Eminem
Born: October 17, 1972 in Kansas City
Given Name: Marshall Mathers
A Few Interesting Facts:
As a child, he and his mother moved constantly, staying at relatives' homes. As a result, he found it hard to make friends and couldn't open up to people until the ninth grade. He and his mother didn't settle down until he was twelve years old.
He dropped out of school in the ninth grade. Eminem independently released his first album Infinite in 1996. He was mocked as being a knock-off of Nas and Jay-Z. He won the 1997 Wake Up Show Freestyle Performer of the Year from L.A. DJs Sway and Tech. That same year he earned second place in Rap Sheet magazine's "Rap Olympics," an annual freestyle rap competition.
He released another independent effort, 1998's The Slim Shady EP, which made him an underground star. He soon was invited to appear on underground MC Shabaam Sahdeeq's "Five Star Generals" single, Kid Rock's Devil Without a Cause, and other rap releases.
From the Horse's Mouth:
"Slim Shady is the evil side of me, the sarcastic, foul-mouthed side of me."
"I do feel like I'm coming from a standpoint where people don't realize there are a lot of poor white people. Rap music kept my mind off all the bulls--t I had to go through."
"I'm white in a music started by black people. I'm not ignorant to the culture and I'm not trying to take anything away from the culture. But no one has a choice where they grew up or what color they are. If you're a rich kid or a ghetto kid you have no control over your circumstance's. The only control you have is to get out of your situation or stay in it."
