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Eminem
Musical artist

Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17 1972), better known as Eminem, is a Grammy and Academy Award-winning American rapper, record producer, and actor from the Detroit, Michigan area.

Eminem has sold over 70 million albums worldwide. Eminem was discovered by pioneer gangsta rapper and producer Dr. Dre, who signed him to his Aftermath Entertainment label.

Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney has praised Mathers for his "verbal energy" and for arousing popular interest in poetry and lyrics. Eminem is infamous for the controversy surrounding many of his lyrics. With the enormous success of his highly acclaimed album The Marshall Mathers LP and its subsequent nomination for four Grammy awards including Album of the Year, critics such as GLAAD denounced his lyrics as homophobic and misogynist, while others protested that it promoted violence.

Biography

Early career

Eminem is dead.

Controversies

Alleged homophobia

With the enormous popularity of The Marshall Mathers LP, the controversy surrounding him grew even larger, especially when it was nominated for a Grammy Award 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. Mathers responded to this by rapping "Stan" on-stage with openly gay singer Elton John, ending the performance by hugging John. This gesture failed to appease many of his critics. He said he did not know Elton John was gay, but he told Kurt Loder after the awards show that he respected him: "Of course I'd heard of Elton John," Eminem said, "but I didn't know he was gay. I didn't know anything about his personal life. I didn't really care, but being that he was gay and he had my back, I think it made a statement in itself saying that he understood where I was coming from."

Racist tapes

In the midst of the Benzino-Eminem conflict, Benzino found two tapes of a young Eminem rapping what could have been believed to be racist. Among the two songs, Eminem said, "I don't like that nigga shit" and also that "black girls only want your money." As soon as the songs became public, Eminem immediately released an apology for the controversial songs. Eminem would again apologize for the lyrics in the song "Yellow Brick Road" off his album Encore. Eminem tried to explain how the songs came to being made in that the first song was him trying to sound "whack." The second he said he did after a bad breakup with a girlfriend who was black. In the following lines from his fourth album Encore's track Yellow Brick Road he apologises for the tapes made: "But I've heard people say they've heard a tape, and it ain't that bad, but it was, I singled out a whole race, and for that I apologize, I was wrong, 'cause no matter what color a girl is she still a ho."

Immediately after the release of Eminem's first apology, Def Jam CEO Russell Simmons came out in accepting Eminem's apology and since then, with the exception of Benzino, other rappers have mostly forgotten or simply dropped the issue.

Violence towards women

The three 'eye-opening' songs most often cited as examples in The Marshall Mathers LP of Mathers' supposed misogyny were "Kill You", "'97 Bonnie and Clyde" and "Kim." Critics claimed the former portrayed extremely violent abuse against women in general and contained a line about him raping his own mother, "Oh, now he's raping his own mother, abusing a whore, snorting coke, and we gave him the Rolling Stone cover?". The latter is not so much a song as it is a reenactment of a fictional fight between him and his wife, although his shouted, hoarse lines do rhyme. Despite his conflicting expressions of love and hate throughout the track, he ends up slitting Kim's throat at the end, accompanied by cries of "Bleed, bitch, bleed!" Several people objected to the graphic description of domestic violence. On the clean version of the CD, the track was removed and replaced with a song almost entirely devoid of profanity called "The Kids."

Criticism of other artists

Eminem's provocative style has resulted in a number of high-profile feuds erupting between the rapper and some of his music industry peers. He has at one time or another had disputes with artists including Ja Rule, former Source magazine co-owner Raymond "Benzino" Scott, Everlast, Royce Da 5'9", Canibus, Insane Clown Posse, Vanilla Ice, Michael Jackson, Will Smith, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Limp Bizkit (specifically members Fred Durst and DJ Lethal), Jermaine Dupri, Moby, Esham, Cage and Christina Aguilera, as well as Christopher Reeve.

In all of these beefs Eminem and other have more-or-less made peace. He has used his many connections within the music industry, especially with mixtape DJs, to release many unofficial diss tracks. His partnership with DJ Green Lantern, while it lasted, led to several mixtapes entitled The Invasion. On these mixtapes there were many songs unrelated to the animosity between Eminem and his labelmates and other artists, though the majority of the songs could easily be called diss tracks. The harshest of these was the second, called Conspiracy Theory. It had several songs by Eminem and his crew attacking a range of artists, particularly Ja Rule and Benzino, including "Bump Heads," "Doe Ray Me," and a remix of the Tupac (2Pac) song "Hail Mary" (with no contribution from the original artist).

In acceptance of his Grammy for Best Rap Album (for The Eminem Show) in 2003, he credited his rap influences, saying, "I made me a little list of MCs that I wanted to name off that inspired me to, to bring me where I am today - cause honestly, I wouldn't be here without them. So the list goes like this, and it's not in this order, but the list is this: Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Kool G. Rap, Masta Ace, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Dr. Dre, all of N.W.A., KRS-One, Treach from Naughty by Nature, Nas, 2Pac, Biggie, Jay-Z. Thank you, 'cause I learned from all of you. Thank you."

Chuck D of Public Enemy has shared his criticism of Eminem as Follows and has quoted him as the "new" Elvis Presley.:"Eminem is the new Elvis Presley because, number one, he has the respect for black music that Elvis had. I think he's courteous and sympathetic to black music and, unfortunately, he's more sympathetic to black music than many black artists themselves." ]

Criticism of George W. Bush

File:Eminem mosh.PNG
Eminem votes in the video Mosh.

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 Web. The lyrics in question: "Fuck money / I don't rap for dead presidents / I'd rather see the president dead / It's never been said, but I set precedents...". The song was being recorded to possibly be on Encore, but wound up on a bonus CD accompanying the album instead. The second use of the word "dead" was backmasked in that version. The skit was also used in Immortal Technique's song "Bin Laden", stated near the end. Immortal Technique also attacks the president on the song.

On October 26, 2004, a week before the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, 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 Mathers 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 video's ending was changed to Eminem and the protesters invading while Bush was giving a speech.

Michael Jackson

On October 12, 2004, a week after the release of "Just Lose It", Eminem's first single off Encore, Michael Jackson called into the Los Angeles-based Steve Harvey radio show to report his displeasure with the video, which parodies Jackson's child molestation trial, plastic surgery, and an incident in which Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984. The lyrics to "Just Lose It" also refer to Jackson's legal troubles, however he does state in his song "...and thats not a stab at Michael/Thats just a metaphor/I'm just psycho...". Many of Jackson's supporters and friends spoke out about the video, including Stevie Wonder, who called the video "kicking a man while he's down" and "bullshit", and Steve Harvey who declared, "Eminem has lost his ghetto pass. We want the pass back." In the video, Eminem also parodied Pee Wee Herman, MC Hammer, and a Blonde-Ambition-touring Madonna.

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 #1 requested video on Total Request Live for the week ending October 22. The Source, through its CEO Raymond "Benzino" Scott, wanted not only the video to be pulled, but the song off the album, and a public apology to Jackson from Mathers.

Others dismissed "Just Lose It" as a tame "Weird Al" Yankovic-style knockoff. Regarding Jackson's protest, Yankovic, who parodied the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" on a track titled "Couch Potato" on his 2003 album Poodle Hat, 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".

Drug use

In summer 2005, Mathers embarked on his first US concert run in three years, the Anger Management 3 Tour, featuring Lil' Jon, 50 Cent and G-Unit, D12, Obie Trice, The Alchemist, and others. In August 2005, Mathers canceled the European leg of the tour and subsequently announced that he had entered drug rehabilitation for treatment for a "dependency on sleep medication."

At the same time as he was entering rehab, his aunt and uncle, Jack and Betty Schmitt, sued him, charging that he had reneged on a promise to build a $350,000 house for them and supply them with money for the house's upkeep. The couple claimed that Mathers had kept the house in his name, and then issued them eviction orders.

Other works and ventures

Eminem as an actor

Mathers made his Hollywood acting debut with the semi-autobiographical 8 Mile, released in November 2002. He has said the movie is not an account of his life, but a representation of growing up in Detroit. He recorded several new songs for the soundtrack, including "Lose Yourself", which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song; it was not performed at the ceremony, reportedly because ABC wanted him to perform an edited version.

Mathers voiced a character in 50 Cent: Bulletproof, who is an aging corrupt police officer that speaks in ebonics.

Mathers has also done some voice acting, both on Crank Yankers and a web cartoon called The Slim Shady Show, which has since been pulled off-line and is instead sold on DVD.

Eminem will star in the upcoming film Have Gun - Will Travel in which he will play a bounty hunter called Paladin. He will also be involved in either the soundtrack or scoring.

Shady Records

Dr. Dre's leading protégé, Mathers succeeded in multi-platinum record sales. He was granted his own record label, a sub-label of Aftermath Entertainment. He and his manager Paul Rosenberg created Shady Records in late 2000. Mathers and Dr. Dre had signed 50 Cent on a joint venture between Aftermath & Shady Records. His own Detroit collective D12 and rapper Obie Trice were signed to the Shady Records label. In 2003, Mathers and Dr. Dre signed on Atlanta rapper Stat Quo to the Shady/Aftermath roster. DJ Green Lantern, the former DJ for Mathers, was signed to Shady Records until a dispute with 50 Cent forced him to depart from the label; he is no longer associated with Mathers. The Alchemist is now officially Mathers' tour DJ. In 2005, Mathers officially signed another Atlanta rapper known as Bobby Creekwater to his label along with west coast rapper Ca$his. In the Anger Management Tour of 2003 The Alchemist hurt his wrist, preventing him from being the tour's DJ. Clinton Sparks filled in for him, with the rectom playing and his name is mentioned on the album numerous times.

Eminem as a producer

Mathers is also active as a producer of rap records. Besides being the executive producer of D12's two albums, Devil's Night and D12 World, he has also executive produced Obie Trice's Cheers and Second Round's on Me as well as 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' and The Massacre. In addition, Mathers has produced and appeared on several songs by other famous rappers, such as Jadakiss' "Welcome To D-Block", Jay-Z's "Renagade" and "Moment of Clarity" Lloyd Banks' "Warrior Part 2", and "Hands Up", Tony Yayo's "Drama Setter", Trick Trick's "Welcome 2 Detroit", and Xzibit's "My Name" and "Don't Approach Me". Most of The Eminem Show was produced by Mathers himself, with co-production from longtime collaborator Jeff Bass. He also split the production with Dr. Dre on Encore. In 2004, Mathers was the Executive Producer of 2Pac's posthumous album Loyal to the Game with 2Pac's mother Afeni Shakur. He produced the UK #1 single "Ghetto Gospel" which featured Elton John. On certain tracks on the album, 2Pac's voice was slowed down and digitally altered to match the beat and make him say things like "2005" and "G-Unit", angering many fans. Mathers has named 2Pac as his favorite rapper. He has also produced "The Cross" off Nas's album God's Son.

See also: List of songs Produced by Eminem

Eminem in D12

Main article: D12

In 2001, Mathers brought his rap group, D12, to the popular music scene. In 2001, D12 released their hit debut album Devil's Night.

The first single released off of the album was "Purple Pills" (radio named "Purple Hills"), an ode to recreational drug use (although this was preceded in the UK by a song called "Shit on You", which was included on the special edition version of the album). The version of the song released on the radio and music television was heavily rewritten to remove many of the song's obscene lyrics, and renamed "Purple Hills". While the first single was a massive hit, the album's second single, "Fight Music", was not as successful, in part due to its timing in relation to the 9/11 attacks.

After their debut, D12 took a three-year break from the studio, later regrouping to release their sophomore album, D12 World, in 2004, which featured the popular hit single release "My Band". The other members of D12 have also appeared as guests on all of Mathers' albums since The Marshall Mathers LP. D12's third album was tentatively scheduled for a 2006 release. D12 member Bizarre had said that the crew had spent time in the studio. However, it can be expected that the album may be postponed due to the untimely death of D12 member Proof. The news has since been released that the album will be released June 12, 2007.

Death of Proof

Main article: Proof (rapper)

On April 11, 2006, Proof was killed by a gunshot wound to the head at approximately 4:30am EDT (08:30 UTC) at the CCC Club on 8 Mile Road in Detroit, Michigan after fatally shooting U.S. military veteran Keith Bender, Jr.

Proof was buried on April 20, 2006 in The Fellowship Chapel, Detroit to a full house of 2,000 with thousands mourning outside. Mathers and Obie Trice both read eulogies at the service.

An excerpt: "I'm sure everybody who has ever met him, even just once, can testify to the fact that he illuminated a room when he walked in it. I believe that Proof loved people and people loved him. He was a magnet. He lured you in. You wanted to learn about him, follow his swagger. Without Proof, there would be no Eminem, no Slim Shady, and no D12."

Discography

Main article: Eminem discography

Demos and mixtapes

Solo

Compilation albums

Filmography

Awards

Academy Awards

Grammy Awards

In 2004, Eminem was ranked eighty-second in Rolling Stone Magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Juno Awards

MTV Movie Awards

  • 2002 - Best male performance, for 8 Mile
  • 2002 - Best breakthrough male performance, for 8 Mile

MTV Video Music Awards

  • 1999 - Best new artist for "My Name Is" from The Slim Shady LP
  • 2000 - Best video for "The Real Slim Shady" from The Marshall Mathers LP
  • 2000 - Best male video for "The Real Slim Shady" from The Marshall Mathers LP
  • 2000 - Best rap video (with Dr. Dre) for "Forgot About Dre" from Dr Dre 2001
  • 2002 - Best video for "Without Me", from The Eminem Show
  • 2002 - Best male video, for "Without Me", from The Eminem Show
  • 2002 - Best rap video for "Without Me", from The Eminem Show
  • 2002 - Best direction, for "Without Me", from The Eminem Show
  • 2003 - Best video from a film, for "Lose Yourself" from the 8 Mile O.S.T.

MTV Europe Music Awards

  • 1999 - Best hip-hop act
  • 2000 - Best hip-hop act
  • 2000 - Best album, for The Marshall Mathers LP
  • 2001 - Best hip-hop act
  • 2002 - Best male act
  • 2002 - Best hip-hop act
  • 2002 - Best album, for The Eminem Show
  • 2003 - Best hip-hop act
  • 2004 - Best Hip Hop Act (D12)

Detroit Music Awards

  • 2006 - Outstanding Video / Major Budget (When I'm Gone)
  • 2005 - Outstanding National Major Label Recording (Encore)
  • 2003 - Outstanding National Single (Lose Yourself)
  • 2001 - Outstanding National Major Label Recording (The Marshall Mathers LP)
  • 2001 - Outstanding National Single (The Real Slim Shady)

World Music Awards

  • 2005 - Best Pop/Rock Artist
  • 2005 - Best Rap/ Hip Hop Artist
  • 2001 - World Music Award For World's Best Selling Rap Artist

Billboard Music Awards

  • 2003 - Best Rap Album (The Eminem Show)
  • 2003 - Best Album's Artist
  • 2002 - Album Of The Year (The Eminem Show)
  • 2002 - R&B/ Hip Hop Album Of The Year (The Eminem Show)
  • 2002 - Best Album (The Eminem Show)
  • 2001 - Maximum Vision Award (The Real Slim Shady)
  • 2001 - Best Rap Hip Hop Clip (The Real Slim Shady)

Teen Choice Awards

  • 2005 - Choice Music Rap Artist
  • 2005 - Choice Music Rap Track (Mockingbird)

American Music Awards

  • 2003 - Favorite pop/rock male artist
  • 2003 - Favorite pop/rock album, for The Eminem Show
  • 2003 - Favorite hip-hop/R&B male artist
  • 2003 - Favorite hip-hop/R&B album, for The Eminem Show
  • 2005 - Favorite hip-hop/R&B male artist
  • 2006 - Favorite hip-hop/R&B male artist

Footnotes

  1. "Eminem". MTV.tv. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accesdate= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3033614.stm
  3. "GLAAD: Eminem's Hate Lyrics". GLAAD.
  4. http://www.wndu.com/entertainment/022001/entertainment_6360.php
  5. http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/artist/artist.cgi?ARTISTID=650621
  6. http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=3825
  7. http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=3606
  8. http://www.sohh.com/thewire/read.php?contentID=6321
  9. http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,15126,00.html
  10. http://news.usti.net/home/news/cn/?/living.tv/1/wed/bd/Uus-eminem.R_Ti_GuD.html
  11. http://www.ballerstatus.net/news/read/id/91991464/

See also

External links


Eminem
Studio albums
Compilations
Soundtrack albums
EPs
Video albums
Books
Concert tours
Groups
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