the video became one of the most
requested on the channel. A week after the release of "Just Lose It",
Jackson called into the radio show of
Steve Harvey
to report his displeasure with the video. "I am very angry at Eminem's
depiction of me in his video," Jackson said in the interview. "I feel
that it is outrageous and disrespectful. It is one thing to spoof, but
it is another to be demeaning and insensitive." The singer continued:
"I've admired Eminem as an artist, and was shocked by this. The video
was inappropriate and disrespectful to me, my children, my family and
the community at large."
[210] Many of Jackson's supporters and friends spoke out about the video, including
Stevie Wonder, who called the video "kicking a man while he's down" and "bullshit",
[45] and
Steve Harvey, who declared, "Eminem has lost his ghetto pass. We want the pass back."
[45]
Mariah Carey & Nick Cannon
Eminem has written several songs referring to a relationship with pop singer
Mariah Carey, although she denies the claim.
[211] She says that they hung out but nothing sexual or intimate occurred. Eminem has referenced her on many songs that include "
Superman", "
Jimmy Crack Corn", "Bagpipes From Baghdad", and "
The Warning". While "Superman" was released in 2003, Carey released a song entitled "Clown" on her
Charmbracelet album, released in 2002, which makes similar references in line with her 2009 hit "
Obsessed".
Eminem's "Bagpipes From Baghdad" from his album
Relapse may be his most well known reference to Carey due to the controversy it caused. The song disparages Carey and husband
Nick Cannon's relationship.
[212] Cannon responded to Eminem by saying his career is based on "
racist bigotry", and that he would get revenge on Eminem, joking that he may return to rapping.
[213] Eminem later stated that the couple misinterpreted the track and it was wishing the two the best.
[212] Cannon also stated that there were no hard feelings, and that he just had to express his feelings about the song.
[214]
In 2009, Carey released "Obsessed" in which she sings about an obsessed man who claims to be having a relationship with her.
[215] Cannon claimed that the song was not an insult directed at Eminem.
[216] However, Eminem responded in late July 2009 by releasing a track titled "
The Warning". It contained samples of voice mail recordings which Eminem claimed were left by Mariah Carey when the two were together.
[217]
Eminem also hinted that he had other evidence of their relationship in
his possession. A little over a year later in September 2010 Nick Cannon
responded with the song "I'm a Slick Rick" which in
Slick Rick's flow he takes shots at Eminem.
[218]
Moby
After the release of
The Marshall Mathers LP, popular
electronic music artist
Moby began speaking out against the album's lyrics, citing references to
misogyny and
homophobia as unacceptable.
[219] Eminem responded back with a line dissing Moby in "
Without Me", the lead single off his next album
The Eminem Show. Moby kept quiet until 2004, when he praised Eminem for his courage in bashing then-U.S. President
George W. Bush in the song "
Mosh", a track from
Encore.
[220] The feud has since died.
[221]
Legacy
Eminem is the best-selling artist of the decade on the US
Nielsen SoundScan,
[222] and has sold more than 86.5 million albums worldwide to date, making him one of the
best-selling music artists in the world.
[223] He has totaled over 1 billion views on his music videos on his official
Vevo page on
YouTube.
[224] Eminem was ranked 82nd on
Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
[225] He was also named the Best Rapper Alive by
Vibe magazine in 2008.
[226] In December 2009, Eminem was named the Artist of the Decade by
Billboard magazine.
[227] In 2010,
MTV Portugal ranked Eminem as the seventh biggest icon in pop music history.
[228] During 2010, Eminem's music generated 94 million streams, more than any other music artist.
[229] Also according to
Billboard,
Eminem has two of his albums among the top five highest selling albums
of the 2000s. In the UK, Eminem has sold over 12.5 million records.
[230] Eminem has also sold more than 33 million track downloads and 39.6 million albums in the United States alone.
[229]
Including his work with D12, Eminem has achieved ten No. 1 albums on
the Billboard 200, seven solo (six studio albums, one compilation), two
with D12 and one with
Bad Meets Evil.
[231] Eminem has had 13 number one singles worldwide. His albums
The Eminem Show,
The Marshall Mathers LP, and
Encore ranked as the 3rd, 7th, and 40th best-selling albums of the 2000–2009 decade respectively by
Billboard magazine.
[232][233] In August 2011 Eminem was named "The King of Hip-Hop" by
Rolling Stone.
[4]
The magazine looked at solo rappers who released music between 2009 and
the first half of 2011 by analizing their album sales, rankings on the
R&B/hip-hop and rap charts, YouTube views, social media, concert
grosses, industry awards and critics' ratings,
[4] and the data accumulated named Eminem the king of the time period.
Eminem's second major label studio album,
The Marshall Mathers LP, became the fastest-selling solo album in United States history.
[27] The album has been ranked as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time by such magazines as
Rolling Stone,
Time, and
XXL.
[234] Rolling Stone placed the album at number seven on its list of the best albums of the 2000s.
[235] The album's third single, "
Stan", is one of Eminem's most critically acclaimed songs, having been ranked by
About.com as Eminem's best song and referred to by
Pitchfork Media as "a cultural milestone".
[236] In 2005, Eminem was ranked 79th on the
VH1 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time.
[237]
