To all those rap fans out there, I am sure three out of every five would idolise Eminem for his beats and daring lyrics. But, have you actually wondered what triggered this? Read on, then…
Marshall Bruce Mathers, or Eminem, as we call him,wasn’t any average teen with a typical teenage life. After living twelve years in Kansas City, Missouri since his birth on October 17, 1972, he moved to Detroit. He never got the opportunity to make any friends because they changed their location every other month due his mother’s eviction for lack of pay. He started rapping in the clubs of Detroit at the age of 14, and after failing thrice in the ninth grade, he dropped out from high school, determined to make a name for himself in the hip-hop world even though his very first album Infinite(1996), had poor feeback, and he continued doing odd jobs.
Eminem came to the attention of Dr. Dre’s attention, who was the founding member of pioneering rappers N.W.A. and the head of Aftermath Entertainment, when he came second in the freestyle category at the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles. Adopting the guise of Slim Shady, he launched another album with Dr. Dre as his producer and mentor, The Slim Shady LP early in 1999. The album went multi platinum and Eminem won two Grammy Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards. Eminem drew his lyrics from his personal experiences, where nothing was going well: he just had a daughter with his on/off girlfriend, Kim, not to forget the fact that there relationship was pretty rocky, as well as the poor relationship with his mother, and all this frustration led to him using alcohol and drugs, and the grave consequence of attempting suicide once.
Regardless of the disturbing past, Eminem has started living the dream, establishing a name and fame for himself in the hip-hop industry. He values his daughter Hailie, and pampers her as much as he can, so that she does not feel rejected like Eminem had felt towards his father, and showers her with as much love and with equal present, so as to try and atleast fulfill the empty slot of the mother, not being very fond of the “mother” image after what happened to his own life. Nonetheless, he says, “The only thing I’m scared of is being taken away from my little girl.”
And now, Eminem is the legend he always wanted to be, and hats off to him and all his achievements, because after all that he has had to face in life, it is surely a wonder that he has managed to hold such a stature in the music industry. Yeah seriously, everyone can dress like him, walk, talk and act like him, but we will just be the next best thing..but surely..not quite him!
