Hip Hop: Researching a Famous Act

Eminem

Eminems real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers. He was born on the 17th of October, 1973.

As a child Marshall lived with his mother in impoverished neighbourhoods, moving from city to city until they finally stayed in Detroit, Michigan in 1985.
He didn't last long in High School and eventually dropped out in 9th grad, however in the mid to late 1990's he began to take up rapping. He became associated with local rap groups Basement Productions, The New Jacks and D12.

In 1995 he released his first album 'Infinite', the outcome and reviews of the album wasn't very good and it was crashed by many critics.

In 1996 he gained fame when he won the Wake Up Shows Freestyle Performer Of The Year award. Later on in the year he had a daughter with his then girlfriend Kim.

In 1997 he released his second album on an independent label 'The Slim Shady EP'. The album was very successful with it and received positive reviews.

People in the music industry began to take notice, Dr Dre owner of Aftermath Records signed him to a deal. The Slim Shady LP was released in 1999 and became an instant favourite to only his core listeners, but also to a wider audience making it #2 on the U.S Billboard Album Chart.
For his work on the album he won two Grammy Awards: Best Solo Performance ('my name is') and Best Rap Album (The Slim Shady LP).

The Marshall Mathers LP was released in 2000 to great fanfare and it went straight to #1 on the U.S Billboard Album charts.

In 2002 he released a movie 8 Mile where he plays a white rapper and it shows part of his life and part is made up by him.

In 2004 he released the album Encore which was very successful but caused controversy because of the videos and lyrics in Encore. Some of the videos make fun of celebrities such as Michael Jackson. When Jackson brought his complaint public it resulted in more attention to the album and more sales.

In 2008 he announced he would be producing another album Relapse. It was released on May 19 2009 and went to #1 in both the U.K and the U.S Album Chart. Moreover, after he released Relapse he announced he would be making another album to accompany it called Relapse 2.