Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. Known for his rap flow and conscious rap, which includes political criticism and social commentary, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, often credited with popularizing hip-hop in Middle America and the acceptance of white rappers. While much of his transgressive art during the late 1990s and early 2000s made him a controversial figure, Eminem has become a representation of popular angst in lower-income America.
After the release of his debut album, Infinite (1996), and the extended play Slim Shady EP (1997), Eminem signed with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and achieved mainstream popularity with The Slim Shady LP (1999). Each of his next two releases, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002), sold over one million copies in a single week; the latter became the best-selling album worldwide in 2002 and the best-selling hip-hop album of all time. After the release of Encore (2004), Eminem took a hiatus due in part to struggles with prescription drug addiction and death of long time friend Proof. He returned to the music industry with the releases of Relapse (2009) and Recovery (2010); the latter was the best-selling album worldwide in 2010. Each of his subsequent releases—The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013), Revival (2017), Kamikaze (2018), Music to Be Murdered By (2020), and The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) (2024)—has debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart.
Eminem was also a member of the hip-hop groups New Jacks, Soul Intent, Outsidaz, and D12, as well as the duo Bad Meets Evil with Royce da 5'9". In 2002, he starred in the drama film 8 Mile, receiving critical acclaim for playing a dramatized version of himself. "Lose Yourself", a song from the 8 Mile soundtrack, topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 12 weeks—the most for a solo rap song—and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, making him the first hip-hop act to ever win the award. His other ventures include co-founding the record label Shady Records, establishing the Sirius XM Radio channel Shade 45 and opening the restaurant Mom's Spaghetti.
Eminem is the best-selling rapper and one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 220 million records. He has 11 number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. One of the highest-certified musicians in the United States, Eminem has seven diamond certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In addition to an Academy Award, his accolades include 15 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, 17 Billboard Music Awards, 15 MTV Video Music Awards, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Billboard named him the Artist of the 2000s and Rolling Stone ranked him among the greatest artists and greatest songwriters of all time.
Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri, the only child of Deborah "Debbie" Nelson and Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. His mother nearly died during her 73-hour labor with him. Eminem's parents were in a band called Daddy Warbucks, playing in Ramada Inns along the Dakotas–Montana border before they separated. His father abandoned his family when Eminem was a year and a half old, and his mother raised him herself in poverty. He wrote letters to his father, but Nelson said that they all came back marked "return to sender".
Eminem and his mother shuttled among states, rarely staying in one house for more than a year or two and mostly living with family members. Locations included St. Joseph; Savannah, Missouri; Kansas City; Warren, Michigan; and Roseville, Michigan, before settling in Detroit when Eminem was 12. For much of his youth, Eminem and his mother lived in a bungalow-style house in a working-class, primarily Black neighborhood in Detroit. He and Debbie were one of three white households on their block, and Eminem was beaten several times by Black youths. His mother had a son named Nathan "Nate" Kane Samara in 1986 with then-boyfriend Fred Samara. In 2013, the State of Michigan demolished his childhood home after it was damaged by arson.
Eminem frequently fought with his mother, whom a social worker described as having a "very suspicious, almost paranoid personality". When he was a child, a bully named D'Angelo Bailey severely injured his head in an assault, an incident that Eminem later recounted on the song "Brain Damage". Debbie filed a lawsuit against the public school for this in 1982. A Macomb County, Michigan, judge dismissed the suit the following year, ruling that the schools were immune from lawsuits.
Eminem was interested in storytelling, aspiring to be a comic book artist before discovering hip-hop. He heard his first rap song, "Reckless", on the Breakin' soundtrack, a gift from Ronnie Polkingharn, Nelson's half-brother and Eminem's uncle. His uncle was close to the boy and later became a musical mentor to him. Following Polkingharn's suicide in 1991, Eminem stopped speaking publicly for days and did not attend his funeral.
At age 14, Eminem began rapping with high-school friend Mike Ruby; they adopted the names "Manix" and "M&M", the latter evolving into "Eminem". Eminem snuck into neighboring Osborn High School with friend and fellow rapper Proof for lunchroom freestyle rap battles. On Saturdays, they attended open mic contests at the Hip-Hop Shop on West 7 Mile Road, considered "ground zero" for the Detroit rap scene. Struggling to succeed in a predominantly black industry, Eminem was appreciated by underground hip-hop audiences. When he wrote verses, he wanted most of the words to rhyme; he wrote long words or phrases on paper and, underneath, worked on rhymes for each syllable. Although the words often made little sense, the drill helped Eminem practice sounds and rhymes.
In 1987, Nelson allowed runaway Kimberly Anne "Kim" Scott to stay at their home. Several years later, Eminem began an on-and-off relationship with Scott. After spending three years in ninth grade because of truancy and poor grades, 17-year-old Eminem dropped out of Lincoln High School. Although interested in English, Eminem never explored literature, preferring comic books, and he disliked math and social studies. He states that he later received a GED. Eminem worked at several jobs to help his mother pay the bills, one of which was at Little Caesar's Pizza in Warren. He later said she often threw him out of the house anyway, often after taking most of his paycheck. When she left to play bingo, he would blast the stereo and write songs.
1988–1997: Early career, Infinite and family struggles
In 1988, he went by the stage name MC Double M and formed his first group, New Jacks, and made demo tape recordings with DJ Butter Fingers. In 1989, they joined Bassmint Productions who later changed their name to Soul Intent in 1992 with rapper Proof and other Detroit artists. They released a two track single on cassette in 1995 featuring Proof. Eminem also made his first music video appearance in 1992 in a song titled, "Do-Da-Dippity", by Champtown. Later in 1996, Eminem and Proof teamed up with four other rappers to form The Dirty Dozen (D12), who released The Underground E.P. in 1997 and their first album Devil's Night in 2001. He was also affiliated with Newark's rap collective Outsidaz, collaborating with them on different projects.
In 1995, Eminem was signed to Jeff and Mark Bass' F.B.T. Productions and in 1995–1996 recorded his debut album Infinite for their independent Web Entertainment label. The album was a commercial failure upon its release in 1996. During this period, Eminem's rhyming style, primarily inspired by rappers Nas and AZ, lacked the comically violent slant for which he later became known. Detroit disc jockeys largely ignored Infinite and the feedback Eminem did receive ("Why don't you go into rock and roll?") led him to craft angrier, moodier tracks.