Eminem
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Eminem is the stage name of Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972 in St. Joseph, Missouri), one of todays most controversial and popular rappers.
He is perhaps best known for being one of the few successful white rappers in the industry, not to mention one of the most critically acclaimed. Eminems lyrical ability is matched by very few, and has amazing talent with changing his own verbal pace and style multiple times in one song while mantaining same music/drum machine beat. He is also infamous for the controversy surrounding many of his lyrics, which are said by critics to be homophobic, misogynistic and excessively violent.Though some have viewed Eminem as excessively violent and homophobic, his recent actions may suggest otherwise. Some of these recent actions include support for Tsunami Relief and U2s Songs of Hope, performing, shaking hands and embracing bisexual artist Elton John. Eminem has a shocking way of bringing attention to issues such as rapping about AIDS being passed around a group of friends. The very thought of this is frightening in itself and brings a strange and shocking awareness to AIDS and how it can affect a whole circle of associates. Eminem also showed support for the Boys and Girls Club. In the song Mosh, Eminem speaks out against war, violence and President George W. Bush. Eminem also spoke out against violence amongst rappers with his remake of Toy Soldiers. Eminem also supports the Leary Fire Fighters Foundation. Although Eminem was made an honorary Raelian priest by Raelian leader Rael he is a born again Christian which is ironic considering some of his lyrics. Eminems music has also brought awareness about substance abuse among parents, since he regularly raps about this topic in his music. Although Eminem does not consider himself a militant artist he did have his own Hip Hop Political Convention in response to the National Political Convention.
Contents [hide]
1 Early life and career
2 Entering the mainstream
3 Backlash
4 Other works and ventures
4.1 Shady Records
4.2 Eminem as a producer
5 Samples
6 Music videos
7 Solo discography
7.1 Albums and EPs
7.2 Hit singles
8 Trivia
9 External links and further reading
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Early life and career
Mathers was born in St. Joseph, MO (near Kansas City), and spent most of his childhood moving back and forth between Kansas City and suburban Detroit, Michigan where he became friends with Runyan Avenue Soldiers.
Interested in rap from a young age, Mathers began performing as early as thirteen, later gaining some popularity with a group, Soul Intent. His wife Kim gave birth to his daughter, Hailie Jade, on 25 December 1995. In 1996, he released his first independent album, named Infinite (of which he sold about 500 copies out of the back of his car), following it up with The Slim Shady EP in 1997. He became famous in the hip-hop underground because of his distinctive, cartoonish style and the fact that he is white (a rarity in all rap, especially mainstream gangsta rap). Some people called him raps "great white hope".
It is said that Dr. Dre found Eminems demo on the garage floor of Jimmy Iovine, the Interscope label chief. Though this did not directly lead to a recording contract, once Eminem won second place vs. Otherwize at the 1997 Rap Olympics MC battle, Dr. Dre agreed to sign him. Other sources state that an exec at the offices of Interscope handed the demo to Iovine who passed it to Dre, which resulted in a contract.
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Entering the mainstream
Once he joined Interscope, Eminem released The Slim Shady LP, which went on to be one of the most popular records of the year, going triple platinum. With the albums enormous popularity came controversy surrounding many of the albums lyrics. In "97 Bonnie and Clyde", Eminem describes a trip with his infant daughter, disposing of the bodies of his wife, her lover and his son. Another song, "Guilty Conscience" ends with Eminem and Dr. Dre encouraging a man to murder his wife and her lover.
The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May 2000, quickly selling 2 million copies. The first single released from the album, "The Real Slim Shady", created some buzz by trash-talking celebrities and spilling dubious gossip about them. In the song, Eminem claims, among other things, that Christina Aguilera gave "head" (oral sex) to Fred Durst (of Limp Bizkit) and Carson Daly (of MTVs Total Request Live). In the third single, "Stan" (which samples Didos "Thank You"), Eminem attempts to deal with his new fame status, telling the story of a fan so obsessed with him that he winds up killing himself and his pregnant girlfriend, mirroring one of the songs on The Slim Shady LP.
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Backlash
With the enormous popularity of Eminems second album, the controversy surrounding Eminem grew even larger, especially when The Marshall Mathers LP was nominated for a Grammy for Album of the Year. Though Mathers had always claimed that his lyrics were not meant to be taken seriously, and that he had nothing against homosexuals or women, the gay rights group GLAAD organized a boycott of the Grammys against Eminem. Mathers responded to this by singing "Stan" on-stage with bisexual singer Elton John, ending the performance by hugging John to show that he didnt have anything against homosexuals. Though it shocked a lot of people, this gesture failed to appease all of his critics.
Since Eminems rapid ascent to fame, tell-all biographies of varying quality have been published, including Shady Bizzness by his former bodyguard Byron Williams. Eminem himself has written a book called Angry Blonde (2001), where he reveals the emotions and intent behind the lyrics in the Marshall Mathers LP, and describes his passion and approach to rapping.
As one of six members of the rap group D12, Eminem appeared on the album Devils Night, released in 2001. The album was certified multi-platinum. The album contained the single "Purple Pills". Another song, "Blow My Buzz", was on the soundtrack for the film The Wash (2001), in which Eminem had a cameo.
Eminems third major album, The Eminem Show was released in summer 2002. It featured the single "Without Me", an apparent sequel to "The Real Slim Shady" in which he makes derogatory comments about boy bands, NSYNCs Chris Kirkpatrick, Limp Bizkit, Moby, and Lynne Cheney, among others.
On November 19th, 2003 new controversy surrounded Eminem when a cassette tape was played during a press conference held by The Source magazine. The 1988 cassette featured a younger Mathers performing a freestyle rap in which he made disparaging remarks about black women, calling them "stupid" in comparison to white women. Other racial slurs and remarks were stated to be on the tape. Mathers reportedly made the recording after breaking up with his black girlfriend. The ordeal would later end up with both Eminem and The Source arguing their views of the matter in court.
On December 8, 2003, the United States Secret Service admitted it was "looking into" allegations that Mathers had threatened the President of the United States after the unreleased song "We as Americans" leaked onto the Internet. The lyrics in question: Fuck money/I dont rap for dead presidents/ Id rather see the president dead/ Its never been said, but I set precedents.
Then, in 2004, Eminem made the video "My Band" with D12. The controversial song was the bands sarcastic response to the medias frequent portrayal of D12 as Eminems band, giving little to no credit to its other members. The video contained various parodies, including that of the Janet Jackson incident, and of 50 Cents "In Da Club" video.
On October 12, 2004, a week after the release of "Just Lose It," Eminems first video and single off Encore, Michael Jackson called into the Los Angeles-based Steve Harvey radio show to report his displeasure with the video, which parodies Jacksons child-molestation accusations, his rhinoplasty, and an incident in which Jacksons hair caught on fire while he was filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984. The lyrics to "Just Lose It" also refer to Jacksons troubles. In the video, Eminem also parodied Pee Wee Herman, MC Hammer, and a Blonde-Ambition-touring Madonna. Harvey himself declared, "Eminem has lost his ghetto pass. We want the pass back." [1]
Black Entertainment Television was the first channel to stop airing the video. MTV, however, announced it would continue airing the video and "Just Lose It" became the number-one requested video on Total Request Live for the week ending October 22. [2] The Source magazine, through its CEO Raymond "Benzino" Scott, wanted not only the video pulled, but the song off the album, and a public apology to Jackson from Eminem. [3]
Others dismissed "Just Lose It" as a tame Weird Al Yankovic-style knockoff [4]. On Jacksons protest, Yankovic himself 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."
On October 26, 2004 a week before the U.S. presidential election, 2004, Eminem released the video for his song titled "Mosh" on the Internet. The song features a very strong anti-Bush message, with lyrics such as "fuck Bush" and "this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president". The video features Eminem gathering up an army of people 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 won the election, the videos ending was changed to Eminem and the rioters invading while Bush was giving a speech. On October 31, Eminem performed the song on Saturday Night Live, but some thought that he appeared to be lip-synching it.
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Other works and ventures
Eminem made his Hollywood acting debut with the semi-autobiographical 8 Mile, released in November 2002. He recorded several new songs for the soundtrack, including "Lose Yourself," which won Eminem an Academy Award for Best Song. He has also lent his voice to the Crank Yankers show and a web cartoon called "The Slim Shady Show", which has since been pulled offline and is instead sold on DVD.
Eminem has also been linked to "Songs of Hope" by U2 and supported the Boys and Girls Club of America with various proceeds donated to these causes. Also Eminem had a political convention in response to the National Political Convention. He also made an anti war/anti-violence song with the song Mosh. Eminem supports the American troops but does not believe support for the troops has to involve support of the war on terrorism. Eminem has also been linked to support the Leary Fire Fighters Foundation. Eminem was made an honorary priest by the Raelians Religious Movement, a nonviolent religious group, but he himself is a born again Christian and his recent works show biblical influence. He has also raised AIDS awareness in his music with a song about an HIV positve person who has slept with several people in a group of friends.
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Shady Records
Dr. Dres leading protege succeeded in multi-platinum sells. Eminem was granted his own record label. He and his manager Paul Rosenberg created Shady Records in 2000. Eminem had establish his best selling artist 50 Cent to the roster. Also his own Detroit collective D12, and Obie Trice were also signed to label. In 2003, Eminem also signed DJ Green Lantern and Atlanta rapper Stat Quo to the roster.
Eminem signed a deal with Sirius satellite radio to program a hip-hop oriented station called Shade 45, which debuted on October 28, 2004. He also owns a clothing line called "Shady Ltd."
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Eminem as a producer
Eminem is also active as a producer of rap records. Besides D12s two albums, Devils Night and D12 World, he also produced Obie Trices Cheers as well as 50 Cents Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre. Furthermore, his own records increasingly contain tracks produced by himself. He recently produced 2Pacs fifth posthumous album, Loyal to the Game.
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